Dennis G
01-28-2004, 10:41 PM
If you have the time its a good read about the new army of iraq
On 15 May 2003 the The Coalition Provisional Authority announced that the Ministry of Defense will be combined with the Ministry of Military Industrialization to be called the Ministry of Defense and Military Industrialization. It has both a civilian and military component. The civilian component is responsible for buying equipment and overall military funding. The military will be responsible for manpower and liaisons.
The the physical elements were stood up at Uday's Palace. The interim minister, Amb. Solcombe, arrived May 15.
Four Key Goals were: 1. Standing up the physical components at Uday’s Palace. While the structure is badly damaged, the generator and pipes remain intact; 2. Rebuilding the Ministry from the ground up by bringing thirty thousand Iraqi soldiers back to active duty; 3. Paying these soldiers who haven’t been paid in over three months; and 4. Start planning for the Iraqi Military International Conference in Tampa suggested for mid-June 2003.
On 23 May 2003 the US civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, abolished several ministries and institutions of Saddam Hussein's regime, and disbanded the Iraqi army, declaring them illegal.
The ministries of defense and information were among institutions being dissolved as well as the military and security courts, the Iraqi Olympic Committee, and the Republican Guard units. Bremer's office said that plans are afoot to create a new Iraq Corps as the first step toward forming "a national self-defense capability for a free Iraq." The statement said the corps will be "professional, nonpolitical, military effective and representative of all Iraqis." The move is aimed to get rid of Ba'athist influences in the military and security institutions. It follows last week's decision to abolish Hussein's Ba'ath party and order the dismissal of party officials from the civil service.
It is estimated that about 400,000 people, mostly military personnel, lost their jobs.
Not much was left of the Iraqi military -- about 18 tanks and a few artillery pieces. The Coalition was iniitally in contact with three groups of officers and wants to bring about 30,000 Iraqi troops back to active duty. These are the ones who received the leaflets and followed the instructions. These 30,000 troops complied with the leaflets and went back to their homes when the fighting started. These are regular army units, not the extremist units like Feyadeen Saddam or the Special Republican Guard. This interim defense force will be used primarily with coalition joint patrols and border patrols. The Coalition is evaluating the feasibility of issuing the recovered Iraqi equipment, such as small arms, back to the New Iraq Corps. But for armor and artillery the new Iraq will need a defense budget.
Originally, the hope was in fact that large elements of the army would stay intact, and that the municipal police [the political security police] would very quickly return to their beats in Baghdad and other areas. The team under the former civil administrator [Jay] Garner was really taken somewhat by surprise in that the apparatus of the Iraqi government went home. The army dissolved.
Initial US plans were for Iraq is to get a new army division numbering 12,000 troops within a year. The New Iraqi Army’s primary responsibilities would be for border protection, securing roads and installations, and clearing mines and unexploded bombs left over from the war.
Only a small number of officers would be employed in the new army, as it will be much smaller than that of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The US administration in Iraq envisions the new army to be purely for defense and wholly separate from the civil police force unlike during the Hussein regime.
The first division will be conceived as a light infantry with an goal of three divisions with about 40,000 soldiers within three years. US General Paul Eaton, a former commander of the infantry school in the United States, would supervise training which will likely be supervised by contracted US firms most likely either/or Dyncorp and MPRI. Recruiting began in early July 2003.
Three separate groups of officers had been contacted (one of the officers was a comptroller) and they have a roster of thirty thousand Iraqi soldiers who got the fliers dropped during the war and than capitulated. Their primary purpose would be border patrols and joint patrols with coalition forces.
The first media event was paying these soldiers twenty dollars each to join an interim defense force. On 06 July 2003 the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) announced that it would undertake the monthly payment of emergency pay to former Iraqi military personnel to include former POWs and their families and to MIAs who used to work in the Ministry of Defense. This is an interim program subject to review by the CPA and to a decision by the future Iraqi government whether to continue the stipends, and if so, on what terms.
