thedrifter
12-12-06, 01:39 PM
Marine training team builds Iraqi division
By Andrew Scutro
Marine Corps Times Staff writer
RAMADI, Iraq - An Iraqi army patrol slides unannounced into the hostile Tameem neighborhood, looking for trouble on a Saturday afternoon.
Using a tactic known as a "snap" vehicle checkpoint, they pull over cars at random and search for insurgents, weapons and the money used to fund attacks.
Just into the mission, a rifle shot splits the air with a loud, sharp crack. It's not clear where the bullet came from, but discipline prevails among the troops. There is no jittery return fire. The Iraqi soldiers, military police from the new 7th Division, were dismounted at the time, sifting through three cars in front of an abandoned firehouse.
A passing American patrol pulls over at the sound of the shot. Several U.S. troops climb out and run over to help. But the bullet missed, and the mission continues.
Capt. Carlos Gonzalez stands out on the street with the Iraqis. He assures the other Americans that the situation is under control, and they soon leave.
"These guys, these MPs, they're good," he said later of the Iraqis. "They're not scared. They like it."
A military police officer, Gonzalez left his last post as provost at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., for the Military Transition Team, or MiTT, assigned to the Iraqi army's 7th Division, based at Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi. The team of about 25 Marine advisers from all over the Corps is assigned to train and advise the division staff and attached companies. Other Marine MiTTs are assigned to 7th Division's three brigades and subordinate battalions.
It's the Marine advisers' task to build the Iraqi force into a self-reliant and modern fighting unit in the midst of a raging insurgency. The 7th Division has fared better than other Iraqi units, which have a reputation among U.S. troops for lax discipline, absenteeism, poor weapons handling and a frightening method of returning fire known as the "death blossom."
Gonzalez's Iraqi MPs have had some success. A few weeks ago, another patrol stopped a car in Ramadi carrying three Iraqis and a Jordanian with a bundle of money and story that did not compute. They are still detained.
Gonzalez speaks Arabic with the soldiers and the locals he meets on patrol. The Iraqis lead the mission, but he and another Humvee of MiTT Marines are along for command and control, advice and support. He says it's important for the citizens to see Iraqi faces in uniform, not just Americans.
While the U.S. still maintains a large presence in Ramadi and throughout Anbar province, Iraqi forces from 7th Division are gaining ground and taking control of their own operating areas. Gonzalez's MPs just learned the "snap VCP" technique, and they had a good, if fruitless, patrol.
"They adapt very well, very quickly," he said. "I am confident they will soon be able to do it by themselves."
Overseeing 7th Division's maturation is Col. Steve Zotti. An infantry officer by trade, he volunteered for the yearlong assignment in Iraq from III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa, Japan. In Iraq, he works alongside Iraqi officers at 7th Division headquarters at Camp Blue Diamond, but he gets out to the units as much as he can by conducting "battlefield circulation" visits.
On Dec. 2, he and some of his advisers drove in an Iraqi-led convoy to Habbaniyah to watch the latest batch of Iraqi recruits graduate from basic training. Delayed by streaming convoys on narrow roads, they arrived in time to see the new soldiers chanting and dancing, rifles pointed to the sky. It was a success, compared to a well-publicized April graduation at the Habbaniyah camp when nearly the entire class of 1,000 quit on the spot because the army was sending them to units far from home.
After driving more than two hours back to Blue Diamond from the graduation, Zotti quickly turned around and left for the town of Hit, where Iraqi forces led a raid on a mosque, capturing two suspects. Zotti went with a small force of advisers to observe the Iraqis in action.
"They did the whole operation," he said afterward. "Two insurgent cell leaders are gone, and that's good news."
But the Iraqi army has a long way to go in a short amount of time. It is still dependent on the U.S. for medical service, it does not have a maintenance capability or combat service support units, it's short on personnel, and it can't get the equipment and ordnance it needs.
Staff Col. Noaman Ali, 7th Division chief of staff, said his men are outgunned by the insurgents, who have the explosives, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades his men lack. He blames the Iraq Ministry of Defense.
"The biggest challenge is the shortage of personnel," he said during an interview in his office at Blue Diamond. "But even our weapons are limited. If you compare, the insurgents' weapons are more powerful than we have."
