Showing the Iraqis How to Fight
Well summer is coming to a close and it is almost Labor Day Weekend in the US. It is still incredibly hot here in Iraq so we're all looking forward to the temperature dropping- which coincides to our tour coming to an end. The 101st Airborne will be here to replace us before we know it.
The mood here is very positive and we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for our tours. But equally as important, we're starting to see the results of our efforts. I've just returned from a week in Baghdad and have been able to see things from a national perspective. The Iraqi Army and police are coming together into units and fighting back. I've talked to several friends who are assigned to train these units. As with all large organizations the feedback can be mixed. Some units are better than others. But even for those that are weaker units, they are far better organized, trained and equipped than they were when we arrived...at which point there was no Army.
The press manages to use Scottsdale Arizona as the standard to compare the water, sewage and electrical progress. Well guess what, we can't compare this third world country to the United States or to France in terms of infrastructure. Similarly, we can't compare the Iraqi Army or Police to our American standards. If we did so, most of our NATO members would fail to live up to the US standard, nevermind the Iraqi Army living up to these high standards.
I believe the American public is wearing thin on patience because they hear so little in terms of progress. Little attention is paid to the positive aspects of this war. No credit is given when change occurs positively in the region (due to this war and the pressure it has put on spreading democracy) and there are very few human interest stories about the positive aspects of the Iraqis and of the Americans. The only news is of X number of Americans killed here, X number of Iraqis killed there. And the same old irrational story about no electricity (see previous blog) It's depressing to watch. This is no Vietnam. (Actually the Boston Globe had a great story on that subject at www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/
articles/2005/08/25/iraq_is_no_vietnam/ )
I've met countless patriotic Americans and Iraqis who are inspiring and make me optimistic about the situation here, but you get very little of that on TV. I returned from Baghdad recently and had a new roommate. It was incredibly random, but a friend from NYC, Pete Carey was now my roommate. Pete had gone to West Point (USMA '93) and had served seven years in the active Army. He left the Army and was working for Bear Stearns in the fixed income division. He voluntarily re-joined the Army for one year and was assigned randomly to my room. He's a Captain also and his job is to train the Iraqi Army for the next year. For the past two weeks he has been traveling around visiting these Iraqi units- so he's seen them in action.
Pete had worked on the DMZ with the Koreans back in '99 and has found the Iraqis have many of the same challenges that we had with the Korean Army. The Korean Army is a conscript (draftee) Army with decent officers but poor non-commissioned officer ranks (Sergeants). We had the same problem with the Turkish Army when I worked with them in Eastern Turkey in 89-90. The standards of most nations are far below ours. But they do not have to be up to our standard. They know their local communities and can fight a very different fight than we can. All the polls show the Iraqi community has tremendous confidence in their police and military. Keep that in mind the next time someone is referring to the fact that the Iraqi Army isn't well trained, or can't stand up for itself, or isn't up to the American standard. Few militaries in the world could live up to that standard.
The fact of the matter is that we have many units of the Iraqi Army and Police that are out and fighting and many more in training. Some areas of the country are already very safe and these Army and Police units are solidifying their areas. Slowly the units are coming on line in the tougher areas and are standing up and fighting. They are patrolling with our units and our soldiers are showing the Iraqis how to fight.
The political process is moving forward. Even if the Constitution is not ratified, it continues to move forward rapidly in an area of the world that usually moves at a glacial pace. The only way for the Constitution to be voted down is if the Sunnis have a massive turnout and vote nearly unanimously against it. I personally do not think that they can muster the votes to get two-thirds of the people in three provinces to vote against the Constitution. If they did, it will certainly show a turnout even better than the last election, which will have drawn the Sunnis into the political process. They'll go back to the drawing board on the Constitution, but with better representation on the Assembly.
For reasons that I cannot understand, the American public sees very few stories of the bravery of our men and women fighting in combat here. I'm not sure if the press doesn't promote them because they don't want to glorify war- or if the military doesn't promote them for the same reason. There are countless stories, that in any other war- World War II or Korea, would have been broadcast across the United States. I have seen some myself and I have heard many stories of incredible bravery. We are winning this war through the actions of small unit leaders like the one below.
I've run into many of my West Point classmates here in Iraq and it is always great to see them. Some I have not seen in seventeen years. Most are Lieutenant Colonels and are commanding battalions (a battalion is around 500 soldiers). One of my classmates (LTC Erik Kurilla)was up in Mosul leading an Infantry battalion. I've been to Mosul but hadn't run into him. He lived in the same building as me at West Point. Mosul is the closest city to the Syrian border and has had many insurgents come across the border to fight the coalition. It's a tough neighborhood. Most General officers say that the greatest leadership position you can have in combat is a battalion command. It's high enough that you have enough influence to make a big difference but it's low enough so that you're still down in the trenches with the troops.
Erik had an embedded reporter with him last week when they were involved in some fighting. Here is the clip from the initial report from the reporter:
"The operation has begun. The Commander of Deuce Four, LTC Erik Kurilla, was shot three times in combat yesterday in front of my eyes. Despite being seriously wounded, LTC Kurilla immediately rejoined the intense and close-quarter fight that ended in hand-to-hand combat. LTC Kurilla continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away. I was right there."
I received another e-mail from a soldier who was there. The insurgent who shot Erik is no longer on this earth. Several insurgents were killed. An insurgent was wounded in the battle and was brought to the aid station in Balad (the same one I'd been taken to after getting hit with the IED south of Samarra). The surgeons operated on Erik on one table and the insurgent on another. What other nation would help save the insurgents who try to kill our soldiers?
Last I heard was that Erik was in Landstuhl, Germany and that he was in good spirits and the prognosis was very good for his recovery. He was hit in the shoulder and in the leg. The wound in the leg broke his femur.