In August 2003 the a number of Statements of Work (SOW) articulated the equipment, equipment training, logistics support requirements, and maintenance requirements for the New Iraqi Army (NIA) and the Iraqi National Defense Force (INDF). Detailed information was provided for the Light Infantry Battalion sets. Site Set Up and Prep of initial Battalion Sets (Including Government Acceptance Procedures) except the “A” Group (1st BN), the offeror was required to submit prices including delivery and site preparation for user operation of equipment to Kirkush Military Training Base (KMTB), Iraq (Mercator Grid Reference System 38SNC 22027 30374). This is approximately 70 miles west of Baghdad, close to the Iranian border. Site Set Up and Prep of items means that all delivered items will be unwrapped, unpackaged, assembled, re-assembled, and otherwise placed in operational order. All dunnage and packing items related to shipment will be neatly assembled and moved to a refuse site identified by the point of contact for the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT) at KMTB. All CLINS except for 0002 will be priced this way. An alternative pricing arrangement was not authorized for CLINS 0003 through 0010. Delivery and site preparation for Group B (2nd BN) must be complete by 8 Nov 03 at 1700 (5:00 PM) local time at KMTB. There was no alternative pricing proposal arrangement for the “B through I” series CLINS.
A professional Iraqi army is being created to replace Saddam’s army with a professional force for maintaining peace and stability. The New Iraqi Army’s first battalion of some 700 soldiers graduated on 04 October 2003. The first army battalion had a bad start with about 300 members of the 700-strong force quitting over low salaries. The goal is to expand these forces to 9 brigades of 27-battalions with about 40,000 troops by the end of 2004. Units will reflect Iraq’s religious, regional, and ethnic mix, be non-political, under law-based civilian control, and a force for defense and security—not aggression and oppression. “The New Iraqi Army will be the beginning and not the end of the new Iraqi armed forces which will defend the Iraqi nation, rather than a particular leader or regime. It will be open to the whole Iraqi nation.” – Brigadier Riley, Deputy of Commanding General of the Coalition Military Advisory and Training Team
Excluded from New Iraqi Army include
Former persons from regime security organizations
Intel organizations
Special Republican Guards
SSO
Ba’ath Party security and militia organizations
Top-level Ba’ath Party members
Currently accepting former military officers of the rank of Lt Col and below. All other males 18 – 40 yrs old and not listed on excluded list may register at recruiting centers
Recruitment Centers
Baghdad LOC: adjacent to Damascus Square across the street from the Baghdad Central Reilway Station on 14th of July Street (Arbataash Tamuz Street)
Al Basrah LOC: Old Port area, adjacent to the Basrah River service bldg
Mosul LOC: industrial area of city in Karama Zone, behind car market, in Um Al Rabiayen Technical School
Irbil (to be established)
Iraqi border patrol forces will relieve—and eventually replace—Coalition forces at checkpoints where foreign terrorists are coming across borders to attack US troops. As of October 2003 over 5,000 Iraqi border police were at work. The goal is to expand the number of border police and customs personnel to more than 20,000.
On 21 August 2003 Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the US Central Command, said more than 50,000 Iraqis "under arms that are working in coordination with the coalition." These Iraqi security forces include 35,000 in the police forces, 2,300 in a civil-defense corps, 17,000 security guards hired to defend infrastructure.
On 16 September 2003 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said 56,000 Iraqis are providing for their own security through police, army, border guards, site protection and a civil defense corps; and another 14,000 Iraqis have been recruited and are in training, which effectively brings to 70,000 the number of Iraqis now serving across the country.
By the end of September 2003 more than 60,000 Iraqis were serving in providing security for their country, making Iraqis the single largest member of the coalition after the United States. These Iraqis are fighting and taking casualties. Their numbers are made up of roughly 40,000 members of the Iraqi police, as well as members of the new Facility Protection Service, the new Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, and the border guards. By January 2004, the US planned to have 15,000 members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, and 20,000 members of the Facility Protection Service. With additional resources, those numbers could be expanded further, because there is no shortage of Iraqis willing to serve. The US has plans to field 66,000 police and 3 divisions of the new Iraqi Army which could be speeded up substantially with the additional resources the President has called for.
On 04 October 2003 President George W Bush said Iraq had a civil defence corps of nearly 2,500, a border guard force of 4,700 and a facility protection service of over 12,000. On 09 October 2003 US administrator L. Paul Bremer told a news conference in Baghdad that 60,000 Iraqis were providing security to their country.
