Transitioning Through Kuwait

Let's see, where are we these days? Currently the team and I are positioned at Camp Buerhing in Kuwait undergoing additional training prior to moving north into Iraq. So far we've completed engagement skills training, weapon sight verification, a small amout of language. Today we received familiarization training on the new MRAP vehicle. I won't try to spell it out, it's big armored troop vehicle and sits well over 10 feet high. Google for more information if you want to know more about the MRAP.

We're still adjusting to the time and region change. Even after a week in country, we find ourselves waking up at all times of the night for various reasons. Sometimes we fall back asleep, sometimes not. A few of the men in the tent are starting to get sick. The main concern is a bug spreading around. That's what you get when you cram 70 Soldiers in close proximity. At best you stay clean, wash your hands constantly, use lots of sanitizer, and hope for the best.

In around a week we'll head up just north of Baghdad to continue our indoctrination training. We look forward to linking up with the team we will replace and moving to our ultimate destination at FOB O'Ryan. There we will conduct what is called a RIP/TOA, or Relief in Place/Transfer of Authority, with the current team to signify our assuming control of the ongoing mission of advising an Iraqi infantry brigade.

With a week of training left here and another 10 or so days of training up north, I think it goes without saying that our team is ready to get the mission underway. We have been training for this assignment since the end of September. Among other things, I think more than anything, the team is lookinig forward to getting a little privacy.

After almost four months of living is rooms full of dudes, we're happy to be moving into a facilities where everyone has their own quarters. They're called CHU's or Container Housing Units; shipping containers converted into portable apartments. They are small but for us they'll be the best thing since sliced bread.

After that we can start to worry about other amenities. I have no idea what kind of communication or internet capability we will have at FOB O'Ryan, but I will make the best whatever is available in order keep everyone informed as we take over the mission.

Until next time.

Long Absence and Transition Team Update

Another beautiful sunset at the National Training Center. Over the years I've never tired of the Fort Irwin sunsets. Well, it's been almost a month since my last post. Needless to say, lately I've been a horrible blogger. Unfortunately between Facebook and my Combat Advisor education, I keep managing to find other things to do than scroll on my experiences here at Fort Riley. I apologize up front for the recent lack of communication.

In the last month our team made a trip to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin California to participate in a mission rehearsal exercise with a brigade from the 25th Infantry Division. The Brigade Combat Team was participate in an Afghanistan scenario in preparation for a deployment later in 2009. Our team was sent in to give the Brigade an appreciation for what it means to have a team of advisors assigned to their coalition partners.

On the surface, we kind of appear as proverbial pain in the ass. We require more support than we have to offer in return. I hear friends of mine in theater complain about MiTTs unable to proficiently walk the line between their Iraqi counterparts and the local coalition force commander. What I think is missed in all the complaining is the realization the difficulty in finding balance between loyalty and 'going native' is grossly under appreciated.

What I learned at NTC with the Brigade is that you have two commanders with two separate agendas. One represents the future and the eventual ticket home. Increasing his capability and competence is what Counterinsurgency is all about. The other commander represents our personal future and holds the careers of the local Transition Teams in his hand. Obviously we are Americans first and foremost, loyal to the U.S. Army and our chain of command.

Fortunately, I see things getting better. From the Transition Team standpoint, the BCT Commander I met at NTC along with his staff 'gets' what COIN is about. They were intent on working through the local Transition Teams rather than just working them. They sought input from the Transition Team Chief on all matters relating to the host nation military. It was a pleasant surprise and raises my expectations for the upcoming year.

The impromptu relationship between the Transition Team, host nation military, and brigade combat team managed to be productive in a very short time despite new relationships and unfamiliar languages and land. I'm positive that had our teams met up downrange rather than in a training environment that the outcome would have been equally positive.

Well, our time here at Riley is quickly drawing to a close. The upcoming weeks will bring some time off and an eventual plane ride back to Iraq. I'll update as I can.

Weeks 5 & 6 - Equipment and Weapons Training

The training fire hose continues. We moved past the cultural and team indoctrination phase and transitioned into the field phase. The training consisting of communications, combat lifesaver, driver's training, and weapons. Communications entailed the latest on all the possible systems that will be available to the teams in theater. New to me was the capability of the handheld Harris and EMBITTER radios. My only previous experience with handhelds had been unsecured ICON and Motorolas. These represent an impressive jump in capability and will serve the team well.

Combat lifesaver has been upgraded since my last time through. Along with the new first aid kits came extensive tourniquet and tension pneumothorax training. Of course, the rite of passage in all CLS training events is sticking your buddy with an IV, and him sticking you. My partner and I did quite well, both hitting gold on the first stick. Others did not go so well. A few missed sticks is funny. Watching a poor soul get multiple perforations in both arms becomes quite sad.

Last week was a condensed version of range week. In order to get the team ready for NTC, we pushed through M9, M4, M203, M240B, and M2 and all the associated Pre Marksmanship Instruction (PMI) in a week. Most teams spread the training over a couple of weeks, but since we needed to get the training done, we compressed it and got it done in time to line haul our vehicles and equipment for a 10 day trip out to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.

You heard that right. We are deviating from the normal training plan in order to participate in an NTC rotation with a Brigade Combat Team from the 25th Infantry Division. The purpose is twofold. First, expose the BCT to a Military Transition Team and the security and support requirements associated with them. Second, and most important, this give our team the opportunity to roll in the desert under more realistic conditions than Fort Riley and work on out teams Battle Drills and Tactical Standard Operating Procedures. I anticipate the rotation will benefit everyone. I almost feel like I'm going home as I spent 5 rotations at the NTC in the first half of my career.