Sunday, October 05, 2003

REBUILDING A NATION

A long way from what our soldiers are trained to do. America should be proud at what they are accomplishing.

However, most 1st AD officers said that neither they nor their men are trained to rebuild nations, only to destroy America's enemies.

“You learn it as you go,” said Lt. Col. Bill Rabena, battalion commander for the Giessen, Germany-based 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment of the 1st Brigade. “And there’s a lot to be said for staying here longer.”

Some involved in trying to bring stability worry American officials are relying too much on an Army designed for warfighting.

One 2nd Brigade officer said it’s not uncommon for him to scour reserve units, trying to find, for example, engineers who can fix water systems. “Everything we do is different from our military occupational specialty,” said one young 1st Brigade captain. “The surprising part is that we do it better than the people trained to do it.”

No comments: