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| Iraq |
| U.S. forces upgrade Iraqi training |
| 2005-11-16 |
| Ten days has been added to Iraqi basic training at the hands of U.S. instructors. The 14-day program has been expanded to 24 days, and a second group of Iraqi soldiers has begun the new 24-day cycle. "It started off as a two-week program," said Staff Sgt. Michael J. Munoz of the 80th Division, who serves as the operation's noncommissioned officer at the academy. During the 24 days of training, Munoz said the recruits now learn drill and ceremony, weapons marksmanship, squad-level movement techniques, room-clearing procedures and how to operate traffic-control points. Instructors are able to go into greater detail when teaching the individual skills because they have more time with the new soldiers than they did during the 14-day cycles, Munoz told the Army News Service. At the academy, recruits are taught hand-and-arm signals. All the instruction is in Arabic. Iraqi noncommissioned officers teach the course, ANS reported Tuesday. "We're at a phase now where we mainly just advise the Iraqi instructors," said Sgt. 1st Class Naymon Mack. "Two years ago, we started off with Americans giving all the training. American drill instructors did all the training through interpreters." This means several things. First, that the intense pressure to build their army quickly has lessened after achieving 2/3rds authorized levels. Second, that there is much less "field training" available against real enemies, so it has to be taught in a rear area environment. Third, is that they are now specializing recruits earlier, based on predicted requirements. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #5 Iran will attempt to disrupt all oil flow when we go to war with them, meaning they would have made a mad dash to Iraq and Saudi Arabia to destroy the southern oil fields, now they won't be able to do that because the Iraqi army will be waiting right there at the border. Thus the anvil I referred to, and word on the street in Iraq is that Shiia or not, the Iraqi's ain't forgot that little Iraq/Iran war thingy. They're mostly still pissed at Iran and wouldn't mind killing a few Iranians if given the opportunity. They'll be even more willing to do that when the Iranians attempt to cut their flow of oil when we go to war with Iran. EP |
| Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-11-16 18:42 |
| #4 Enroute to Austerlitz, Napoleon had two armies against the Austrian four. Napoleon left one of his armies to guard his southern flank in Italy. It just sat there, while his single army captured one of the Austrian armies at Ulm, solely through the use of maneuver, then defeated the other three in the main battle. His Italian army served better just by holding the fort. If the Iraqi army can be persuaded just to effectively defend their country, which should not be objectionable to them, it both frees up the US to maneuver against the Iranians, and forces the Iranians to keep forces against the Iraqi border, doing nothing. Of course, if the Iranians leave the border area, there is no promise that other forces might pass through the Iraqi lines on their way into Iran. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-11-16 13:46 |
| #3 Never heard of sow's ears & silk purses? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-11-16 13:46 |
| #2 Hard to imagine a Shiite dominated Iraq going to war with Iran... |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2005-11-16 13:35 |
| #1 Good deal, makin a real military. When we're through, the Iraqi army will be one of the best trained and equipped military forces in the world. Perfect for that Anvil effect when we are kicking the shit out of the mad mullahs in 10 years! EP |
| Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-11-16 12:15 |