As of mid-October 2003 about 70,000 Iraqis were engaged in security operations, and another 13,000 were in or awaiting training. These include the police, border enforcement officers, Civil Defense Corps, Facility Protection Service, and New Iraq Army. Plans are for this total to grow to at least 170,000. The supplemental supported the fielding of a New Iraqi Army – 27 battalions by September 2004. The first battalion of 700 Iraqis graduated from training in early October 2003.
By the end of October 2003 national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told foreign reporters the overall number was "over 85,000 and growing." Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told an audience at Georgetown University the figure was "some 80,000 to 90,000."
On 04 November 2003 Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that "over 100,000" Iraqi forces had been trained to provide security, with that number expected to double by September 2004. Rumsfeld's number represented a 40 percent increase from administration estimates a month earlier.
As of mid-November 2003 the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps Forces was at about 13,000 strength. They are a local militia of such, and they're projected to get up around 40,000 by mid-2004. The border police and the border patrol were at about 4,000 strength, moving up to 25,000. The Iraqi Police Services were at around 62,000, and they'll move to 71,000 by mid-2004. The Facilities Protection Forces free US forces up from having to do static guard duties. They will eventually be as high as 50,000. And the new Iraqi army that's being formed, was at one battalion strength, and it's going up to 35,000 strength.
OSD reported on 19 November 2003 that there are a total of 138,600 Iraqis working in the various Iraqi Security Forces. More than 6,900 are in training. The Coalition Provisional Authority's goal is to have 221,700 personnel in the security forces. According to OSD, 86 members of the Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in action; 153 have been wounded in action since 1 June.
Coalition Military Assistance Training Team [CMATT]
The Coalition Military Assistance Training Team, known as CMATT, have been engaged in training the Iraqi army. CMATT is developing forces which are under political control, accountable to the nation, and defensive in capability and intent. The vision is to man, train, and equip nine infantry brigades, a small coastal defense force, and the beginning of an aviation element to establish the foundation of the Iraqi army run by Iraqis.
The process starts at three main recruiting hubs in Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul. That also represent the spread of the country and the ethnic distribution. Each class that is recruited is ethnically balanced. This provides an atmosphere where tolerance is essential to mission accomplished. CMATT looked for those individuals who wish to defend Iraq and its newfound freedom, and are skilled in such professions as truck driver, heavy equipment operator, food service, first aid, and above all else, infantry. A majority of new recruits have prior military service, and nearly all of the non-commissioned officers and officer candidates do as well. The Iraqi officer corps of the old army is a pretty good officer corps in a lot of respects, certainly from the perspective of military training. The non-commissioned officer corps is deficient, and the soldiers and the training they received were deficient.
Nearly 1,000 recruits are recruited in order to produce an active battalion of 757 soldiers. Attrition is due to such things as voluntary withdrawal or failure to meet standards. This is not unusual in any army that recruits in a fashion similar to the recruiting that we do here, and speaking from personal experience in the American Army, similar to what we have in the United States.
In order to get the ball rolling, the first four battalions have been trained under a system where officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted men are trained simultaneously but separately. All three groups are then brought together for a three-week period of collective training before the battalion graduates and is sent to its respective garrison base.
Training focused on an end state that provides an individual soldier who possesses fundamental soldier skills, functions as a member of a multiethnic team, is oriented to military service and service to the Iraqi nation, and is schooled in human rights and the law of land warfare. He also respects others and is physically and mentally prepared to begin service in the Iraqi army.
The first battalion graduated on 4 October 2003 and is based at Kirkuk, and employed by the 4th Infantry Division Mechanized. The second battalion was employed by the 1st Armored Division, and they're garrisoned at Taji since their graduation on 6 January 2004, which is also Army Day and celebrated as such since 1921. Following the graduation in late Jnuary 2004 the 3rd Battalion, the unit was deploymed to the Mosul area.
Based on the premise that a thousand leaders can create an army faster than creating an army a thousand soldiers at a time, CMATT have adopted the same cohort model for recruitment and training that the United States used to gear up for World War II. As World War II began, the US was a particularly small army, and expanded by bringing in the leadership that we had on the active rolls.
