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Inaugural Post

By Slab

Greetings to all of our readers. First off, I’m honored to have been invited to contribute to OPFOR. By way of introduction, my name is Charlie, and I am a captain in the Marine Corps. An infantry officer by trade, I am currently assigned to an Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) as a Firepower Control Team leader. I just recently completed a fourth deployment to the Central Command Area of Responsibility, this time to Iraq to support a battalion of the Iraqi Army and their partnered Military Transition Team (MTT). I also run the blog Lightning From The Sky, which explains the moniker that I use on this blog.

For my first post, I wanted to reflect a bit on my experiences on this last deployment to Iraq.

I spent four months operating with MTT 3/5 and 1st Battalion 3rd Brigade 1st Iraqi Army Division, in an area known as Al Jazirah, which is roughly halfway between Ramadi and Fallajuh along the Euphrates River. My job was to advise the MTT team leader on the employment of artillery and close air support, and to provide terminal control of those fires. Because of how my FCT integrated with the MTT, and their close relationship with the Iraqi battalion; we also developed a rapport with the Iraqi officers and jundi – such that many of them did not make the distinction between Marines from the MTT and ANGLICO.

Working with the Iraqis was a unique experience. We had to remind ourselves on a regular basis that the jundi were not US Marines and could not be expected to behave like Marines in a gunfight. They did not display any of the aggressiveness that we expect of a Marine infantry unit, nor did they have much in the way of fire discipline. Many times we saw the “Iraqi death blossom” effect as jundi fired in random directions on automatic. On the other hand they were fearless – more like foolhardy – when they encountered IEDs, something that most Marines will give a wide berth. Despite their lack of tactical skill, it was hard to deny the advantage of speaking the local language. On several occasions they were able to pick out foreign fighters just from an accent or a word used by a detainee. And despite some of their cultural traits that caused repeated frustration on our part, most of the Iraqi soldiers were very out-going and just damned friendly. It was hard not to like many of them once you spent some time sitting on a rooftop observation post or drinking chai with them.

When MTT 3/5 first arrived they encountered numerous problems and obstacles. As many of their counterparts on the Brigade MTT team alluded to, for their first 3-4 months in Jazirah MTT 3/5’s Combat Outpost (COP) was basically under siege. They took a heavy volume of direct and indirect fire on a daily basis. Nearly as formidable were some of the problems they had with friendly units. One Army unit was considered notorious for shooting into the areas of responsibility of the Iraqi battalions operating in the area, without talking to the MTT team. Support was not always forthcoming from nearby Army and Marine units who barely understood what a MTT even was. Thankfully, by the time I left Jazirah this problem was largely eliminated and most American units in the area recognized the importance of the MTT Teams. One senior officer at the Marine Logistics Group (MLG) in Al Taqaddum told a Marine from the MTT that he wanted to be informed immediately if the MTT was not receiving the support they desired from the MLG.

Overall, in the few months that I had to work with these great Marines and their Iraqi counterparts, I saw a number of improvements made not only in the quality of security within the Iraqi battalion's area of operations, but also in the support that the MTT received from adjacent American units. I fear that it may not be enough, though, since I can only speak to one small part of Al Anbar province. I can only hope that we will continue to see more Iraqi units and their partnered MTTs begin to assume responsibility for parts of Iraq, and make substantial gains in security and stability for the average Iraqi. The MTT concept provides us with a great capability to influence Iraq's future while continuing to downsize our role in major combat operations.

Anyway, enough rambling from me for now. Expect to see more contributions from me, although not necessarily on a regular basis, and continue to check Lightning From The Sky as I will be posting updates on there as well. (Quick note: after more complaints about the difficulty of viewing LFTS, I have gone back to a more basic format that will hopefully work with all browsers.)

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