The United States military has decided to employ
methods used successfully in Afghanistan for the training of the Iraq Army.
Officials said the U.S. model in Afghanistan would require soldiers from the
U.S. Army and Marine Corps to train and fight with Iraqi units. They said up
to 12 U.S. soldiers would be deployed in an Iraq Army battalion.
"It's a system that worked well in Afghanistan, with much less advanced
military," an official said. "There's no reason not to try it in Iraq."
Under the model, the U.S. soldiers would be led by a captain or a major, Middle East Newsline reported.
The 12-member would serve as full-time trainers and mentors in the Iraq
Army.
The plan was drafted by Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the First
Marine Expeditionary Force, based in the Anbar province near the Syrian
border.
Sattler said mentors would teach Iraqi soldiers how to fight in the field and set
examples in such amorphous elements as discipline and courage.
"It's very successful in Afghanistan on a smaller scale," Sattler said.
"The beauty of the embeds is that you don't just train with them; when you
go to fight your embed team goes with you, just like in Afghanistan. It's
the exact same model."
"Now, the number one mission will be to train and mentor the Iraqi
security forces," Sattler said. "Mentoring is the key word here. You can
train by reading a manual. You can only be mentored by someone who pours
their heart and soul into you and they become a paragon, someone the
organization can look up to."
A key issue would be whether U.S. mentors would work in the Iraq Army, a
force of 70,000 and much larger than the Afghan military.
