Could you please pass the salt?

Well, if you needed any further proof that the military is scraping the bottom of the barrel, I was just promoted to Master Sergeant yesterday.  I wish I had a ‘way back machine’ so that I could see the expression of the 18 year old version of myself as I tell him I’d be a master sergeant one day.  I seem to recall telling a first sergeant at one point in my early years “I’ll sell pencils on the street before I reenlist in the Army.”

I’m still eating crow over that one (and I’m a vegetarian!)

Afghan Rambos

The Washington Post yesterday described the creation and deployment of Afghan commandos to fight the Taleban.  The article makes the 4,000 soldiers sounds very impressive and it sounds like the U.S. is putting some significant time and resources in training and equipping these forces.  I found this quote very interesting:

In marksmanship, for example, commandos fire more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition in their initial training alone, while the average Afghan soldier fires 60 rounds in training each year.

This got me thinking about the training we recently did at Ft. Dix and my comments about how the Army plays it cheap with weapons training when it comes to many of its soldiers.  That 60 rounds of ammunition per soldier per year is about the same amount that I’ve received ever since I’ve been in the army with the exception of when I was mobilizing (and it that case I doubt I fired more than 200 rounds).  I’ve always questioned just how proficient a marksman you can be when you only shoot one day a year, under unrealistic conditions with a minimal amount of ammunition but what do I know?  As I’ve said before, training has gotten better over the years but there’s still this approach that neglects training (at least among the reserve component) to do minimal training until the word comes down to mobilize and then there’s a mad dash to cram as much training as possible in a short period of time.  I think that’s the wrong way to approach it since (as anyone who’s crammed for a test can tell you), there’s just no way you can expect soldiers to absorb and retain the flood of new information and procedures as well as if they were involved in training over the long term where they could be exposed to these procedures and tactics repeatedly.

But that’s not why I wanted to blog about this news item.

I haven’t done any research on this but I wonder if there are any examples of fragile (or failed) nation states developing elite military units which didn’t end up abusing their power?  It’s not a huge leap from counterinsurgency force and death squad if there’s no effective control of the military.  The Karzai government doesn’t have a great deal of control in many parts of the country and I doubt there’s deep loyalty to the new Afghan state system.  So, we’re in a precarious place here.  The development of the force and their apparent competence is definitely a good sign.  In many ways though, that was the easy part.  What needs to happen now (just like in Iraq) is a strengthening of the legitimacy (both perceived and actual) of the central government.

Hidden casualties

This story from the AP caught my eye about the scale of mental health problems arising from our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The latest estimates are that approximately 300,000 soldiers are suffering from some sort of mental health issues, including depression, PTSD and anxiety.  That’s about 18% of the total number of forces that have deployed.  The really bad news (that’s right, it’s even worse) is that only half of those suffering from such problems are seeking help.  The rest are suffering without treatment or ’self-medicating’.

The shame of that is that there is help available for soldiers.  This is one area where there have been significant improvements since I returned home in 2004.  Military OneSource offers a range of services (including free counseling) for soldiers.  It’s run by a contracted company (Ceridian) which would normally make me dubious but it does make their claims of confidentiality seem more trustworthy than if such services were being provided by the Department of Defense.  That’s important because soldiers are often reluctant to seek treatment for mental problems via the military medical system because they are afraid it would negatively impact upon their career.  I’ve known people who’ve had career doors shut because they were treated for depression or similar issues years in the past.  Unfortunately, even though the military (at least the Army) has gotten better at encouraging soldiers to seek help there is still a stigma about those who actually attempt to get help.

I imagine the costs of these mental health problems will be following us around for years.  The question will be once troops are eventually pulled out of Iraq will there be any will to properly fund treatment for all these vets?  My suspicion is that most Americans desperately want to pretend that Iraq never happened (and, I suspect, most have made that transition anyway) and I fear that soldiers from that conflict are going to get the short end of the stick as a result.  After all, Iraq has been supplemented by the economy and why Obama won’t wear a flag pin as the most important issues facing the country today.  I can’t imagine there will be more pressure to attend to wounded veterans when we aren’t actively involved in combat operations.

Mission Accomplished

Well, it seemed to last much longer than it actually did, but my military training is finally finished and I can go back to ‘normal’ working hours.  In the past 16 days we got over 630 soldiers to fire the 240B machine gun on three different ‘tables’.  It was an exhausting experience.

