With violence in Iraq down to 2003 levels, the Pentagon is getting ready to shift U.S. forces in the country to a new role, emphasizing training and assistance to the Iraqi military. And for that, the Army is outfitting at least six brigades as "advisory and assistance" units, stacked with trainers and cultural experts. Defense Secretary Bob Gates visited a prototype advisory brigade in Iraq two weeks ago. All six should be in place a year from now.
Anticipating the shift, the Marines and Air Force decided a long time ago to establish permanent advisory teams. But the Army dragged its heels, instead selecting temporary teams on an "ad-hoc basis," according to Lt. Col. John Nagl and 1st Lt. Brian Drohan, writing in Armed Forces Journal.
And that means that today, the Army is scrambling to field six full brigades of effective advisers. Capt. Robert Chamberlain, also writing in Armed Forces Journal, calls it a "Leeroy Jenkins" situation, comparing Army advisers to the World of Warcraft player who famously botched a delicately planned raid on a dragon's lair, pictured, through a dangerous combination of recklessness and insensitivity. (Video not safe for work.) The Leeroy Jenkins parallel highlights the "blunt ignorance with which [soldiers] approach advising," Chamberlain writes.
There are two major problems, Chamberlain asserts. "The first is the Lawrence of Arabia fantasy." Advisers are taught to heed the legendary British leader's advice, codified in his autobiography, to facilitate local solutions and put native forces out front. But U.S. advisers "are much more apt to imagine themselves in the movie version: dashing Peter O’Toole taking center stage and persuading their Arab counterparts to go trekking across the desert to capture eternal glory," Chamberlain laments. "Shockingly, egomaniacs tend to make terrible team leaders."
Secondly, "the metrics used to evaluate the progress of the Iraqi Security Forces are the same now as they were three years ago — and they look suspiciously like the status reports used to assess American units." Many advisers still haven't learned to adjust standards and expectations to local conditions. Just like Leeroy Jenkins, rushing into that dragon's den, dazzled by visions of glory, blind to the damage he might do his army's cause.
Incidentally, Chamberlain reflects a growing trend in the Army, to harness World of Warcraft for its training, conceptual and metaphor value. There's a good reason for this, according to my new favorite roboticist, Missy Cummings from MIT. The best gamers, she told me this week, are great at strategic thinking, always planning several steps ahead.
[ART: Blizzard]
See Also:
