Training, equipping and deploying the Iraqi Army remains one of the most urgent tasks to be completed before American combat brigades can start withdrawing from the country. The same process is also happening in Afghanistan. Despite the efforts of the last four years to achieve these goals, the militaries of both Iraq and Afghanistan still face dizzying leadership, morale and disciplinary problems.
Over the past six months, one of the solutions to helping train up the Iraqi Army has been to increase the number of military advisors deployed with Iraqi units. These advisors are grouped into units called Military Transition Teams. Then, these teams are attached to Iraqi Army units to advise them in various roles, ranging from logistics to battle tactics.
Surprisingly, relatively little attention has been paid to the subject of how the Army has been conducting this program despite the importance of this objective. Last fall, a Washington Post story illuminated many problems with the advising program. According to the article, the problems started stateside, with new advisors receiving relatively little training and background knowledge about their role. After they were sent to Iraq, many Military Transition Teams ended up under-strength and ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of working with a foreign military.
The issue of military advisors recently came up in a congressional hearing in front of the Senate Armed Forces Committee. On April 17, Andy Krepinevich, the president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, testified that the military needs to look into the creation of an Advisor Corps, consisting of officers and noncommissioned officers. They would permanently serve as a force that can go worldwide to train foreign military units in the art of warfare. After reading through what he had to say on the subject, I think he makes a very good proposal that deserves further attention.
Dispiriting though the thought may be, it is far more likely that the United States will be involved in a war similar to Iraq than a conventional conflict. As in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the keys to victory in future conflicts will be to build up the capabilities of the indigenous military in the region to successfully confront and defeat an insurgency. At the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was no system in place for military advisors. Today, soldiers are sent to a training program at Fort Riley in Kansas. While they do receive some additional training in Iraq prior to joining Iraqi Army units, most of these soldiers have never been in an advising situation. This means that crucial time in the field is spent learning on-the-job lessons.
The solution to this problem would be the formation of a U.S. Army unit whose sole purpose would be to attach to foreign military units as advisors for training purposes. The Advisor Corps could be as small as one or two brigades. This would be somewhere around 2,000-4,000 soldiers. These advisors would be available at a moment's notice, instead of having to be trained from scratch. Plus, the advising teams in the Corps would have already worked together for an extended period of time, thus making them more efficient at their job.
An additional problem with current advising teams is that they often do not have enough personnel to most effectively help Iraqi units. With only ten advisors in a battalion of 500 Iraqi soldiers, the Americans are often tied up at the battalion level command post rather than helping individual companies or platoons within the battalion. A much better option would be to attach larger groups of 20-30 advisors that could take a more active role in the process of training the entire unit. An established Advisor Corps could be structured and trained along this model of using larger groups.
Finally, military advisors can go where combat troops cannot. In many situations, committing United States combat troops to a conflict will make matters worse or be impractical. However, advising teams that take a more indirect role in the conflict might be acceptable. The establishment of an Advisor Corps would give the United States more options in situations where the United States cannot intervene heavily.
Looking to the future, it may be too late to change things for the better in Iraq or Afghanistan. However, the creation of an Advisor Corps could save a lot of time, effort and trouble in any new conflict. Whether they train allied forces to help support American troops or are deployed separately to friendly nations, a well-trained and efficient group of advisors might be able to change the situation on the ground for less expense and less struggle than any other option.
Andrew Wagner ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in computer science and political science.
