Infantry transformed by new tools, training

GOVEXEC.com ^ | April 24, 2006 | Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.,

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Not many gun bunnies get to be artillery anymore. They should feel lucky they weren't reclassed as MP's.

[Valin]

Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam
University of Chicago Press ^ | John A. Nagl

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600263/posts
Posted on 03/21/2006 8:40:22 AM CST by Valin


Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam John A. Nagl

Preface to the Paperback Edition Spilling Soup on Myself

[Tares]

Article ping

[Cruz]

ping

[Cannoneer No. 4]

The End of Battle

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[Steelerfan]

Thanks. Great post.

[Calpernia]

Staff Sgt. Robert Colón, another instructor at Benning and, like Williams, a veteran of Iraq, tells his recruits that they have to get it right, because the unpredictability of warfare in Iraq might suddenly put them in the lead.

"Over there, I've had privates save my life. I've saved my privates' lives. It's just the way it goes," Colón said. "Get rid of the whole 'I'm just a private' mentality, because it just doesn't protect you from bullets," he said. "In the battle of Falluja, we lost our battalion sergeant major, our Alpha Company commander. At any given time, a private's going to have to step up to be a leader."

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Ramadi, Iraq 2006 Photos by Michael Fumento; Copyright 2006 Michael Fumento

21st Century Infantry

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[colorado tanker]

It always comes back to boots on the ground, doesn't it?

[R. Scott]

In the 1990s, the Army's mantra was," 'The book says -- the book says,' " he recalled. "Now it's, 'What's your experience in Iraq?' "

“The book says -- the book says” was also the mantra in the 1980s, 1970s and 1960s. I learned to really dislike The Book.
During the Viet Nam War all soldiers deploying overseas had to go through a short training course “to prepare you for Viet Nam”. The two times I took these courses after my first combat tour were real eye openers. I learned that the people here had no idea whatsoever of what was happening over there – and don’t even try to correct them or offer advice.

After a cease-fire cut short that first assault on Falluja in April 2004, Maj. Farnum recalled, "one of the first things that the insurgents requested was that the Marine Corps pull out all the snipers from Falluja. They thought we had snipers everywhere. But it was regular marines, trained in combat marksmanship, with the advanced combat optics."

Great!

[Khurkris]

Technology that works. Its a pleasant change.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Pictures of our Infantry's brand new tools-1965


http://www.WeWereSoldiers.com

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm



.

[mark502inf]

Great article, reminds me of this old quote:

…[Y]ou may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life—but if you desire to defend it, protect it, and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men into the mud.

T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War

[Cannoneer No. 4]

My copy of that book is 30 years old now. I was looking at the CSA's reading list and didn't see it listed. Too bad.

Our young men are getting too precious to get muddy and bloody.

[Future Snake Eater]

They stopped evolving as their final years of retirement loomed large on the horizon.

I don't know if you're in the military, but what you've just described is surprisingly endemic in the rest of the military. In the Stryker Brigade we do things differently than most (if not all) of the rest of the Army as a means of expediting and maximizing our flexibility.

The resistance to these differences we encountered at NTC was appalling.

The NCO who said the only answer used to be "the book...the book" is very right. The Army has changed a lot in just a few years, but it still has a ways to go, and a lot of "entrenched management" to get around.

[Grendel9]

I agree. And I also suggest the
changes at the lowest level of
training have to be a positive
credited to Bush's choice of
Rusfeld continuing in the job.
The old Generals don't care to
read up on new chapter insertions!