The remaining 23 battalions will follow this course of action, where officers and non-commissioned officers will conduct separate courses. They then come together to form the battalion cadre, and will train their own soldiers are recruited and brought together en masse to the locations where the garrisons are set. This will be an Iraqi army trained by Iraqis.
After battalions conduct their initial training, they will start a rotation of collective training or unit training and operational employment. The emphasis for collective training is on conducting tactical movements and practicing operations in both rural and in urban terrain. CMATT currently had more than 1,200 soldiers on duty, and more than 2,500 in training as of late January 2004.
In addition to the 27 infantry battalions in the army, CMATT was building the Iraqi Coastal Defense Force and the Iraqi Army Air Corps.
The Coastal Defense Force will be comprised of a patrol boat squadron of five 30-meter boats and a naval infantry regiment. The naval infantry is training with the Iraqi army for basic skills. This coastal defense force will then move down to the Umm Qasr/Basra area for boat training and where they will learn interdiction and boarding operations in order to protect the some 80 kilometers of Iraqi coastline.
The Iraqi Army Air Corps will focus primarily on troop and logistics movements as well as air medivac for life-threatening and casualty-producing situations. CMATT trained both helicopter and transport pilots, and will field the first operational squadrons in the summer of 2004. CMATT also investigated the use of reconnaissance aircraft in order to effectively monitor the miles of Iraqi border, and infrastructure such as pipelines and electrical transmission facilities.
This is a tough neighborhood, and three light infantry divisions do not provide, and will not provide the end state defensive requirements for the Iraqi ground forces. It never was intended to be so. It was the basis of systems, and above all else, the basis of the leader ethos, the leadership, the core of the Iraqi army that one day will be prepared to take on alone the defense of this nation. Various analysts suggest that Iraq will eventually need between eight and 12 divisions, and within that eight to 12 divisions, between 40 and 60 percent heavy combined-arms capable divisions -- that's tank, infantry fighting vehicle and artillery, backed up by attack helicopter aircraft, lift aircraft, and the wherewithal to secure the air above -- air defense artillery and the interceptor aircraft needed to defend the skies. As of January 2004 the US estimate is that the earliest Iraq could produce such a force would be between three and five years.
On 15 May 2003 the The Coalition Provisional Authority announced that the Ministry of Defense will be combined with the Ministry of Military Industrialization to be called the Ministry of Defense and Military Industrialization. It has both a civilian and military component. The civilian component is responsible for buying equipment and overall military funding. The military will be responsible for manpower and liaisons.
The the physical elements were stood up at Uday's Palace. The interim minister, Amb. Solcombe, arrived May 15.
Four Key Goals were: 1. Standing up the physical components at Uday’s Palace. While the structure is badly damaged, the generator and pipes remain intact; 2. Rebuilding the Ministry from the ground up by bringing thirty thousand Iraqi soldiers back to active duty; 3. Paying these soldiers who haven’t been paid in over three months; and 4. Start planning for the Iraqi Military International Conference in Tampa suggested for mid-June 2003.
On 23 May 2003 the US civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, abolished several ministries and institutions of Saddam Hussein's regime, and disbanded the Iraqi army, declaring them illegal.
The ministries of defense and information were among institutions being dissolved as well as the military and security courts, the Iraqi Olympic Committee, and the Republican Guard units. Bremer's office said that plans are afoot to create a new Iraq Corps as the first step toward forming "a national self-defense capability for a free Iraq." The statement said the corps will be "professional, nonpolitical, military effective and representative of all Iraqis." The move is aimed to get rid of Ba'athist influences in the military and security institutions. It follows last week's decision to abolish Hussein's Ba'ath party and order the dismissal of party officials from the civil service.
It is estimated that about 400,000 people, mostly military personnel, lost their jobs.
Not much was left of the Iraqi military -- about 18 tanks and a few artillery pieces. The Coalition was iniitally in contact with three groups of officers and wants to bring about 30,000 Iraqi troops back to active duty. These are the ones who received the leaflets and followed the instructions. These 30,000 troops complied with the leaflets and went back to their homes when the fighting started. These are regular army units, not the extremist units like Feyadeen Saddam or the Special Republican Guard. This interim defense force will be used primarily with coalition joint patrols and border patrols. The Coalition is evaluating the feasibility of issuing the recovered Iraqi equipment, such as small arms, back to the New Iraq Corps. But for armor and artillery the new Iraq will need a defense budget.
