Iraq: Coach, Teach, Mentor

"We are working hard to work ourselves out of a job," Army Col. Mark Dewhurst, commander of the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, said during a live brief from Iraq. The combined efforts with the Iraqi security forces are the cornerstone against insurgents, Dewhurst said, and he's seen a lot of developments in the area in the year since he's been there. Listed among the most surprising, "the amount of traffic jams," was among them. This, actually, is evidence of how well the Iraqi Security Forces are functioning, Dewhurst said, because it means that people are coming out to the market places. Of particular note is a landmark in Baghdad that Dewhurst called the "Book Market." Practically obliterated in March of 2007, the Book Market is due to open most likely by next week, and it was rebuilt on the initiative and work of the Iraq government itself, he said.

Also in Baghdad is the Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, with Team Leader Conrad Tribble helping the Iraqis find "Iraqi solutions" to their own problems. There are five main areas that the PRT is working on, Tribble said. Assistance with governance, political development, business and economic growth, non-governmental organizations, and reconciliations among communities, are the goals the PRT strives toward. Governance, specifically, was elaborated on, with Tribble saying they "Coach, Teach, Mentor' the Iraqi people, specifically with municipal city works, planning, budgeting, resource management, and how to track service requests. "A lot of it is very mundane," Tribble said, but they are being taught how to conduct day to day level things. It's "very nuts and bolts," he said, and "not very glamorous."

Military Recruiting "purely remarkable."

I’ve never seen a better Army, said Major General Thomas P. Bostick, Commanding General of U.S. Army Recruiting Command, at a briefing on FY2008 Recruiting and Retention for the AVF (All Volunteer Force) Military, held at the Pentagon. Each person, Bostick said, became a hero the day they enlisted. Dr. David S.C. Chu, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, echoed this sentiment by saying that a willingness to step forward and serve is a great tribute to our military.

Ninety-two percent of those enlisting overall in FY2008 had high school diplomas, with the Army having the lowest score, with only eighty-three percent having diplomas. The Air Force, at ninety-nine percent, is the branch of service having the highest amount of enlistees with diplomas in FY2008. One of the ways the Army is working with that, is by their Army Prep School, where potential recruits can get GEDs before they go to Basic Training for the Army.

All services met or even exceeded their recruiting goals for FY2008. At the end of the year, the totals for Accessions were 80, 517 Army; 38,485 Navy; 37, 991 Marine Corps; and 27, 848 Air Force. Of special note was the waiver system in place, where individuals are granted waivers to enter the military when ordinarily a medical problem, a criminal offense of some sort, or even their age wouldn’t have allowed them to do so before. Specific numbers were not announced for the waivers, though when the question was asked how many waivers were issued for overweight individuals Major General Robert E. Milstead, Jr, Commanding General, Marine Corps Recruiting Command, boomed from the back of the stage, "THE MARINE CORPS HAS NONE!!"

Rear Admiral Joseph F. Kilkenny, Commander, Navy Recruiting Command said in the Navy that they were successful in all fronts, and the total force team is “definitely firing on all cylinders.” The results achieved were “purely remarkable” and they were pleased they have exceeded retention goals in the Navy. But as Brigadier General Alfred J. Stewart, Commander, Air Force Recruiting Service pointed out, the retention in the Air Force is a little soft likely due to the high-skilled jobs competing with high paying competition in the private sector.

Of huge concern was how the economy affects recruitment. While Dr. Chu wouldn’t directly quote numbers, he did say that people are more willing to “give us a chance” because of it. Older adults, Chu said, need to be more supportive of young people’s decision to go into the military. If you treat people right, such as equal pay for a job they could hold in the civilian sector, good benefits, and use of deployments, they will stay in. There are many discussions about “public service,” said Chu, but few mention the military as a way to do that.

