Chicago Tribune November 23, 2004
U.S. hopes GI rotation better 2nd time around
By Stephen J. Hedges, Washington Bureau.
As they launch their second large-scale rotation of troops for the war in Iraq, U.S. commanders are trying to minimize the upheaval that the first changeover caused a year ago--a tumult critics say puts more troops at risk while contributing to the loss of U.S. control over several important Iraqi cities.
The rotation of more than 250,000 troops to and from Iraq over the next four months will occur as Iraq struggles to stage its first national elections on Jan. 30, an event in which U.S. forces will play a vital security role.
For the coming year, commanders intend to keep the U.S. force in Iraq at the same level as for 2004--about 140,000 troops. That number, though, is likely to increase temporarily by at least 5,000 soldiers during the election period, military commanders say, and could increase further if they deem it necessary to tap into the Army's strategic reserve, units that are prepared to deploy quickly.
Some U.S. commanders in Iraq also are saying they may need a larger American force to quell the insurgency, according to one report Monday, though the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for Iraq, has yet to make that request.
Pentagon planners now are preparing to maintain the U.S. presence in Iraq until at least 2010, a far longer commitment than initially expected and one that will dramatically affect the structure of U.S. ground forces worldwide, according to military sources. That makes the handling of the periodic troop rotations all the more crucial.
To keep the transition as smooth as possible, the Pentagon over the past year has expanded the training that troops receive before being deployed to Iraq, exposing them to the tactics and weapons used by the anti-American insurgency and conducting cultural and religious briefings for operations in a Muslim country.
This time, as well, some seasoned forces will return, including the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which led the initial charge to Baghdad in 2003, and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which previously served in western Iraq.
But as it did a year ago, the Pentagon's approach of a single, massive troop rotation, conducted each year to honor soldiers' one-year deployments, has come under criticism from inside and outside military ranks. Some argue that this sort of full-scale changeover--rather than a more phased rotation--can cause unnecessary loss of U.S. lives because inexperienced troops so quickly replace battle-wise soldiers.
Others say the changeover last January contributed to the loss of important cities that once had been relatively calm and even showed promise of supporting the American effort and the interim Iraqi government. That's because the incoming troops did not have the time to absorb from their departing counterparts what tactics worked best, critics say.
Mosul, for instance, was quickly stabilized by the Army's 101st Airborne Division shortly after the spring 2003 U.S. invasion. Officers there helped stage early local elections and launched ambitious reconstruction projects.
As the 101st neared its departure date in late 2003, however, violence began to escalate, and it grew worse as the 1st Infantry Division took command of the area. Just last week, 2,500 U.S. troops had to storm back into Mosul to regain control of a police station that had been attacked and held by insurgents.
Much the same happened in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. It was tense but generally under control a year ago. But with the departure of the 82nd Airborne Division and the arrival of Marines last spring, the city experienced escalating violence and parts of it are now no-go zones for U.S. troops.
The 82nd Airborne "had a very cautious way of working," said a senior U.S. official. "They tended to be off the streets unless they needed to be there, and that was about the threshold that the Iraqis would tolerate."
`Patrolling every block'
But then, the official said, "the Marines came in with a whole different template--a guy on every street corner, patrolling every block. And the Iraqis said, `It's a year on, and we're being re-occupied.'"
After the recent assault on Fallujah, U.S. troops will continue their city-to-city bid to regain control of the Sunni triangle, the volatile, central Iraq region that is at the center of the anti-American insurgency.
With Iraqi elections scheduled for Jan. 30, the test will come over the next two months, when U.S. and Iraqi forces try to sustain some control over the capital, Baghdad, as well as Fallujah, Samarra, Tikrit and Mosul. Efforts to regain parts of Ramadi and other parts of the western Anbar province will follow.
"We can win a [military] victory," said Army Col. Paul Hughes, former director of strategic planning for the Coalition Provisional Authority. "But it if it's not followed up to produce tangible results for the civilians, the civilians are going to go right back on the fence and wait to see who wins."
The longer that effort takes, the tougher it is on the U.S. forces worldwide. The Iraq war has strained an exhausted ground force. The Army and Marines are struggling to meet retention and recruiting goals, although commanders say most goals have so far been met. Weapons, vehicles, aircraft and other equipment are operating at grueling rates in harsh conditions. Military spending in Iraq is now $11.5 billion a month.
Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, told a congressional committee last week that one of his officers reported that 150 vehicles under his command had accumulated 825,000 miles on 700 convoys over a seven-month period. Normally, Hagee said, it would take 13 years to acquire that mileage.
"We should also not make the mistake of thinking this war will end in a year or two, or that eventual success in Iraq and Afghanistan will be the last battles in our campaign against terror," Hagee said.
Each new rotation of troops has prompted significant changes in how Marines and soldiers are being prepared for Iraq. Information on insurgent tactics--from roadside explosive devices to ambushes to sniping--is now quickly transferred to Army and Marines training centers, where the tactics are simulated on troops preparing for deployment.
Both services also now instruct troops on the cultural and religious issues they likely will face whether they are searching Iraqi homes or conducting operations near mosques. The Marines give troops selected from some units a six-month course in Arabic.
Tactical training tailored
On a tactical level, the Marine Corps has tailored its Basic Urban Skill Training course for Iraq. Marines headed for Iraq are put through the course at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif.
"It includes a three-day, three-night continuous scenario with pieces in which they're exposed to all the elements of a typical Iraqi town--a mosque, a school, private houses," said Maj. John Simeoni of the Marine Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va. "It includes people who are role players in that village, just so [Marines] can consider the criteria of what to do to search a house, or if they want to search a mosque, what they should consider, who they should talk to."
The Army has a larger-scale effort in its two national training centers in California and Louisiana. Iraqis and Arabs have been enlisted to simulate riots and insurgent attacks in the villages and cityscapes that have been erected. Liaison officers with Army units in Iraq relate information on new insurgent tactics to the training centers and post that information on secure Web sites for officers and troops to read.
Recognizing that intelligence on the insurgency remains in short supply, the number of military intelligence teams for each Army brigade has been increased to three from two, according to the Pentagon, and intelligence officers working at the command level rotate on a different schedule in an effort to provide more consistency.
The number of Army units operating the 450 unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, now flying in Iraq also has been increased. Each Army brigade (up to 5,000 troops) will have four teams of 22 soldiers operating and maintaining UAVs, according to an Army spokesman.
Still, the military's method of transferring command between units remains largely the same: Equipment departs for Iraq a month or two before the troops, and the units overlap for about two weeks. Advance teams go to Iraq a month ahead of the main force for briefings, and then relay the information to colleagues back home. Data swaps on intelligence and other operational information also begin a month before a unit deploys.
The big difference this time around, officers say, may be the need to extend the service of troops already in Iraq until the January election. The Washington Post on Monday quoted unnamed commanders in Iraq who said a larger force may be needed against insurgency.
During a Pentagon briefing Friday, Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command, said that a "brigade's worth" of (about 5,000) troops probably will be kept in Iraq over the election period and that more could be quickly deployed. But the size of the force, Smith said, wasn't the only factor to consider.
"The issue, by the way, is not just numbers," Smith said. "The issue is really about experienced troops during this period of time of expected increased violence."
NOTES: IRAQ IN TRANSITION.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: A soldier tries to comfort his daughter in Wahiawa, Hawaii, before leaving for Iraq recently. The war has strained the military. AP photo by Lucy Pemoni.
GRAPHIC: New troops headed to Iraq
The second rotation of American troops in Iraq has begun and is expected to be completed by the end of March. About 250,000 troops will rotate in and out of the country over the next four months, with troop levels on the ground remaining at about 140,000.
CURRENT U.S. TROOP ROTATION IN IRAQ
Shown by largest deployed unit per sector; home base in italics
ROTATION:
MOVING OUT
Stryker Brigade (3rd Brigade,
2nd Infantry Division)
Ft. Lewis, Wash.
1st Infantry Division
Wuerzburg, Germany
I Marine Expeditionary Force
Camp Pendleton, Calif.
1st Armored Division
Ft. Hood, Texas
1st Cavalry Division
Wiesbaden, Germany
MOVING IN
Stryker Brigade (1st Brigade,
25th Infantry Division)
Ft. Lewis, Wash.
42nd Infantry Division
Troy, N.Y.
II Marine Expeditionary Force
Camp Lejeune, N.C.
3rd Infantry Division
Ft. Stewart, Ga.
2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division
Ft. Drum, N.Y.
Sources: Department of Defense, GlobalSecurity.org
© Copyright 2004, Chicago Tribune Company