Originally, the hope was in fact that large elements of the army would stay intact, and that the municipal police [the political security police] would very quickly return to their beats in Baghdad and other areas. The team under the former civil administrator [Jay] Garner was really taken somewhat by surprise in that the apparatus of the Iraqi government went home. The army dissolved.
Initial US plans were for Iraq is to get a new army division numbering 12,000 troops within a year. The New Iraqi Army’s primary responsibilities would be for border protection, securing roads and installations, and clearing mines and unexploded bombs left over from the war.
Only a small number of officers would be employed in the new army, as it will be much smaller than that of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The US administration in Iraq envisions the new army to be purely for defense and wholly separate from the civil police force unlike during the Hussein regime.
The first division will be conceived as a light infantry with an goal of three divisions with about 40,000 soldiers within three years. US General Paul Eaton, a former commander of the infantry school in the United States, would supervise training which will likely be supervised by contracted US firms most likely either/or Dyncorp and MPRI. Recruiting began in early July 2003.
Three separate groups of officers had been contacted (one of the officers was a comptroller) and they have a roster of thirty thousand Iraqi soldiers who got the fliers dropped during the war and than capitulated. Their primary purpose would be border patrols and joint patrols with coalition forces.
The first media event was paying these soldiers twenty dollars each to join an interim defense force. On 06 July 2003 the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) announced that it would undertake the monthly payment of emergency pay to former Iraqi military personnel to include former POWs and their families and to MIAs who used to work in the Ministry of Defense. This is an interim program subject to review by the CPA and to a decision by the future Iraqi government whether to continue the stipends, and if so, on what terms.
In August 2003 the a number of Statements of Work (SOW) articulated the equipment, equipment training, logistics support requirements, and maintenance requirements for the New Iraqi Army (NIA) and the Iraqi National Defense Force (INDF). Detailed information was provided for the Light Infantry Battalion sets. Site Set Up and Prep of initial Battalion Sets (Including Government Acceptance Procedures) except the “A” Group (1st BN), the offeror was required to submit prices including delivery and site preparation for user operation of equipment to Kirkush Military Training Base (KMTB), Iraq (Mercator Grid Reference System 38SNC 22027 30374). This is approximately 70 miles west of Baghdad, close to the Iranian border. Site Set Up and Prep of items means that all delivered items will be unwrapped, unpackaged, assembled, re-assembled, and otherwise placed in operational order. All dunnage and packing items related to shipment will be neatly assembled and moved to a refuse site identified by the point of contact for the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT) at KMTB. All CLINS except for 0002 will be priced this way. An alternative pricing arrangement was not authorized for CLINS 0003 through 0010. Delivery and site preparation for Group B (2nd BN) must be complete by 8 Nov 03 at 1700 (5:00 PM) local time at KMTB. There was no alternative pricing proposal arrangement for the “B through I” series CLINS.
A professional Iraqi army is being created to replace Saddam’s army with a professional force for maintaining peace and stability. The New Iraqi Army’s first battalion of some 700 soldiers graduated on 04 October 2003. The first army battalion had a bad start with about 300 members of the 700-strong force quitting over low salaries. The goal is to expand these forces to 9 brigades of 27-battalions with about 40,000 troops by the end of 2004. Units will reflect Iraq’s religious, regional, and ethnic mix, be non-political, under law-based civilian control, and a force for defense and security—not aggression and oppression. “The New Iraqi Army will be the beginning and not the end of the new Iraqi armed forces which will defend the Iraqi nation, rather than a particular leader or regime. It will be open to the whole Iraqi nation.” – Brigadier Riley, Deputy of Commanding General of the Coalition Military Advisory and Training Team
Excluded from New Iraqi Army include
Former persons from regime security organizations
Intel organizations
Special Republican Guards
SSO
Ba’ath Party security and militia organizations
Top-level Ba’ath Party members
Currently accepting former military officers of the rank of Lt Col and below. All other males 18 – 40 yrs old and not listed on excluded list may register at recruiting centers
Recruitment Centers
Baghdad LOC: adjacent to Damascus Square across the street from the Baghdad Central Reilway Station on 14th of July Street (Arbataash Tamuz Street)
Al Basrah LOC: Old Port area, adjacent to the Basrah River service bldg
Mosul LOC: industrial area of city in Karama Zone, behind car market, in Um Al Rabiayen Technical School
Irbil (to be established)
Iraqi border patrol forces will relieve—and eventually replace—Coalition forces at checkpoints where foreign terrorists are coming across borders to attack US troops. As of October 2003 over 5,000 Iraqi border police were at work. The goal is to expand the number of border police and customs personnel to more than 20,000.