A number of soldiers from the NJ National Guard are getting ready to deploy to Iraq later in the year and I’ve been able to observe how some of them are preparing for that deployment over the past 4 months.  It’s been very interesting to compare the training and preparation these soldiers are getting with the training I received before mobilizing in 2003.

The training I received back then was substandard in virtually all areas.  Basic soldier skills which were ignored up to that point (because, according to the leadership, we’d get lots of refresher training on them in the unlikely event we were ever called to war) were passed over because (ready for this?) everyone assumed we had been maintaining our proficiency in them for years.

Combat training was minimal because we weren’t a combat unit and our leadership couldn’t conceive a scenario where such training would be necessary (despite evidence in the early days of the Iraq war that support units were, in fact, finding themselves in combat).  To be fair to the leadership it must be said that additional training would have cut into their drinking time and so would have placed an undue burden on them.

The training I’ve observed (especially that conducted at the armories) has been much better than what I encountered.  The one exception that I can see is weapons training.  Given how much soldiers are going to rely on their weapons, I think more time (much more time) needs to be spent getting soldiers proficient with the weapons they’ll be expected to use.  When I entered the army I received one full week of training in the M-16.  I learned how to take it apart, put it together and shoot it (again and again).  After that, in the reserves, training is limited to firing the weapon for a couple of hours, once a year.  When getting ready to spend a year in a war zone, the army gives (at best) a few hours of instruction and then throws you on the range to ‘qualify’ (which is a minimum number of targets you need to hit in a specific time period).  The whole thing is more about checking off a box than actually conducting any meaningful training but that’s all they get.  That’s a shame since soldiers more proficient in weapons use means less ‘collateral damage’ which is a definite boon to any hearts and minds campaign.

What I’ve been doing this past week

Get up at 5am, head off to the M240B range,

Watch soldiers shoot all day long and all night,

Collapse into bed around midnight.

Repeat ad infinitum…

Update: A reader emailed me to ask what exactly that bottom picture is.  A good question and I can only claim extreme sleep deprivation as to why I didn’t think to explain it in my post originally.  Those lights are tracer fire coming from the machine guns at night.  They’re designed to help figure out where you’re shooting (which is not always as easy as it sounds, particularly if there are a whole bunch of people shooting around you).  I left the shutter on my camera open for a few seconds so that you could see the path of the rounds.

Break out the camo…

I’m getting ready to do a three week stint of military duty so after next week I expect posting to get real sparse (that’s an optimistic prediction…I’m expecting to not have enough time to even check back here).  I’ll be training soldiers to fire the M-240B machine gun…

I have to admit, I’m not really a gun nut but the M-240B is pretty nice.  Easy to take apart, put back together, use and clear.  I could probably teach a ten year old to use one in short order…

Oh, wait.  I guess that’s not a good thing, is it?

I’ll definitely need to get one once the zombie uprising begins though.  Or when our evil alien overlords decide the time is ripe to strike.  Or when robots become sentient and decide to take over the earth.

Anyway, I’m hoping the experience will enable to take some good photos.  I’ve been neglecting my camera and I’ll need something to jar me out of the bone numbing dullness of three weeks of watching guys spend all day shooting thousands of rounds at paper targets.

The Army’s transition to a mercenary force

First, let me say that I have benefited from both the GI Bill and reenlistment bonuses in the Army and thought that they (particularly the GI Bill) can have a positive benefit which goes beyond just getting recruits to fill enlistment quotas.  But I have to admit, I’m getting a bit uneasy with the combination of lowering standards and sending enlistment bonuses sky high in order to gain new recruits.

These policies are incredibly short sighted and may make quarterly recruiting numbers look good but they’re really just pushing off the day of reckoning a few years.

The new enlistment bonus ($40,000 for active duty troops) seems particularly designed to attract people who will do one tour and get the hell out of dodge.  According to Fred Kalpan at Slate:

…the cash is handed over only after the recruits finish their service, they will have an incentive not to re-enlist for a second term, much less to make a career of the military.

Ah…brilliant.

So, in four years we’ll have a bunch of soldiers deciding if they should stay in the military or not.  If they stay in, they may be looking at additional combat deployments and the trials and tribulations of military life.  If they get out, they get a $40,000 check plus up to $73,000 for college.  Let’s face it, many will get out.

