Army To Promote Training As Career Path

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Wall Street Journal
June 19, 2008
Pg. 3
By Yochi J. Dreazen
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army, in a far-reaching shift, is reconfiguring its promotion policies to better reward U.S. troops training Iraqi and Afghan security forces, a vital mission widely seen as a career-killer within the military.
The changes highlight the growing belief among senior Army officers that the conflicts of the future will closely resemble the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and that U.S. troops will need to train the two nations' nascent security forces indefinitely.
The new rules will in essence make service on the training teams -- which live and work alongside Iraqi and Afghan forces as mentors -- equal for promotion purposes to time spent in traditional Army roles like commanding artillery or logistics units.
"Our ability to train and operate effectively with indigenous forces will be a key element of 21st century land power," Army Chief of Staff George Casey wrote in an email to other officers detailing the new policies. "We need our best involved."
Army officials said the new rules were designed to communicate the importance of the training mission to the officers currently on the teams, as well as to the much larger pool of soldiers who might volunteer or be selected for the mission down the road.
"This will serve to express throughout the Army community that this is an assignment that should be taken seriously and sought after," said Army spokesman Paul Boyce.
The shift "puts training on the same footing" as other kinds of Army assignments" when it comes to promotions, he added.
The changes cap a long and heated debate within the Army over the training mission, which is widely seen as a vital part of the U.S. exit strategy from Iraq and Afghanistan. Members of the training teams are charged with teaching Iraqi and Afghan forces basic military tactics and skills and providing them with intelligence, communications and logistical support.
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended increasing sharply the number of U.S. personnel devoted to the training mission, arguing that any large-scale U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be dependent on creating Iraqi security forces capable of filling the void. Last fall, Defense Secretary Robert Gates described the training effort as "arguably the most important military component" of the overall war effort.
Within the Army, however, many young officers have long complained that serving on the teams left them far less likely to be promoted than soldiers with combat command experience.
Brig. Gen. Michael Linnington, who interviewed thousands of soldiers as part of an internal Army effort to gauge the effect of repeated tours of duty, said that many young officers worried that serving on the teams would derail their military careers.
"Many captains frown on these assignments," Gen. Linnington said in an interview earlier this year. "They want training-team assignments to enhance their careers and promotion potential, and worry that it doesn't do that right now."
An email widely circulated throughout Army ranks and written as a mock welcome letter for new trainers begins: "You have a pulse and have not been selected for command. Congratulations on your assignment!"
This email goes on to note that "the Army has told you that this assignment won't hurt your career" and, as long as a soldier isn't hoping for promotion, "you have been told the truth."
Gen. Casey went out of his way in his email to reassure officers serving on the training teams that their careers won't suffer.
"The tasks associated with Transition Teams...will be a major part of full spectrum engagement in theaters of interest now and for the foreseeable future," he wrote. "I want to ensure that the officers that lead these teams are recognized and given the credit they deserve."
 
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