On 21 August 2003 Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the US Central Command, said more than 50,000 Iraqis "under arms that are working in coordination with the coalition." These Iraqi security forces include 35,000 in the police forces, 2,300 in a civil-defense corps, 17,000 security guards hired to defend infrastructure.
On 16 September 2003 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said 56,000 Iraqis are providing for their own security through police, army, border guards, site protection and a civil defense corps; and another 14,000 Iraqis have been recruited and are in training, which effectively brings to 70,000 the number of Iraqis now serving across the country.
By the end of September 2003 more than 60,000 Iraqis were serving in providing security for their country, making Iraqis the single largest member of the coalition after the United States. These Iraqis are fighting and taking casualties. Their numbers are made up of roughly 40,000 members of the Iraqi police, as well as members of the new Facility Protection Service, the new Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, and the border guards. By January 2004, the US planned to have 15,000 members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, and 20,000 members of the Facility Protection Service. With additional resources, those numbers could be expanded further, because there is no shortage of Iraqis willing to serve. The US has plans to field 66,000 police and 3 divisions of the new Iraqi Army which could be speeded up substantially with the additional resources the President has called for.
On 04 October 2003 President George W Bush said Iraq had a civil defence corps of nearly 2,500, a border guard force of 4,700 and a facility protection service of over 12,000. On 09 October 2003 US administrator L. Paul Bremer told a news conference in Baghdad that 60,000 Iraqis were providing security to their country.
As of mid-October 2003 about 70,000 Iraqis were engaged in security operations, and another 13,000 were in or awaiting training. These include the police, border enforcement officers, Civil Defense Corps, Facility Protection Service, and New Iraq Army. Plans are for this total to grow to at least 170,000. The supplemental supported the fielding of a New Iraqi Army – 27 battalions by September 2004. The first battalion of 700 Iraqis graduated from training in early October 2003.
By the end of October 2003 national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told foreign reporters the overall number was "over 85,000 and growing." Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told an audience at Georgetown University the figure was "some 80,000 to 90,000."
On 04 November 2003 Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that "over 100,000" Iraqi forces had been trained to provide security, with that number expected to double by September 2004. Rumsfeld's number represented a 40 percent increase from administration estimates a month earlier.
As of mid-November 2003 the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps Forces was at about 13,000 strength. They are a local militia of such, and they're projected to get up around 40,000 by mid-2004. The border police and the border patrol were at about 4,000 strength, moving up to 25,000. The Iraqi Police Services were at around 62,000, and they'll move to 71,000 by mid-2004. The Facilities Protection Forces free US forces up from having to do static guard duties. They will eventually be as high as 50,000. And the new Iraqi army that's being formed, was at one battalion strength, and it's going up to 35,000 strength.
OSD reported on 19 November 2003 that there are a total of 138,600 Iraqis working in the various Iraqi Security Forces. More than 6,900 are in training. The Coalition Provisional Authority's goal is to have 221,700 personnel in the security forces. According to OSD, 86 members of the Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in action; 153 have been wounded in action since 1 June.
Coalition Military Assistance Training Team [CMATT]
The Coalition Military Assistance Training Team, known as CMATT, have been engaged in training the Iraqi army. CMATT is developing forces which are under political control, accountable to the nation, and defensive in capability and intent. The vision is to man, train, and equip nine infantry brigades, a small coastal defense force, and the beginning of an aviation element to establish the foundation of the Iraqi army run by Iraqis.
