Military Transition Teams and the Development Iraqi Army

[Airbornelawyer]

Pretty informative analysis from Bill Roggio of Iraqi Army strengths and weaknesses:

http://billroggio.com/archives/2006/12/the_military_transit.php

[x SF med]

"... The MTT team is modeled after Special Forces teams, as training a foreign military force is a classic Special Forces mission. The team is top heavy with officers and senior non-commissioned officers. The 3-2-1 MTT is made up of 2 majors, 1 captain, 3 1st lieutenants, 2 gunnery sergeants, 1 staff sergeant and 2 sergeants. They live and work side by side with the Iraqi Army. The size of the unit and the unique, specialized mission causes the officers and senior enlisted to take on non-traditional roles such as drivers and gunners for convoys through the city on a daily basis. ..."

Do the Misguided Children need to emulate the mission of SF? Shouldn't MTTs remain the bailiwick of SF, since it is in the mission statement, and training doctrine? the Marines are fine fighters, no argument there - but SF is trained to train, and trains to train. Why recreate the wheel inside another service? Why so officer heavy? (sorry TR, GH, COL M)

Not really bitching, well yeah, I guess I am, but this is THE PRIMARY MISSION OF SF - "To train, advise, organize and assist indigenous forces..." or has this mission been taken away from SF?

[Airbornelawyer]

May the ghost of Chesty Puller not kick your ass! ;)

Before the Children were Misguided into their love of major amphibious operations, and looking to refight Saipan, Iwo, Okinawa and Inchon, the principle, if not primary, mission of the Corps was fighting small wars. This mostly involved training, advising, organizing and assisting indigenous forces - the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua, the Gendarmerie d'Haïti, etc.

[Airbornelawyer]

And the regular Army does the training indigs mission as well, albeit somewhat differently. The training program for the Afghan National Army, for example, is led primarily by US Army National Guard infantry brigades, assisted by British, French, Romanian and other allied forces.

And it couldn't be just SF's mission anyway. If every ODA in every company in every battalion in all 7 active and NG SFG(A)s were at full strength and sent to Iraq, and everyone was pulled from the schoolhouse, you still wouldn't have enough trainers for what the training missions for the Iraqi Army and other security forces need.

Roggio mentions beefing up embedded MTTs to 9,000. Add in non-embedded trainers - at Iraqi training centers, for example - and the number just of hands-on folk that is really needed is well more than that 9,000 number.