Zotti acknowledges the obstacles, but when his MiTT arrived in January, 7th Division existed "in name only" - a group of 60 Iraqis living in tents with "no functioning capability whatsoever." Now, 11 months later, the division and its support companies - not counting its line battalions spread across 33,000 square miles of Anbar province - is up to more than 900 soldiers, still short of its authorized strength of 1,500. Banking on a steady stream of recruits out of the Habbaniyah training center, the division should be up to full strength by summer.
Yet while more Iraqi army units are taking on the insurgents, Zotti says it would be unfair to hold them to Western standards. It is Iraq, not the U.S., and it has its own culture.
"We don't need them to be a United States Marine Corps," he said.
"We need to train them to be good enough to beat the bad guys in whatever flavor, shape or form these bad guys come in."
As the U.S. inevitably scales back its combat forces in Iraq, the MiTTs will grow to what some are calling "SuperMiTTs": adviser teams enhanced with a heavier security element, corpsmen and specialists who can coordinate rapid artillery and air support.
"The SuperMiTT would go from 15 to 45 or 50, maybe more," Zotti said. As larger combat brigades redeploy, the beefed-up MiTTs will "have a semiautonomous capability, with an American force, primarily to protect itself if required but to make sure the Iraqis have enough presence where they need it."
And as pressure mounts from Washington to turn over more and more of the fight to the Iraqis, Zotti says 7th Division, the latest of 10 divisions to be formed, has made major progress. In mid-December, he will hand over command to a new group of MiTT Marines who will take the Iraqis the rest of the way.
"I think there's some hope. I think we've seen progress," he said. "I am optimistic, and there's plenty to be pessimistic about. We are building and training an army that's in the middle of a fight. Everything is hard."
As hard as it may be, the Iraqis are catching on under the Marine advisers. Ali says the Americans have taught his troops to be self-reliant and "accurate" and shown them a sense of honor.
While some of the soldiers at 7th Division said they want the Americans to leave Iraq to the Iraqis, he said now is not the time.
"Now the situation in Iraq is not settled, not stable," he said. "I'm not a politician, but this is my personal view. I think the time American troops pull out will be a big disaster for Iraq. When they leave, everything should be settled."
Ellie
By Andrew Scutro
Marine Corps Times Staff writer
RAMADI, Iraq - An Iraqi army patrol slides unannounced into the hostile Tameem neighborhood, looking for trouble on a Saturday afternoon.
Using a tactic known as a "snap" vehicle checkpoint, they pull over cars at random and search for insurgents, weapons and the money used to fund attacks.
Just into the mission, a rifle shot splits the air with a loud, sharp crack. It's not clear where the bullet came from, but discipline prevails among the troops. There is no jittery return fire. The Iraqi soldiers, military police from the new 7th Division, were dismounted at the time, sifting through three cars in front of an abandoned firehouse.
A passing American patrol pulls over at the sound of the shot. Several U.S. troops climb out and run over to help. But the bullet missed, and the mission continues.
Capt. Carlos Gonzalez stands out on the street with the Iraqis. He assures the other Americans that the situation is under control, and they soon leave.
"These guys, these MPs, they're good," he said later of the Iraqis. "They're not scared. They like it."
A military police officer, Gonzalez left his last post as provost at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., for the Military Transition Team, or MiTT, assigned to the Iraqi army's 7th Division, based at Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi. The team of about 25 Marine advisers from all over the Corps is assigned to train and advise the division staff and attached companies. Other Marine MiTTs are assigned to 7th Division's three brigades and subordinate battalions.
It's the Marine advisers' task to build the Iraqi force into a self-reliant and modern fighting unit in the midst of a raging insurgency. The 7th Division has fared better than other Iraqi units, which have a reputation among U.S. troops for lax discipline, absenteeism, poor weapons handling and a frightening method of returning fire known as the "death blossom."
Gonzalez's Iraqi MPs have had some success. A few weeks ago, another patrol stopped a car in Ramadi carrying three Iraqis and a Jordanian with a bundle of money and story that did not compute. They are still detained.
Gonzalez speaks Arabic with the soldiers and the locals he meets on patrol. The Iraqis lead the mission, but he and another Humvee of MiTT Marines are along for command and control, advice and support. He says it's important for the citizens to see Iraqi faces in uniform, not just Americans.
