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thedrifter
02-13-06, 07:53 AM
Marines take on new Iraq role
DESERT WAR: Pendleton forces are among those who are training the Mideast nation's future commanders.

11:30 PM PST on Sunday, February 12, 2006
By JOE VARGO / The Press-Enterprise

CAMP PENDLETON - The long-trumpeted Bush administration vision of an Iraqi military able to ensure the country's security is getting help: Marines specially trained to turn the ragtag group into a self-assured fighting force.

The "military transition teams" are tasked with creating a professional Iraqi military and winning over civilian leaders -- key steps in U.S. efforts to shrink its conventional forces in the three-year-old war.

Commanders say they created the teams, which include some Inland-area Marines, to help speed the transformation of the Iraqi forces into units that can carry the battle to suicide bombers and roadside bomb-makers throughout the country.

Military officials say the shift is part of the long-range plan for Iraq. But it comes at a time when domestic pressure is rising on the administration and as the U.S. begins reducing the number of troops involved in the conflict

"Every war is new and different," said Col. Thomas Greenwood, director of Iraqi Security Forces development for Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "The reality is that two years ago, very few people would have figured this insurgency would have taken off."

The Marine teams, ranging from sergeants to colonels, represent a shift away from the roles historically taken by U.S. military advisers.

In past conflicts, individual American advisers concentrated mostly on training host-countries' armies about weapons and tactics.

The teams from Camp Pendleton are responsible for much more, including establishing a professional corps of non-commissioned officers, the careerist soldiers who provide the backbone of modern armies.

They also will team with Iraqi police and border-security forces on everything from setting up SWAT units to dispatching officers on patrol. The mission includes establishing a uniform and consistent pay system. The Marines' Military Transition Teams undergo three months of training before departing for Iraq. They include specialists in logistics, motor transportation, communications, battlefield medicine and combined-arms use. Some are Iraqi war veterans, others are new to the theater.

Maj. Howard Hall spent time as an adviser in Iraq last year and taught a recent class to about 26 advisers in training. He told the students their task requires a delicate combination of tough love and a willingness to talk and listen.

It will be a challenge, where common American training techniques backfire.

Screaming at Iraqi recruits or even veteran soldiers doesn't work, Hall said. Some quit when dressed down.

His advice: Be flexible, be consistent, be patient.

'It's Going To Be Hard'

Hampering the transition is the fact that Saddam Hussein failed to develop competent non-commissioned and junior officer corps -- the corporals, sergeants, lieutenants and captains who make professional armies work, said Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He has served in Iraq and studied that nation's military.

Rampant cronyism sapped individual initiative. Superior officers didn't ask junior comrades for input about military problems and were threatened if they showed any sort of boldness. There was little continuing military education and no system of weapon and vehicle maintenance and resupply.

"Under Saddam, a good portion of the army was under-trained, under-equipped and under-loved," Sattler said.

Thomas Henriksen, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, likens the Iraqi army to a medieval force.

"It's 150 to 200 years behind the time," said Henriksen, whose research specializes in U.S. military and diplomatic responses to rogue states. "It was more of a horde than an army. Transforming it is no mean task. There will be mistakes. It's going to be hard, arduous and time-consuming."

UCR political scientist David Pion-Berlin, who specializes in military-civilian relationships, sees an impossible task.

He also wonders whether Sunni and Shia Muslims will ever set aside their differences and become a cohesive national army. And he wonders what will prevent them from conflict after the advisers leave.

The goal is a self-sustained force able to defend Iraq from enemies inside and out. Yet military experts and Marine commanders agree converting an ill-trained, ill-equipped and often unmotivated Iraqi army and police force will take years.

"It's easier to train an army than to change a culture," said Marine Col. Juan Ayala, of Murrieta, who is commanding a team.

"This is an immense challenge. We have to teach them how to be an army. We have to train them to get on their feet so they can take over their own country."

Ayala, who has 26 years in the Marines, led 15 specialists to Iraq in January, where they are embedded with their counterparts in the First Iraqi Division. They will spend seven months to a year in the volatile Al-Anbar province.

"The Iraqi army is not up to our standards," said Ayala, 49, now on his third tour in Iraq. "I think this can work if we stay the course and lead by example, and if the Iraqis take the training to heart and learn."

Measuring Success

The Marine effort could falter, Henriksen said.

If Americans lose patience until the Iraqis are ready to assume the full burden -- or if another 9/11-type attack strikes the United States and sparks angry calls to get the troops out or hunt down the culprits -- the whole endeavor is at risk, he said.

"It can work," Henriksen said. "Societies do change. But we have a lot to do."

No Illusions

Staff Sgt. Steven Davis, 33, of Jackson, Miss., acknowledged that advising is "not the typical Marine mission."

A field-artillery specialist, Davis will teach Iraqi infantry how to communicate with aerial squadrons so air-ground units can tag-team insurgents.

Like most Marines, Davis is a gung-ho guy, willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done. Now he must learn to stand back and let his Iraqi counterparts learn, even if they fail at first.

"We've got to get the Iraqi army off the ground so they can stand up for themselves," he said.

Navy corpsman Timothy James, 28, of Dupo, Ill., will be teaching Iraqis first-aid skills and preventive medicine, steps as basic as hand-washing before eating.

"We have to be a little deferential to them," said James, a Navy petty officer first class. "This mission is doable, but it will take time and patience on our part."

Ellie