MiTT Training - Week 1

Week 1 Training for Team Griffin focused on learning Iraqi Arabic, Iraqi Culture, and an introduction to being an advisor to a foriegn military force (or security force, national police or border police). The training is all classroom focused. Lots of power point. Class 77 is broken down into smaller groups of 3-4 MiTTs of approximately 30 people. Team Griffin's small group is being taught by a team of 4 small group instructors. Two military and two contractor. One of the military small group instructors is from JRTC and he's observing how Ft. Riley conducts the training. The instructors did a good job in presenting the material. It's very hard to keep 30 soldiers focused on power point briefings 6-8 hours a day. But they kept it interesting.

Initial impressions of the MiTT training are:

1. Leader's Recon (or Pre-Deployment Site Survey) is essential for MiTT Chiefs or their designated representative. As the Army moves towards the new concept of imbedding it's Military Advisors into the Brigade Combat Team, those advisors should be sent downrange for a Leader's Recon to meet with the teams they will replace and meet their Iraqi counterpart they will advise. Only in this way, will they have some knowledge of what they will need to know prior to deploying downrange.

2. Military Advisor Training must be set up to look more like a formal TRADOC school vice looking like a "national training center". It's ok to have the "school" located at the training centers but the focus should not be "training center centric". As Team Griffin goes through it's tactical training drills, more comment can be made on how much "maneuver training" is required vice "school house" training.

3. The Chief of Staff of the Army has identified the skill set of "Military Advisor" as being a critical skill set for the Army inventory. The Army should consider developing a standard "Military Advisor" training school (course) that combined with an operational deployment, gives the soldier an "additional skill indentifier" as a "Combat Advisor". The Army can also consider setting aside "x" percent of higher level assignments (CSL positions) to be filled with officers with that additional skill set identifier. A Military Advisor course should be formal and should be patterned more like the old CAS3 course.

4. Soldiers attending the course should be treated like the soldiers the Army sends to ILE, JPME, the War College, the Old CAS3 course, Pre-command course or the Sargeant Major's Academy. It should be a well structured school: resourced, man, trained and equipped to handle the level of soldiers needed to go through the school.

5. Recommend training be conducted in small groups the size of MiTT teams (10-15 soldiers) and be modelled similar to the small group instruction done by the old CAS3 or the US Army War College. Non-graded, self taught, focused on teaching eachother the material and learning from each other's experience. The modified military decision making process for Military Advisor's should be practiced just like MDMP was practiced for all decisions in CAS3.

6. The MiTT training conducted at Ft. Riley is under-resourced, under-manned and doesn't have the emphasis you would expect given the Chief of Staff of the Army e-mail on the importance of "Military Advisors".

Starting with class 79, JRTC will assume the mission of training advisors. Team Griffin recommends that JRTC focus on professionalizing the Military Advisory Course in the above manner.


-----Update on manning:-----

Team Griffin acquired two additions to the team over the weekend, bringing us from 11 members to 13. On the "bench team" there are two combat arms officers (a Major and a Captain). I'm requesting both them get added to Team Griffin, but that requires approval from the Department of the Army and Human Resources Command. We have a VTC scheduled for 21 July to discuss manning requirements.