thedrifter
03-30-08, 06:31 AM
Many captains, America's go-to guys, are going
By MICHAEL KAMBER, New York Times
March 29, 2008
JISR DIALA, IRAQ
During the war in Iraq, young Marine and Army captains have become U.S. viceroys, officers with large sectors to run and near-autonomy to do it. In Army parlance, they are the "ground-owners." In practice, they are power brokers.
"They give us a chunk of land and say, 'Fix it,' " said Capt. Rich Thompson, 36, who controls an area east of Baghdad.
The Iraqis have learned that these captains, many still in their 20s, can call down devastating U.S. firepower one day and approve multimillion-dollar projects the next. Some have become celebrities in their sectors, leaders whose names are known even to children. Many believe that these captains are the linchpins in the Americans' strategy for success in Iraq, but as the war continues into its sixth year the Army has been losing them in large numbers -- at a time when it says it needs thousands more.
Most of these captains have extensive combat experience and are regarded as the Army's future leaders. They're exactly the people the Army most wants. Unfortunately for the Army, corporate America wants them, too. And the hardships of repeated tours are taking their toll, tilting them back toward civilian life and possibly complicating the future course of the war.
"I have served my time; I've done two tours in Iraq," said Capt. Kirkner Bailey, 26, of the 3rd Armored Combat Regiment in Mosul.
"For the past three years of my life I have either been in Iraq or training to go to Iraq," he added. "I just know that there is more to life than this war, and my girlfriend, Shannon, and I are interested in finding out what that is."
"I can't speak to trends," he said. "But eight of my 10 friends who are captains are leaving the Army."
It is hard to overstate the importance of these officers to the American war effort. Capt. Brian Gilbert, 30, who controls a million-dollar monthly Army budget for his sector of 200,000 residents in Jisr Diala, a city east of Baghdad, has pulled together a group of tribal leaders as well as a local Iraqi security force, not to mention keeping a close eye on the elected city council.
On a recent afternoon, he ordered traffic control barriers installed to prevent car bombs, checked on refurbished water pumps for farmers and approved money to connect the pumping station to the Baghdad electricity grid. Then there were soccer uniforms to be dropped off for a community team, heated disputes to resolve, an influential sheik to visit.
"It is purely my fight in my area of operation," he said. "I decide the targets, I decide the development projects and I choose to partner with the Sons of Iraq," a reference to the local security group that he helped to set up.
"My previous tours were frustrating," Gilbert said. "The first tour there was jubilation at the fall of Saddam. Then it was like, 'Now what do we do?' We were just doing security.
"On the second tour, we were fighting 24 hours a day in Samarra. If we saw Iraqis they were often shooting at us or reconning us. We got hit with an IED on every patrol we went on. I felt successful because I killed the enemy, but I was frustrated every day. I couldn't rebuild the area. When we'd do a project, the next day they would blow it up. We couldn't win hearts and minds because we were under constant threat."
Now, he said, the Iraqis he works with are more than receptive: "If I do a project in one village, they go and brag about it and then the next village wants the same thing."
Still, for all the seemingly endless projects and negotiations, Gilbert says, "the real question is, how does the population feel about you? Are you an occupier or a friend?"
And then there is the irrepressible strain of repeated deployments. Gilbert was in Iraq when his daughter, 2 1/2, was born. He has spent more than half her life here and has misgivings about being away from his family.
"When I got home from my last deployment, the phone was ringing all the time with job offers from headhunters," Gilbert said. "They're not pushy, but they tell you what they were able to do for other captains." Despite the pressures, Gilbert sees himself returning to Iraq, saying, "We're getting where we want to be."
But only a day after he was pinned with his captain's bars in early March, Bailey in Mosul knew he would leave the Army as soon as his deployment was over. "We're leaders proven under fire," Bailey said. "Put me in the most stressful corporate board meeting and I'll laugh."
In 2007, the Army authorized reenlistment bonuses for captains of up to $35,000. But corporate recruiters have matched that, captains say. And most captains make a base pay of $4,000 to $5,000 a month in the Army, a figure they can easily exceed in corporate America.
Even so, money is not the deciding factor in leaving the Army, most captains say.
"Many of the brightest and most experienced captains of my generation are being driven out of the Army by the prospect of a career filled with deployments every other year," said Capt. Patrick Ryan, who says he is certain to leave the Army when his five-year commitment is done. "I think the Army stands to lose a generation of battle-tested junior leaders."