So, what happens then?  Assuming the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t over and we aren’t in some sort of major depression with significant unemployment, the military is still going to have trouble recruiting.  So, those bonuses or ones like them will have to be retained.  Even if, the wars are over, is it likely that people will come to view this high level of incentive as the new ‘floor’ of incentives for military service.  What are recruiters going to say in 4 or 5 years when a kid comes in and says her brother got over $100,000 in bonuses and wants the same (or better) deal?  Will they settle for half that?

Many of us serve in the military because we want to, not because it’s a huge money making proposition.  Yet, it seems the Army is spending all its time trying to reach those who live by cost-benefit analysis.

The Marines have done a much better job at keeping the focus of service on duty and less on making a buck.  While they’re able to do that in part because they’re a smaller force a can’t help feeling that the Army really missed an opportunity in the wake of 9/11 to appeal to people’s patriotism to join the military.  And the further we go down this path of buying people’s service, I think the harder it’s going to be to turn around and go with an alternative path to get people to serve.

NJ Veterans Oral History Project

Back in September I was in Sea Girt during my National Guard drill weekend for the Governor’s review. While I was there I had a bit of time to kill and so went to check out the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey. As I’ve said before in previous posts, I’m not a huge fan of military museums but I seem to prefer ones that have a distinctly local feel to them. They may not be particularly flashy or slick but they seem to have a much more authentic connection to the soldiers who served than the big, overly packaged ones.

Anyway, while there I got to talking to one of the volunteers who worked there who told me about an oral history project they’re working on. It’s goal is to “collect and preserve the memories of veterans through recorded oral history interviews.”

I’m a big fan of the work done by the Legacy Project (if you haven’t read any of the books by the projects director, do yourself a favor and get one today…very moving stuff) and have finally come to appreciate how much history we’re losing every day. As veterans pass away, their experiences often go with them and, at best, we’re left with second or third hand stories that lose some of their accuracy and uniqueness with each telling. So the opportunity to pass along my experiences to the ‘greater good’ was very appealing. I filled out my application and about six weeks later (the staff, as near as I can tell, consists of a part time oral historian and some volunteers and so they’ve got a lot to do with few resources) I got a call to schedule my ‘debriefing’.

The experience was really top notch. I wasn’t sure what to expect but was really blown away by the professionalism of everyone involved as well as the seriousness in which they approached the whole project. The prime interviewer, Carol Fowler, did her homework before I arrived and had found the posting I had done for my friend who had passed away while we were in Afghanistan. She asked me if I would read it to which I replied ‘No problem.’ I didn’t think about until well into the interview when she said it would be a good time to read it.

And then it happened…

I got about two lines into the reading when I, unexpectedly, felt myself choking up. Before I knew it I was crying. I was totally blown away how strongly and quickly the emotions came rushing back. It was really quite incredible.

The interview went on for about two hours (hopefully I said something of interest to someone during all that time) and when we were done she asked me if I had spoken to anyone at such length about my experiences. I realized then that I hadn’t. I talk a lot about my military experience but it’s usually in small bite sized chunks. The whole experience was very therapeutic.

Over the past two days I’ve been having countless “D’oh” moments where I’ve realized things I should have mentioned but at least I gave them a bunch of pictures and a copy of all of my blog postings from my time mobilizing at Ft. Dix and in Afghanistan (racking up an amazing 198 pages! Who knew you could write so much about so little?!).

Update (13 Dec 07):  Here’s a photo of the  interview.  Taken at the NJ Militia Museum.  Photo courtesy of Joe Bilby.

We’ll take the good war…

I saw this article yesterday and let out a big “WTF?!”

The Marine Corps is pressing to remove its forces from Iraq and to send marines instead to Afghanistan, to take over the leading role in combat there, according to senior military and Pentagon officials.The idea by the Marine Corps commandant would effectively leave the Iraq war in the hands of the Army while giving the Marines a prominent new role in Afghanistan, under overall NATO command.

Supposedly, there are all sorts of logistical reasons why this might be a good idea but I’m a little suspicious.  I can’t help feeling the Marines might be thinking “This Iraq thing sucks…let’s go to the good war and leave the Army holding the bag for this Iraq mess.”

…its supporters, including some in the Army, argue that a realignment could allow the Army and Marines each to operate more efficiently in sustaining troop levels for two wars that have put a strain on their forces.

If we’re stretched that thin then we’ve got even bigger problems (which I think we do) and need to consider even bolder options (withdrawal, draft…we’re already lowering standards).

Gates is saying it’s all preliminary talk and hopefully squashed it before it snowballs.

Those Marines are pretty crafty…better keep an eye on them.