The Observer, September 12, 2008
Volume XLI, Issue 3
Off to War: CWRU alum helps advise Iraqi battalions overseas
Some of you may remember my column from last year. For those of you who do not, I am First Lieutenant Michael Wiehagen. I graduated from Case in 2006 and went on active duty for the Army in June of that year. I was deployed to Iraq in March as a Military Transition Team member tasked to coach, mentor, and teach the Iraqi Army.
The Military Transition Team of which I am a member consists of 11 soldiers pulled from across the active duty Army. We come from all different branches, and on my team we have men that are from infantry, field artillery, signal, engineers, military intelligence, and logistics. Our task is to coach, teach, and advise the Iraqi battalions on how to operate. The hope is to educate the Iraqi military enough so that they can operate independently and take control of their own country.
I am now entering my sixth month of combat-advising here in Iraq, and it has been an experience to say the least. When we first entered the country, my team was tasked with advising the 3rd Battalion, 11th Brigade, 3rd Division Iraqi army (3/11/3 IA). This battalion was primarily made up of Kurds (the people in the North that were protected by No-Fly zones during the 1990s). These soldiers were well led and had a wealth of army knowledge from their time spent in the Peshmerga (Kurdish army). Sometimes they took our advice, but often, unless there were supplies in it for them, they would ignore us and do what they wanted.
Right there is the frustration of being an advisor. They might listen to you, but then again, they might not. It is up to us to "sell" our product and help them use it. We are half advisors, half salesmen, which is quite frustrating for American soldiers. In the military, you listen to someone because of rank and experience. We are not used to having to sell our ideas to others, so it can get tiresome and frustrating dealing with the Iraqis.
However, since 3/11/3 was capable of independent operations, they were relatively low maintenance and easy to deal with. We would help them with their logistics and some of their training, or go out with them on their missions and observe how they executed their plans. They were extremely friendly and always welcomed us. Their hospitality was unrivaled.
Unfortunately, our time with 3/11/3 was not to last forever. The Ministry of Defense (MOD) decided to stand up a new brigade within the 3rd Division, and we were sent to advise the brand new 2nd Battalion of the 12th Brigade (2/12/3).
We moved from our sleepy outpost on the Syrian border with all of our stuff to the Iraqi Division headquarters to meet our new battalion counterparts. The plan was to observe and help the new battalion for the first 45 days and then assist them to move into their new area of operations (AO). But we are now approaching day 60 at division headquarters with no reliable information on when we're going to move or if we're going to move anywhere at all. We have found ourselves in Iraqi purgatory.
It's not great, but it's not bad either. The one thing that I really enjoy about being in this new place is that it is large enough for me to run around the perimeter. Unfortunately, I end up rather unsettled sometimes when I see guards tearing down part of the fence to use as a hammock. It's times like that when I realize that there is still much work to be done.
The new battalion we have is made up of mostly Arabs. These men are mostly from the Saddam-era army and the environment is totally different from the predominantly Kurdish battalion we advised earlier. The new officers recall the army under Saddam with fondness and often wish it were like old times. They are believers in the Saddam rhetoric. When they are confronted with the atrocities that Saddam committed, they have excuses like "every president has a right to defend himself" when asked about people being pulled from their beds and shot in the street, or "Iranians were in those villages and all the civilians had been evacuated" when asked about gassing the Kurds. These men are true believers and no amount of debate or arguing will change their minds. This is not to say that they are poor leaders or bad soldiers. They are quite competent and know how to run a battalion.
The battalion did face a setback in the beginning. Just two weeks into training, the division decided it was a good time to see how the brand new brigade would perform in combat. Needless to say, my entire team went crazy. We could not fathom how a unit could be put into combat when it was less than two weeks old. Unfortunately, all the Americans can do is advise, and if the Iraqis make a bad decision, we do not have control over it. So the battalion went out on their mission, and all signs pointed to a boring, hot day in the sun as the Iraqis searched their assigned villages.
Tragically, at the end of their mission, as the young soldiers were clearing their weapons, one of them had a negligent discharge and killed his buddy, and we all got to see the results of bad decision making. That put us all at a low point, where we really began to question our worth in Iraq. All that was left to do was continue forward and continue to train. The battalion has continued to improve and has not had any more incidents since the loss of its first soldier.
I look forward to watching as the battalion continues to improve. Every day they get a little bit better and in this business, it is the baby steps that are the true victories. I watch as security continues to improve throughout Iraq and have high hopes that the next time I come to Iraq, I will be able to do it as a tourist.