Ellie
By MICHAEL KAMBER, New York Times
March 29, 2008
JISR DIALA, IRAQ
During the war in Iraq, young Marine and Army captains have become U.S. viceroys, officers with large sectors to run and near-autonomy to do it. In Army parlance, they are the "ground-owners." In practice, they are power brokers.
"They give us a chunk of land and say, 'Fix it,' " said Capt. Rich Thompson, 36, who controls an area east of Baghdad.
The Iraqis have learned that these captains, many still in their 20s, can call down devastating U.S. firepower one day and approve multimillion-dollar projects the next. Some have become celebrities in their sectors, leaders whose names are known even to children. Many believe that these captains are the linchpins in the Americans' strategy for success in Iraq, but as the war continues into its sixth year the Army has been losing them in large numbers -- at a time when it says it needs thousands more.
Most of these captains have extensive combat experience and are regarded as the Army's future leaders. They're exactly the people the Army most wants. Unfortunately for the Army, corporate America wants them, too. And the hardships of repeated tours are taking their toll, tilting them back toward civilian life and possibly complicating the future course of the war.
"I have served my time; I've done two tours in Iraq," said Capt. Kirkner Bailey, 26, of the 3rd Armored Combat Regiment in Mosul.
"For the past three years of my life I have either been in Iraq or training to go to Iraq," he added. "I just know that there is more to life than this war, and my girlfriend, Shannon, and I are interested in finding out what that is."
"I can't speak to trends," he said. "But eight of my 10 friends who are captains are leaving the Army."
It is hard to overstate the importance of these officers to the American war effort. Capt. Brian Gilbert, 30, who controls a million-dollar monthly Army budget for his sector of 200,000 residents in Jisr Diala, a city east of Baghdad, has pulled together a group of tribal leaders as well as a local Iraqi security force, not to mention keeping a close eye on the elected city council.
On a recent afternoon, he ordered traffic control barriers installed to prevent car bombs, checked on refurbished water pumps for farmers and approved money to connect the pumping station to the Baghdad electricity grid. Then there were soccer uniforms to be dropped off for a community team, heated disputes to resolve, an influential sheik to visit.
"It is purely my fight in my area of operation," he said. "I decide the targets, I decide the development projects and I choose to partner with the Sons of Iraq," a reference to the local security group that he helped to set up.
"My previous tours were frustrating," Gilbert said. "The first tour there was jubilation at the fall of Saddam. Then it was like, 'Now what do we do?' We were just doing security.
"On the second tour, we were fighting 24 hours a day in Samarra. If we saw Iraqis they were often shooting at us or reconning us. We got hit with an IED on every patrol we went on. I felt successful because I killed the enemy, but I was frustrated every day. I couldn't rebuild the area. When we'd do a project, the next day they would blow it up. We couldn't win hearts and minds because we were under constant threat."
Now, he said, the Iraqis he works with are more than receptive: "If I do a project in one village, they go and brag about it and then the next village wants the same thing."
Still, for all the seemingly endless projects and negotiations, Gilbert says, "the real question is, how does the population feel about you? Are you an occupier or a friend?"
And then there is the irrepressible strain of repeated deployments. Gilbert was in Iraq when his daughter, 2 1/2, was born. He has spent more than half her life here and has misgivings about being away from his family.
"When I got home from my last deployment, the phone was ringing all the time with job offers from headhunters," Gilbert said. "They're not pushy, but they tell you what they were able to do for other captains." Despite the pressures, Gilbert sees himself returning to Iraq, saying, "We're getting where we want to be."
But only a day after he was pinned with his captain's bars in early March, Bailey in Mosul knew he would leave the Army as soon as his deployment was over. "We're leaders proven under fire," Bailey said. "Put me in the most stressful corporate board meeting and I'll laugh."
In 2007, the Army authorized reenlistment bonuses for captains of up to $35,000. But corporate recruiters have matched that, captains say. And most captains make a base pay of $4,000 to $5,000 a month in the Army, a figure they can easily exceed in corporate America.
Even so, money is not the deciding factor in leaving the Army, most captains say.
"Many of the brightest and most experienced captains of my generation are being driven out of the Army by the prospect of a career filled with deployments every other year," said Capt. Patrick Ryan, who says he is certain to leave the Army when his five-year commitment is done. "I think the Army stands to lose a generation of battle-tested junior leaders."
Ellie