Comparing Apples & Oranges: Why The Training of Iraqi Security Forces is Taking So Long.

12-01-05 | Daniel Ingham

[PsyOp]

This information needs to get out and become common knowledge in order to counter the criticisms of the Iraq war defeatists. Feel free to copy, paste and e-mail to your favorite blog or media outlet. Anyone who has been in our military can verify this information.

[PsyOp]

Ping to this article. Please take a look and ping any lists you may have. Thanks.

[PsyOp]

ISF, 1/6 training turns cubs into roaring lions
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1386348/posts

[neocon1984]

Thanks for the information. That's why I log on to this web-site almost every day. You can get opinions everywhere, but I am more interested in the facts.

If I became delusional and went over to the dark side (liberalism), they would only let me in if I promised to avoid the facts and focus on how people feeeel.

[PsyOp]

Liberal lies about Iraq
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1532204/posts

[PsyOp]

Glad you liked it. Help spread the word.

[sean327]

O'Reilly was whining about this last night. I wanted to throw a brick at him. He kept asking "why can we train our guys in 8 weeks, and it's taking 2 years to train the Iraqi's". Col Hunt spelled it out just as you did, but I don't think Bill got the message.

As you stated, it takes time to get competent NCO/Officer leadership, it doesn't happen overnight.

[PsyOp]

Yeah I heard O'Reilly, too. It's not the first time he's made that idiot statement.

His was the last straw that prompted me to sit down and write this. His much vaunted research staff have made some glaring errors and often seem incapable of even rudimentary investigations of fact.

[fat city]

Good piece PsyOp- it's a keeper.

[TexasTransplant]

Add to that the fact that Americans have never known anything but Freedom, and we act like it, we can make decisions naturally and normally they are just now tasting that Freedom and they still have a decision process far different than ours ie "if I do this will I lose my head?"

It always amazed the Soviet Senior Officers that came to visit our Military, in my case (don't remember if it was USS Ranger or USS Kittyhawk) the visiting Admiral was floored when he learned that the average age (5,000 people) was 19 and when he saw these young Sailors towing around aircraft and handling missiles etc etc unsupervised he just couldn't believe his eyes.

Our spirit of Independence (Individuality) makes us the equivalent of 2 or more highly supervised troops and we come by it very naturally and we can train those less experienced at the same time to replace us as we progress in experience. That just isn't normal behavior for a person that has been repressed his/her entire life.

Bottom line we will be in Iraq for awhile.

[jwh_Denver]

Thanks for posting this. I twas quite ignorant on this info.

[PsyOp]

"Bottom line we will be in Iraq for awhile."

I agree. Realisticaly, getting the Iraqi Security Forces to be able to go head-to-head with the insurgents on a regular basis without our support, or with minimal support, will take 4-6 years.

I heard recently that our military finally convinced the Iraqi interim government to let former, mid-level, Iraqi Army officers and NCOs to apply for the new security forces (after proper vetting). These guys are needed in order to accelerate the training pace.

[Redleg Duke]

Great post and spot on. I can attest to it...with 32 years of Military experience. I have been a trainee and a trainer!

One more serious difference...in the US, we start with a free man or free woman with a history of being free. Don't ever underestimate the value of that!

[Wiseghy]

I just re-read the old sci-fi book Starship Troopers (the book, not the silly movie). It does a respectable job describing infantry training and the Psych that goes with it, albeit in a Sci-fi setting.

For a civilian hump like me, it really resonated with and informed the accuracy of your description.

[Wiseghy]

The problem, I've heard, is that they are drilled on the old soviet style methods and attitudes. It takes awhile for them to learn the more effective American methods that focus on individual initiative and delegation.

[PsyOp]

Starship Troopers is one of my favorite novels. And even though the movie only loosely followed the book, I liked it, too.

For a civilian, that book is probably the best insight into what a professional Army defending the ideals of personal liberty and responsibility is all about. Perhaps we should get it translated into Arabic and pass it out to the recruits in Iraq.

[PsyOp]

"Don't ever underestimate the value of that!"

Never. One of the big hurdles will be training recruits to use personal initiative and decision-making skills during combat. If they can get over that hurdle, the bad-guys will be finished. If they can't, the insurgents who can will always outfight them.

[PsyOp]

"The problem, I've heard, is that they are drilled on the old soviet style methods and attitudes."

See #17.

[Gritty]

Good job in explaining the process.

Frankly, being ready in three years is pushing it. As you ably point out, building a military force from the ground up is one of the most difficult things to do. It's not like training burger flippers at McD's. It's a very long term project and in the meantime they are trying to fight an active, cunning and ruthless enemy at the same time. This is a tough job.

Naturally, the impatient MSM and the other Liberals think you can build anything in the time it takes to "visualize" it, much like the fantasy in a TV show. That is because most of them have never dealt with anything but words, concepts and theory and have never try to actually produce something. They are still of the opinion socialism "works" so you can see how off base they are in their thinking to start with!

[Syberyenta]

Thank you for your service, and thank you again for this insightful post.