Army Culture in a Foreign Mirror
Published on December 20, 2006 By greywar In Politics

     Bill Roggio (embedded blogger in Fallujah) has a great update on the state of the Iraqi military up on his site. Of particular interest to me was his break down of Iraqi Army failures and successes. I find the contrast between their military and ours fascinating (my comments below). Some excerpts: (Emphasis mine. – GW)


"Iraqi Army Shortcomings


Logistics. The IA logistical system is broken at the battalion, brigade, division and Ministry of Defense levels. Requests for equipment such as batteries, air conditioners, heaters, vests, helmets, and building materials are mostly ignored. Soldiers in some units share helmets or vests to go out on patrol.



Pay. Some soldiers and officers haven't been paid in over a year. Some soldiers are talking about leaving the Army if they are not paid soon. The lower ranks strongly suspect senior officers are pocketing their pay. Soldiers that have left the military are also kept on the rolls and their paychecks are often pocketed by officers and ministry officials.


Leave policy. This is directly related to pay problems, a lack of an enlistment contract, and a non-existent central banking system. As there is no central banking system, soldiers must physically take their paychecks home. They are forced to travel home unarmed (the weapons are needed at the units, and there is fear the soldiers would sell the weapons), and
the soldiers become targets for death squads.

Iraqi Army Successes


Tactical Independence. The soldiers are gathering their own intelligence, are planning and executing operations independently. They are able to adjust planning on the fly. An perhaps most importantly, they are independently developing intelligence section at the company level. Counterinsurgency is largely a war of intelligence.



Brave. The Iraqi soldiers risk their lives to serve their country, and are taking casualties at rate of about four times that of U.S. military. They walk multiple patrols daily in the dangerous city of Fallujah, as well as run convoys, conduct raids, set up checkpoints, live in exposed outposts within the city and other dangerous tasks."

 

 



      I have to say that post like Mr. Roggio’s simultaneously warm my heart with the prospects of success for the Iraqi people and cause me a bit of concern over the attitudes of some soldiers in our own military. 

     A former soldier myself, I know darn well that simply putting on a uniform during wartime doesn’t move you beyond criticism or reproach. Some of the soldiers in my last unit couldn’t even contemplate tolerating this level of hardship in service to their nation (myself included oftentimes).

     One factor that contributes mightily to this is that the military (the Army in particular) has been lowering it’s performance and behavior standards for years both in order to keep up troop levels (at the expense of troop quality) and to conform to calls for political correctness from non-military society.

     The result is a vastly weakened support Army (the combat Army has done a better job of resisting these changes) contaminated by weaklings, whiners, and “soldiers’ who think that the Army owes them a job no matter how craptastic their performance may be. Many of these soldiers are actually unaware of the true scope of their ineptitude because it has become almost unthinkable for the Army to actually censure or even acknowledge poor performance on paper (perhaps a subject for another post) or in practice.

     We as American civilians are greatly fortunate that there are a number of folks out there in the military (HW, CR, EL, SNBSPS) who struggle on under the burden of other soldier’s monumental stupidity and laziness. I salute their efforts but still call for a cultural shift within the military that is unlikely to come without some serious calamity to precipitate it.

     It is worth noting that Mr. Roggio is not supported by the AP, UPI, any newpaper, or new agency. He is entirely suported by donations from his readers. just a thought.

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Comments
on Dec 20, 2006
Ok the article looks more like I wanted it to look. I had to repost it and delete the original. Additionall JU seems to have problems in IE with font sizes overlapping lines. If you set your Ie settings to "smaller" text it will go away. Under "View ---> Text Size ---> Smaller" in your IE menu.
on Dec 20, 2006
My most recent batch of students are now in Unit Three, week 10 of 63. I have one student that has been counseled for not doing his homework or falling asleep in class more than 20 times. I can't count the times I've had him locked up in front of my desk. His PSG has had to make a daily schedule for him and he now has to fulfill it in front of her or the CQ NCO everyday. He can't go to bed without calling her at home to report that his homework is complete and he has a lights out time. We submitted a Lack of Effort packet weeks ago and were told by the unit "No". Beyond all that, he has managed to only fail one skill area of his first two tests. I can only imagine how well he could do if he actually applied himself and the time management skills we've been force feeding him.

The question I've asked and gotten no good answer for is, do we really want a Soldier that requires a 22nd chance working in the intel field?

He is by far my worst case at the moment, but I've had to lay bootleather to nearly half the asses in my class who have homework problems in excess of three times.
on Dec 20, 2006
If they actually allowed bootleather to be applied most of these turds would either clean up or leave. Win-Win.
on Dec 20, 2006
If they actually allowed bootleather to be applied most of these turds would either clean up or leave. Win-Win.


HAHA! This is true... As an experiment, I stopped keeping Kleenex in my office about a year ago. It has significantly cut down the amount of tears I have to see.
on Dec 20, 2006
It has significantly cut down the amount of tears I have to see.
Colangelo actually regarded the reduction of a soldier to tears to be an accomplishment.
on Dec 20, 2006
Colangelo actually regarded the reduction of a soldier to tears to be an accomplishment.


Where I am, it's more of a given. Especially, with the Airmen.
on Dec 20, 2006
Especially, with the Airmen.
"The Air Force is a fine para-military organization... much like the Boy Scouts." - Drill Sergeant Range
on Dec 20, 2006
This is why my retirement packet has been submitted. My hands were actually moving towards a throat yesterday.
on Dec 20, 2006
"The Air Force is a fine para-military organization... much like the Boy Scouts." - Drill Sergeant Range


On the off chance that you weren't already aware -



http://www.inscom.army.mil/501st/index.htm

Click the 3rd MI link.

on Dec 20, 2006
And..... he's back. Thanks for the nod, Grey. The way this thread is going deserves a koe all its own, you may be seeing that in the near future from me, and I'll be sure to credit you for inspiration, if I can remember how to do the link thing...
on Dec 22, 2006
Many of these soldiers are actually unaware of the true scope of their ineptitude


{innocent blinking of the eyelashes} Why suh.......whutevah do you mean?............}