Damn good column here from Small Wars Journal (pdf). A taste:
Combat advising is central to successful counterinsurgency operations in existing U.S. conflicts around the world. As U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates observed, The most important component in the War on Terror is not the fighting we do ourselves, but how well we enable and empower our partners to defend and govern their own countries.1 Similarly, in 2006 the U.S. Army and Marine Corps Field Manual (FM) 3–24, Counterinsurgency, identified the most critical task required to conduct effective counterinsurgency operations as, developing an effective host-nation security force.2 The importance of combat advising is not a new realization. In fact, major U.S. efforts in this area began in the early 1950s when U.S. forces provided training and assistance to Greece, the Philippines, China (Taiwan), Iran, and Japan. Since that time, protracted combat advising operations have occurred in Korea, Vietnam, and El Salvador.
The traditional arm of America’s combat advising force, Special Forces A-Teams, are way overtasked at the moment. To compensate, we’ve been sticking officers in a combat advisor role that –honestly– have no business being there in the first place. The solution, to create a combat advisor command, pains me due to my severe bureaucracy aversion, but does make some sense from a training and sustainment point of view.
Still, it seems as if combat advising is something that could be rolled into our Joint Special Operations Command. The initiative-fostering culture of our boys in black, as well as their equal aversion to chickenshit regulation and bloated command infrastructure, is precisely the right environment for this style of soft operations (think Lawerence of Arabia for the 21st century).
–John Noonan
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Couldn’t SOF’s role be expanded to do this?… it would avoid beuracracy by giging them a greater role. I am no expert on this, so don’t single me out for being an idiot poser(I kidd).
I would also like to alert everyone to a wonderful film,”Why We Fight Now – The Global War on Terror” which makes the argument for investing in special forces.
http://www.whywefightnow.com/main.html
“Still, it seems as if combat advising is something that could be rolled into our Joint Special Operations Command.”
Would this be appropriate, considering the reputation for direct action? I hope there isn’t such a thing as too much DA…
A Military Assistance and Advisory Group? We had those back in the day, called MAAGs, and they should be rolled up under SOC, but regular personnel should be allowed to apply and try out for such assignments. Some of us are happy teaching and mentoring.
Isn’t this role being done by the Asymmetric Warfare Group? These guys were stood up to advise regular Army commanders in Asymmetric activities. Most are retired or seconded SOF or contractors. http://www.awg.army.mil/
Mission
The Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG) provides Operational Advisory Assistance to Army and Joint Force Commanders to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Operating Force and Enable the Defeat of Asymmetric Threats.
Goal
The AWG is designed to improve the asymmetric warfare capabilities of the U. S. Army at the operational and tactical levels throughout the full spectrum of conflict. AWG enhances the capabilities of U.S. units by making them faster and more adept at identifying and attacking enemy vulnerabilities, and by preparing them for a broader spectrum of threats.
It seems to me that you could have soldiers trained in this facet of special operations (ala Alpha teams) without the need for intensive physical/nav training and testing. The traditional special ops, or “hard” part of the Alpha teams testing/selection process is warranted by their requirements to go behind enemy lines in small units, operating covertly. But in our current conflicts this aspect is not always (or even often) the case. All you need are dedicated soldiers trained in that other and rare part of Alpha teams, which is their capacity to work with and train indigenous forces. It need not be limited by special forces selection courses, although obviously being under SOCOM would give them more flexibility.
I was part of an MTT whose only qualification at the time, apparently, was that none of us had actually volunteered (hey, I raised my hand in ’74, after that, you’re on your own.). Bottom line is that we were all trained instructors and were good at instructing even though not (color of choice) beanie-qualified. Point being, for overt training tasks I doubt that one needs ‘operators’ as such, as long as the advisers know their stuff. And who came up with the term ‘operators’, anyway? Lily Tomlin was an operator…
I am currently serving as a Combat Advisor. I am a reservist with 12yrs of AD time and over 25yrs total service. I will say that the Army needs to ensure that advisors are trained for the mission at hand. My training was two weeks which i did not mind but the overall it did not help me even if I was in the 90 program. I am at a IA school house and I am expected to write POI and training slides. Nothing in my training or time in the military focused on POI. Writing training material for class not an issue. But I will say this much the rank structure needs to be either a very SR Captain or Major or above and no less than SFC. We have SPC and SSG’s who are not well versed in training or dealing with the IA soldiers. But I am having fun working with the Iraqis
Not!The actual insurgency is worthless and the media is proof….I’ll be seeing all the lies soon.And how people are hacking ids,for such things….
Not!The actual insurgency is worthless and the media is proof….I’ll be seeing all the lies soon.And how people are hacking ids,for such things….
Perhaps I am missing the point of the article. FID has traditionally been the purview of SOF until the war started. FID is as close to UW as one can get in a peacetime environment and allows SOF units to work in environments they may one day see operationally. With the stand up of MARSOC, the reigns of FID have been passed to the Marines within SOCOM. However, there is a lot more combat advising needing to be done than SOCOM has in capacity. So, you use conventional forces personnel to advise Host Nation conventional force units.
This is of course not even discussing the work accomplished by AFSOC’s 6th SOS.
It should never be moved under JSOC. FID and precision DA are entirely different animals. Not to mention the fact that the forces under JSOC are even more resource constrained than SOCOM writ large.