Culture Warriors

“As Marines we must be able to navigate the human terrain as well as we navigate the physical terrain of the battlefield,” said Brigadier General Richard M. Lake, during a House Armed Services committee hearing on transforming the U.S. Military’s foreign language skills, cultural awareness, and regional expertise capabilities.
The military representatives described a series of new programs aimed towards making U.S. forces more effective in dealing with different cultures, including financial incentives for Reserve Officers Training Corps students willing to study new languages, actively recruiting those who already have skills in foreign languages, and the creation of a personnel database that includes active members, retirees and separatees.
The Department of Defense contends that these steps have been successful. In 2001 there were 1,400 students studying Arabic, Persian, and Chinese at the Defense Foreign Language Center. Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel for the Air Force Joseph M. McDade, Jr. says that over the past seven years those numbers have doubled. There has been a similar increase in Foreign Area Officers (FAO).
“In 2001 there were 1000 army FAOs, and 149 Marine FAOs. In 2008 those numbers were 1,600 in the Army, Marines, and Air Force,’ said McDade”.

Electrocutions in Iraq: Inspector General and Congress play the blame game

An Inspector General interim report released on July 28 found that the Department of Defense investigation of the accidental electrocution of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth revealed that Kellog, Brown, and Root (KBR) did not know about the electrical hazards prior to Maseth’s death. However, at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cali.) disclosed documents obtained by the Committee which show that a soldier notified KBR of the electrical problems well before Maseth’s death.

Staff Sgt. Justin Hummer, who was the previous tenant of Maseth’s room at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Baghdad, filed a work order on July 8, 2007, that states, “Pipes have voltage, get shocked in shower,” according to a copy of the report provided by the Committee. Also, in a statement signed by Maseth on June 6, 2008, six months before his death in January, he claimed, “On at least one of these occasions [when he was shocked in the shower] I have to use a wooden handle to turn off the shower nozzle because the electrical current was so strong.”

Inspector General of the Department of Defense Gordon Heddell said the Department of Defense is investigating 15 deaths from electrocutions. The deaths fall into two categories: soldiers who died from contact with power lines and those who died from ungrounded and/or faulty equipment. The first death occurred back in 2003, according to Heddell. Chairman Waxman asked why it took four years for the Department of Defense to begin overseeing KBR.

According to Thomas Bruni, Theater Engineering and Construction Manager for KBR, KBR was not responsible for maintaining the facility where Maseth died because it was a “Level B” facility. There are two types of contracts in these facilities: “Level A”, which allows KBR to perform maintenance and repairs without orders from the Army, and “Level B”, which restricts KBR to only performing repairs with specific Army instruction.

When pressed numerous times by Rep Tom Davis (R-Va.) to pinpoint the organization responsible, Bruni hesitantly admitted the Army was responsible. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) said KBR should have pulled the plug on the faulty equipment as soon as it found out. Lynch said KBR did not have to repair it, but should have ensured that no soldiers used it.

Not up to par: Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan

The Senate Appropriations Committee added another chapter to the ongoing investigation of defense contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. A panel of witnesses testified about missing funds, additional oversight, and personnel improvements associated with contractors hired by the Department of Defense.

$71 billion of the $450 billion the Defense Department allocated for the Iraq War has been used for nearly 98,000 contract actions, said Gordon England, Deputy Secretary of Defense. According to England, since 2003, Defense oversight and the Government Accountability Office have performed over 300 audits related to terrorism investigations, and the Army reviewed more than 18,000 contract actions carried out in Kuwait between 2003-2006, which settled claims and saved the government over $10.4 million.

Despite these accomplishments, said Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), tens of billions of dollars have been lost, and American weapons have ended up in enemy hands. "Billions of dollars. How many minutes have passed since Jesus Christ was born? A billion, so that's a lot of money," said Chairman Byrd.

“I’d like to see some people go to jail,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). But England insisted that contractor oversight has evolved since the beginning of the two conflicts. The Defense Department is wiser because of audits and independent studies, England said.

The contractors are working hard; some have died, said Gen. Benjamin Griffin, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. Gen. Griffin said that having more personnel with expertise is essential for meeting the needs of the Army and private contractors.