No Task Too Great- 88!
The mood here is very positive and we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for our tours. But equally as important, we're starting to see the results of our efforts. I've just returned from a week in Baghdad and have been able to see things from a national perspective. The Iraqi Army and police are coming together into units and fighting back. I've talked to several friends who are assigned to train these units. As with all large organizations the feedback can be mixed. Some units are better than others. But even for those that are weaker units, they are far better organized, trained and equipped than they were when we arrived...at which point there was no Army.
The press manages to use Scottsdale Arizona as the standard to compare the water, sewage and electrical progress. Well guess what, we can't compare this third world country to the United States or to France in terms of infrastructure. Similarly, we can't compare the Iraqi Army or Police to our American standards. If we did so, most of our NATO members would fail to live up to the US standard, nevermind the Iraqi Army living up to these high standards.
I believe the American public is wearing thin on patience because they hear so little in terms of progress. Little attention is paid to the positive aspects of this war. No credit is given when change occurs positively in the region (due to this war and the pressure it has put on spreading democracy) and there are very few human interest stories about the positive aspects of the Iraqis and of the Americans. The only news is of X number of Americans killed here, X number of Iraqis killed there. And the same old irrational story about no electricity (see previous blog) It's depressing to watch. This is no Vietnam. (Actually the Boston Globe had a great story on that subject at www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/
articles/2005/08/25/iraq_is_no_vietnam/ )
I've met countless patriotic Americans and Iraqis who are inspiring and make me optimistic about the situation here, but you get very little of that on TV. I returned from Baghdad recently and had a new roommate. It was incredibly random, but a friend from NYC, Pete Carey was now my roommate. Pete had gone to West Point (USMA '93) and had served seven years in the active Army. He left the Army and was working for Bear Stearns in the fixed income division. He voluntarily re-joined the Army for one year and was assigned randomly to my room. He's a Captain also and his job is to train the Iraqi Army for the next year. For the past two weeks he has been traveling around visiting these Iraqi units- so he's seen them in action.
Pete had worked on the DMZ with the Koreans back in '99 and has found the Iraqis have many of the same challenges that we had with the Korean Army. The Korean Army is a conscript (draftee) Army with decent officers but poor non-commissioned officer ranks (Sergeants). We had the same problem with the Turkish Army when I worked with them in Eastern Turkey in 89-90. The standards of most nations are far below ours. But they do not have to be up to our standard. They know their local communities and can fight a very different fight than we can. All the polls show the Iraqi community has tremendous confidence in their police and military. Keep that in mind the next time someone is referring to the fact that the Iraqi Army isn't well trained, or can't stand up for itself, or isn't up to the American standard. Few militaries in the world could live up to that standard.
The fact of the matter is that we have many units of the Iraqi Army and Police that are out and fighting and many more in training. Some areas of the country are already very safe and these Army and Police units are solidifying their areas. Slowly the units are coming on line in the tougher areas and are standing up and fighting. They are patrolling with our units and our soldiers are showing the Iraqis how to fight.
The political process is moving forward. Even if the Constitution is not ratified, it continues to move forward rapidly in an area of the world that usually moves at a glacial pace. The only way for the Constitution to be voted down is if the Sunnis have a massive turnout and vote nearly unanimously against it. I personally do not think that they can muster the votes to get two-thirds of the people in three provinces to vote against the Constitution. If they did, it will certainly show a turnout even better than the last election, which will have drawn the Sunnis into the political process. They'll go back to the drawing board on the Constitution, but with better representation on the Assembly.
For reasons that I cannot understand, the American public sees very few stories of the bravery of our men and women fighting in combat here. I'm not sure if the press doesn't promote them because they don't want to glorify war- or if the military doesn't promote them for the same reason. There are countless stories, that in any other war- World War II or Korea, would have been broadcast across the United States. I have seen some myself and I have heard many stories of incredible bravery. We are winning this war through the actions of small unit leaders like the one below.
I've run into many of my West Point classmates here in Iraq and it is always great to see them. Some I have not seen in seventeen years. Most are Lieutenant Colonels and are commanding battalions (a battalion is around 500 soldiers). One of my classmates (LTC Erik Kurilla)was up in Mosul leading an Infantry battalion. I've been to Mosul but hadn't run into him. He lived in the same building as me at West Point. Mosul is the closest city to the Syrian border and has had many insurgents come across the border to fight the coalition. It's a tough neighborhood. Most General officers say that the greatest leadership position you can have in combat is a battalion command. It's high enough that you have enough influence to make a big difference but it's low enough so that you're still down in the trenches with the troops.
Erik had an embedded reporter with him last week when they were involved in some fighting. Here is the clip from the initial report from the reporter:
"The operation has begun. The Commander of Deuce Four, LTC Erik Kurilla, was shot three times in combat yesterday in front of my eyes. Despite being seriously wounded, LTC Kurilla immediately rejoined the intense and close-quarter fight that ended in hand-to-hand combat. LTC Kurilla continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away. I was right there."
I received another e-mail from a soldier who was there. The insurgent who shot Erik is no longer on this earth. Several insurgents were killed. An insurgent was wounded in the battle and was brought to the aid station in Balad (the same one I'd been taken to after getting hit with the IED south of Samarra). The surgeons operated on Erik on one table and the insurgent on another. What other nation would help save the insurgents who try to kill our soldiers?
Last I heard was that Erik was in Landstuhl, Germany and that he was in good spirits and the prognosis was very good for his recovery. He was hit in the shoulder and in the leg. The wound in the leg broke his femur.
No Task Too Great- 88!
posted by Dan at 4:26 AM
