Im out at last - situation of Iraqi security forces, any first hand accounts?

[MetalGear]

Survived being shot 3 times, stabbed once and thrown out of a 5 storey building thanks to a bomb planted at the courtesy of a nice Muslim man. And now im out and im married and my mission is over. :mrgreen:

So i wanted to share a first hand account on the war. No doubt the situation is still very dangerous and volatile; but its at a critical stage. Its the perfect time to now pass on much more responsibility to the Iraqi security forces. It is vital in developing their skills and their ability as a nation to handle their extremists and security issues. At the end of the day, if they fail to do so, we have lost the war and wasted the lives of our fellow countrymen.

I know, despite what the media says and your Obama's of this world, that the Iraqi security forces do not have nearly as much experience or responsibility over their country as they should, or at least as much as you think they do. How does Obama intend to pull out the troops when the job is only really half finished?

When a bomb threat was iminent in the area i was patrolling, the iraqi forces had neither the power or the knowledge to handle the situation; it was chaotic until we took over. They just stared at the bomb like planks of wood and where unable to clear the grounds for our specialist.

I had a few jobs during my two year stay. To begin with i was a seargent; doing the usual patrolling and alot of local trust building. During those first 4 months we encountered at least 4 bomb threats and diffused them successfully. We managed to integrate somewhat with the local community and knew all the suspicious people and the notorious terrorists in the community, who we delt with i must add.

I was moved to Baghdad after i had completed my training for the local security forces who where ready and fully capable to take over my place, though i must admit a few amongst these men where terrorist apologists and very reluctant to properly enforce the law amongst these extremists.

When i was in Baghdad, it was during the bad times. Alot of threats where neutralized during that period i was there, and i was refered to recieve extended training and joined a specialized British regiment who had classified objectives though we wont get into that. I stayed there until i was sent home about 1 month and a half ago, and there is no doubt the security situation has improved. Ive noticed however that very little responsibility and effective training had been conduced with these native security forces, and i do worry about the future capability of Iraq to function as a secure nation, as i have said, i witnessed much sympathetic approaches towards these terrorists from these local security personnel and much corruption.

What do you guys think, is Iraq ready?

 

[MetalGear]

I think education is lacking amongst these young men. I know they only joined for the wages half the time, most of them didnt have the stones for the job, I took many aboard to train, many of them brave and many had to loose their lives beside me. The training i gave them was CQC, using a gun, defending oneself and his team mates, gun fights in tight area's, team communication and cooperation, but nothing about educating these men - why they are here, how to handle corruption, why terrorism is so bad and destructive - too many sympathies towards the terrorists in the security forces, no community whatsoever, poverty stricken and ignorant regions which give us a hard time and a wider prospectus for terrorism employement in many regions, no trust between the security forces and community, lack of communication between security forces and community, and lack of indepth knowledge on the countries political situation and complexity in the local forces to form an affective security mechanism.

 

[bhkad]

Thank you for your service. Glad you made it out alive. :2wave:

 

[MetalGear]

Thank you for your service. Glad you made it out alive. :2wave:

My pleasure. Its worth protecting and dying for nice folk like you.

 

[lizzie]

Thanks MetalGear- my hat's off to you and the others who have served, and those who continue to do so.

I share your concerns about the readiness of the Iraqis to pick up the ball. Culturally, I'm not sure they are conditioned for it- and not by any fault of their own.

 

[Redress]

Thank you for your service. Glad you made it out alive. :2wave:

What he said.

 

[braindrain]

What part of Iraq did you spend most of your time at and why were you there for 2 years straight.

 

[MetalGear]

What part of Iraq did you spend most of your time at and why were you there for 2 years straight.

Well for the first year i was a Seargent of a small squad in Basra. There was a lot of heavy fighting when i was sent back then and i was promoted after a a little incident with about 6 bad guys and me in a school we had to secure, and i walked out alive. By that time we had secured more bombs than any other squad in the region and neutralized alot more targets. I was offered a position in a Special British Task Force squad shortly after, carrying out confidential missions, paticularly in Baghdad with the Americans, like securing enemy intelligence, sabotage and recon missions, but really i travelled all around the country for that, though alot of it was based in the capital. Thats why i was there for two years, i wanted a full time career in the army and i had the chance of moving into a more elite wing of government in Iraq, but i have responsibilities and people in the real world who need me. So i left.

Ive always said to myself, if the war in Iraq or Afghanistan isnt concluded in the next 5 years, i'll be signing up again and take up on the offer if they still need me. Alot of people find war horrifying but the adrenalin, being above the law, that fierce sense of pride and patriotism which just stops you feeling fear is attractive for me. You step out of the box and out of normal life as you know it, this time the GOVERNMENT is giving you a gun and asking you to kill. I dont know, there is something about it. A mixture of distraught at your fallen friends but a feeling of happiness and adrenalin highs when the enemy goes down. Its why so many soldiers come back.

 

[braindrain]

What unit were you in when you first went to Iraq. I have worked with a fair amount of Brittish troops on my trips over there.

 

[MetalGear]

What unit were you in when you first went to Iraq. I have worked with a fair amount of Brittish troops on my trips over there.

In the Special Task Force? Im not allowed to tell you that im afraid.

 

[kansaswhig]

In my experience as an advisor to the Iraqi Army, we have trained them to be a police/reaction force and not neccesarily an Army.

They have several internal personnel issues that need to be worked out, but I can tell you from just a very basic standpoint, they've improved greatly since their inception in 2003 (FPSF, ING).

1. Establishment of professional Non-Commissioned Officer corps. This will take years of ridding their "royalty" mindset that officers make all the decisions and NCOs are just higher-paid jundees. NCOs are the key to any military worth a ****.

2. Responsibility and Accountability. Cultural problems here; but it was very, very difficult to get any Iraqi Army leader to take onus for his failures, although they are very good at taking credit.

3. Development of coherent staffs that actually plan. So much was done on the fly and without planning and analyzation that it made many of their operations, re-occuring missions and even daily battle rhythm chaotic.

4. Elimination of micro-management. It is rampant at all levels, for all issues.

5. Information Sharing. Another cultural roadblock, becuase information is power in Arab culture. Getting the S-2 (intel) to put out information was very hard. Same with the command group and staff. It was a very weird phenomenon. They don't talk if they don't have to.

6. "Officer first" mentality. Eat first, recieve the best gear, get paid first, etc. Again, we must eliminate the Royalty problem. They need to make taking care of Soldiers they first priority, not their last.

7. Equipment. They have to take care of it. They have to instill the mentality of the importance of maintenance and caring for equipment.

I could go on. But I'll re-iterate, they are leaps and bounds better than 5 years ago.

 

[braindrain]

In the Special Task Force? Im not allowed to tell you that im afraid.

Before you went there what unit were you with.