The Weekly Standard.
Here is a good (but long) post from the blog for The Weekly Standard. It has numerous talking points that I agree with about how we need to grow the Afghan National Army. Although I appreciate Sen. Lieberman’s support for the increase in support for the mission in Afghanistan and the growth of the Army, things look much different through the windows of the Capital Building.
He calls for an increase on the Security Forces to 450,000, at least 250,000 which should be from the Army. For those who don’t know, we are about at 80,000 right now, and don’t plan to be to the current goal (of 134,000) until December 2011.
As many of you have learned through my writings, things move… slowly here in Afghanistan, to say the least. To grow the Army by 500% would not be an easy task.
There are inherent difficulties with rapid expansion of any organization. Just ask Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. With the challenges of literacy and competence in leadership, creating such a vast army would leave a void in which corruption, laziness, and unpreparedness would run-a-muck.
Currently we train all Non Commissioned Officers and Officers to a certain standard. They must be able to read and write, the go through several basic schools and Officer Candidate School, and they get specific branch training before being sent to serve as new Lieutenants.
As a LT myself, I can say these guys are just barely ready to head off on their career. They are young, inexperienced, and in some cases don’t yet have the confidence to lead in battle that can only be gained through experience. Growing the Army that fast will obviously mean that these young leaders with be thrust up the ranks to run platoons, companies and kandaks.
I know that the key to victory in Afghanistan is an Army and police force able to protect its own people. I know that is going to take a lot of boots on the ground, but I don’t want to see corners cut and balloon expansion to try and reach a goal set by someone who has never met an Afghan person before. One of the things that I admire and appreciate with Obama so far is that he listens to his commanders on the ground and lets them command. He has not tried to command wars from the White House. I hope that he continues this and listens to the people who know.
Filed under: Military | Tagged: Afghan National Army, ANA, growing the army, kabul, kmtc, lieberman, obama | Leave a Comment »
A friend of mine at FOB Alamo has died recently. He was a young sailor nearing the end of his tour. I remember talking to him the night before he was taken from our FOB to a medical facility. He said he wasn’t really feeling good; something fairly common in such unclean conditions. The next morning he went to get checked out because he still was sick, and was soon evacuated for medical care. Only a few days later, we learn that our friend and brother-in-arms has passed away. Darren was one of the youngest kids on the FOB and always full of energy and in good spirits. He was like everyone’s little brother on the FOB. He will be sorely missed. Please keep his family and friends back home in your prayers.
