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Rakkasans building independent Iraqi army

By Pfc. Cassandra Groce and Spc. Karl Johnson
January 25, 2006

SAMARRA, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 25, 2005) – “Iron Rakkasans” are training the future trainers of an independent Iraqi army at sites in Samarra and Mahmudiyah, Iraq.

Military Integrated Transition Teams from the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division are providing classroom and hands-on training of basic and advanced courses to prepare the Iraqi soldiers to take over the job of securing their own country.

Iraqi army mix of experience

The Iraqi army is a mix of seasoned soldiers with years of experience and new recruits right off the street. The classes are a baseline to start everyone for training and evaluation.

In Samarra, the regimen consists of weapons training, map reading, general orders and basic first aid that is taught to the officers and non-commissioned officers in a course lasting about 12 days. The trained Iraqis will then teach the classes to the lower enlisted.

“It empowers their leaders and gives them the experience and knowledge to control their soldiers,” said Capt. Christopher Swint, the assistant MiTT team chief, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. “After the classroom and hands-on training concludes, the Iraqi Army soldiers’ level of understanding is tested with patrols in the streets of Iraq. The soldiers search homes and arrest detainees in a quest to eliminate Anti-Iraqi Forces.”

Every unit is evaluated once a month. Categories tested include training level, sustainability, logistics ability, communication, leadership and operations. The evaluation for each unit can vary slightly since the testing is devised in conjunction with the Iraqi army’s commander.

NCOs to train modern Iraqi army

The training in Mahmudiyah teaches the Iraqi soldiers to conduct raids, patrols and operate traffic control points.

“We’ve done a lot of tactical training with these guys, like entering and clearing rooms, close-quarters marksmanship, and basic movement formations,” said Capt. Ryan Hartwig, MiTT 2, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. “Any support that we provide these guys, they seem to have an open ear to what we’re saying.”

“It’s a very challenging mission, but the more we stay with the Iraqi Army, the better they become,” said Staff Sgt. Arturo Delagarza, MiTT 2, 2nd BCT. “That way they can transition to taking over their area, and we can shift to another location or possibly even out.”

Unlike the U.S. Army, experienced Iraqi soldiers didn’t have the benefit of a strong non-commissioned officer corps, since it was virtually non-existent.

“We have an NCO corps, and we’re trying to build theirs,” said Hartwig.

The difference in the level of responsibility for NCOs in the modern Iraqi army is a significant obstacle they’re working to overcome. A big step was establishing a primary leadership development course. The course graduated its first students in Jan. 2005; those students were then trained to teach the course themselves. The goal is for the Iraqi army to take over the school in February, 2006.

With the continued dedication of the Rakkasan Soldiers and the hard work of their Iraqi counterparts, that goal will soon be a reality.

(Pfc. Cassandra Groce serves with the 133rd MPAD and Spc. Karl Johnson serves with the 363rd MPAD.)