The process starts at three main recruiting hubs in Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul. That also represent the spread of the country and the ethnic distribution. Each class that is recruited is ethnically balanced. This provides an atmosphere where tolerance is essential to mission accomplished. CMATT looked for those individuals who wish to defend Iraq and its newfound freedom, and are skilled in such professions as truck driver, heavy equipment operator, food service, first aid, and above all else, infantry. A majority of new recruits have prior military service, and nearly all of the non-commissioned officers and officer candidates do as well. The Iraqi officer corps of the old army is a pretty good officer corps in a lot of respects, certainly from the perspective of military training. The non-commissioned officer corps is deficient, and the soldiers and the training they received were deficient.
Nearly 1,000 recruits are recruited in order to produce an active battalion of 757 soldiers. Attrition is due to such things as voluntary withdrawal or failure to meet standards. This is not unusual in any army that recruits in a fashion similar to the recruiting that we do here, and speaking from personal experience in the American Army, similar to what we have in the United States.
In order to get the ball rolling, the first four battalions have been trained under a system where officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted men are trained simultaneously but separately. All three groups are then brought together for a three-week period of collective training before the battalion graduates and is sent to its respective garrison base.
Training focused on an end state that provides an individual soldier who possesses fundamental soldier skills, functions as a member of a multiethnic team, is oriented to military service and service to the Iraqi nation, and is schooled in human rights and the law of land warfare. He also respects others and is physically and mentally prepared to begin service in the Iraqi army.
The first battalion graduated on 4 October 2003 and is based at Kirkuk, and employed by the 4th Infantry Division Mechanized. The second battalion was employed by the 1st Armored Division, and they're garrisoned at Taji since their graduation on 6 January 2004, which is also Army Day and celebrated as such since 1921. Following the graduation in late Jnuary 2004 the 3rd Battalion, the unit was deploymed to the Mosul area.
Based on the premise that a thousand leaders can create an army faster than creating an army a thousand soldiers at a time, CMATT have adopted the same cohort model for recruitment and training that the United States used to gear up for World War II. As World War II began, the US was a particularly small army, and expanded by bringing in the leadership that we had on the active rolls.
The remaining 23 battalions will follow this course of action, where officers and non-commissioned officers will conduct separate courses. They then come together to form the battalion cadre, and will train their own soldiers are recruited and brought together en masse to the locations where the garrisons are set. This will be an Iraqi army trained by Iraqis.
After battalions conduct their initial training, they will start a rotation of collective training or unit training and operational employment. The emphasis for collective training is on conducting tactical movements and practicing operations in both rural and in urban terrain. CMATT currently had more than 1,200 soldiers on duty, and more than 2,500 in training as of late January 2004.
In addition to the 27 infantry battalions in the army, CMATT was building the Iraqi Coastal Defense Force and the Iraqi Army Air Corps.
The Coastal Defense Force will be comprised of a patrol boat squadron of five 30-meter boats and a naval infantry regiment. The naval infantry is training with the Iraqi army for basic skills. This coastal defense force will then move down to the Umm Qasr/Basra area for boat training and where they will learn interdiction and boarding operations in order to protect the some 80 kilometers of Iraqi coastline.
The Iraqi Army Air Corps will focus primarily on troop and logistics movements as well as air medivac for life-threatening and casualty-producing situations. CMATT trained both helicopter and transport pilots, and will field the first operational squadrons in the summer of 2004. CMATT also investigated the use of reconnaissance aircraft in order to effectively monitor the miles of Iraqi border, and infrastructure such as pipelines and electrical transmission facilities.
This is a tough neighborhood, and three light infantry divisions do not provide, and will not provide the end state defensive requirements for the Iraqi ground forces. It never was intended to be so. It was the basis of systems, and above all else, the basis of the leader ethos, the leadership, the core of the Iraqi army that one day will be prepared to take on alone the defense of this nation. Various analysts suggest that Iraq will eventually need between eight and 12 divisions, and within that eight to 12 divisions, between 40 and 60 percent heavy combined-arms capable divisions -- that's tank, infantry fighting vehicle and artillery, backed up by attack helicopter aircraft, lift aircraft, and the wherewithal to secure the air above -- air defense artillery and the interceptor aircraft needed to defend the skies. As of January 2004 the US estimate is that the earliest Iraq could produce such a force would be between three and five years.