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Some of those BCTs will become regionally aligned brigades (RAB), which will train and deploy in support of regional combatant commanders. The first such brigade, the 2nd BCT of the 1st Infantry Division, will align with the AFRICOM command in 2013.The entire article is worth reading. It initially concerns the draw down but quickly turns to the Army's future.
While the 2/1 deployment will be a pilot test, some leaders are concerned about how ready the force is to start conducting training, advising and other “soft” missions on such short notice.
In remarks at a Nov. 27 Special Operations conference in Alexandria, Va., hosted by the Defense Strategies Institute, Lt. Gen. Charles Cleveland, commander of the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command, said that while he supports the RAB concept, “I have cautioned the Army about all of those things like [teaching soldiers] language. It’s expensive.”
Cleveland added that in discussions with Army leadership, “I have told them that the first thing you need to do is increase your … exercise funds so you can increase multinational training events,” since building those relationships on the ground will be key to the success of the program.
This is one trend that the Marine Corps should rethink and definitely NOT follow.
Left unsaid in this particular article (but not others) is the fact that the Army will essentially begin having specialist units that are capable of operating in a particular environment to great effect but will be much less capable in others.
That is not how you create a force that is capable of landing and winning anywhere they are sent.
Regionally assigned units will eventually lead to weapons and equipment specialization that the Marine Corps cannot afford, and should not desire. Instead of following the US Army's example we should continue on our current course and if possible enhance those capabilities by taking a page from the Royal Marines.
We already have Mountain Leaders, Scout Swimmers and other specialist throughout the Marine Corps. We should expand that to create Officer and Enlisted area specialist in the form of Jungle Experts, Mountain Leaders, Desert Specialist and Urban Specialist (to give each battalion or division experts in fighting in different locations) but also create schooling for regional experts that will advise when fighting in different locales.
Obviously this would follow the same pattern but instead of focusing on the HOW to fight in certain areas that your Jungle, Mountain, Desert and Urban Specialist would have, the Regional Experts would be aware of the human terrain. They would receive the expensive language training, cultural awareness and other skills necessary for our forces to fight, influence and (forgive me Chesty) not offend the people whose land we happen to be fighting in.
Regional units no. Jungle, Mountain, Desert, Urban and Regional Specialist Marines? Yes!
Language training is expensive, but the point of it is developing skills that will allow our soldiers to train foreign soldiers. If this results in our soldiers not needing to be sent to do the fighting themselves, then that means less blood and treasure expended by our nation.
ReplyDeleteAnd the way our military does language instruction is back-assed. We shouldn't assign just individuals to DFLI, etc., we should assign Foreign Language instructors to specific battalions and companies to train the entire unit.
Create a "immersion barracks" where officers or soldiers can do their meals/living arrangement/training in a foreign language immersion environment that is run by native speakers.
Bring in foreign military officers/NCOs to train with these units AND assist the units in learning languages. Learn the customs, colloquial idioms, military terms these foreign military officers/NCOs use. The foreign soldiers can teach the Americans the language and culture, the American soldiers teach them about US military practices.
Find the best students in the battalion or company and send them to the DFLI OR a public University as a scholarship to won by the best suited and hardest working soldiers.