While the U.S. still maintains a large presence in Ramadi and throughout Anbar province, Iraqi forces from 7th Division are gaining ground and taking control of their own operating areas. Gonzalez's MPs just learned the "snap VCP" technique, and they had a good, if fruitless, patrol.
"They adapt very well, very quickly," he said. "I am confident they will soon be able to do it by themselves."
Overseeing 7th Division's maturation is Col. Steve Zotti. An infantry officer by trade, he volunteered for the yearlong assignment in Iraq from III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa, Japan. In Iraq, he works alongside Iraqi officers at 7th Division headquarters at Camp Blue Diamond, but he gets out to the units as much as he can by conducting "battlefield circulation" visits.
On Dec. 2, he and some of his advisers drove in an Iraqi-led convoy to Habbaniyah to watch the latest batch of Iraqi recruits graduate from basic training. Delayed by streaming convoys on narrow roads, they arrived in time to see the new soldiers chanting and dancing, rifles pointed to the sky. It was a success, compared to a well-publicized April graduation at the Habbaniyah camp when nearly the entire class of 1,000 quit on the spot because the army was sending them to units far from home.
After driving more than two hours back to Blue Diamond from the graduation, Zotti quickly turned around and left for the town of Hit, where Iraqi forces led a raid on a mosque, capturing two suspects. Zotti went with a small force of advisers to observe the Iraqis in action.
"They did the whole operation," he said afterward. "Two insurgent cell leaders are gone, and that's good news."
But the Iraqi army has a long way to go in a short amount of time. It is still dependent on the U.S. for medical service, it does not have a maintenance capability or combat service support units, it's short on personnel, and it can't get the equipment and ordnance it needs.
Staff Col. Noaman Ali, 7th Division chief of staff, said his men are outgunned by the insurgents, who have the explosives, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades his men lack. He blames the Iraq Ministry of Defense.
"The biggest challenge is the shortage of personnel," he said during an interview in his office at Blue Diamond. "But even our weapons are limited. If you compare, the insurgents' weapons are more powerful than we have."
Zotti acknowledges the obstacles, but when his MiTT arrived in January, 7th Division existed "in name only" - a group of 60 Iraqis living in tents with "no functioning capability whatsoever." Now, 11 months later, the division and its support companies - not counting its line battalions spread across 33,000 square miles of Anbar province - is up to more than 900 soldiers, still short of its authorized strength of 1,500. Banking on a steady stream of recruits out of the Habbaniyah training center, the division should be up to full strength by summer.
Yet while more Iraqi army units are taking on the insurgents, Zotti says it would be unfair to hold them to Western standards. It is Iraq, not the U.S., and it has its own culture.
"We don't need them to be a United States Marine Corps," he said.
"We need to train them to be good enough to beat the bad guys in whatever flavor, shape or form these bad guys come in."
As the U.S. inevitably scales back its combat forces in Iraq, the MiTTs will grow to what some are calling "SuperMiTTs": adviser teams enhanced with a heavier security element, corpsmen and specialists who can coordinate rapid artillery and air support.
"The SuperMiTT would go from 15 to 45 or 50, maybe more," Zotti said. As larger combat brigades redeploy, the beefed-up MiTTs will "have a semiautonomous capability, with an American force, primarily to protect itself if required but to make sure the Iraqis have enough presence where they need it."
And as pressure mounts from Washington to turn over more and more of the fight to the Iraqis, Zotti says 7th Division, the latest of 10 divisions to be formed, has made major progress. In mid-December, he will hand over command to a new group of MiTT Marines who will take the Iraqis the rest of the way.
"I think there's some hope. I think we've seen progress," he said. "I am optimistic, and there's plenty to be pessimistic about. We are building and training an army that's in the middle of a fight. Everything is hard."
As hard as it may be, the Iraqis are catching on under the Marine advisers. Ali says the Americans have taught his troops to be self-reliant and "accurate" and shown them a sense of honor.
While some of the soldiers at 7th Division said they want the Americans to leave Iraq to the Iraqis, he said now is not the time.
"Now the situation in Iraq is not settled, not stable," he said. "I'm not a politician, but this is my personal view. I think the time American troops pull out will be a big disaster for Iraq. When they leave, everything should be settled."
Ellie