Warfighter Wednesday: What is it like over here?

Filed under DoD News by on June 16, 2010 at 9:59 am {no comments}

Maj. Chris Auclair, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Fires and Effects coordinator

Maj. Chris Auclair is the 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Fires and Effects coordinator, currently serving in Baghdad, Iraq.  This is his second tour in Baghdad, having previously served as a Paladin Battery Commander in 1st Brigade during the initial invasion and subsequent transition to stability operations.

Two weeks ago, three 1-3 AAB soldiers and I conducted a video teleconference with 40-50 seventh graders and roughly 10 teachers from a school in Atlanta, Ga. The only reference the students and teachers in this school, in most cases, had of our military was what they saw on television or through a grandfather, who served in Korea or Vietnam.  We were really the first “line” soldiers these students had ever seen or met firsthand. This video teleconference was truly a rewarding experience, but it completely reinforced the concept DoDLive originally requested, which was to explain what it is like over here in Baghdad.

As our Public Affairs shop prepared the four of us for the class with the seventh graders, we rehearsed all the anticipated questions such as, “have you ever been shot?” Of course we were asked this question, as well as questions regarding how close combat was to the video game Medal of Honor, but these students surprised us with other questions that you’d expect to hear from an adult with some knowledge of why we are here in Iraq.

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Warfighter Wednesday: Managing Information Expectations for an AAB

Filed under DoD News by on June 9, 2010 at 11:08 am {no comments}
Lt. Col. Joshua J. Potter, chief, Iraqi Army Division Stability-Transition Team

Lt. Col. Joshua J. Potter, chief, Iraqi Army Division Stability-Transition Team

Lt. Col. Joshua J. Potter is an Iraqi Army Division Stability-Transition Team Chief with the1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, currently serving in Baghdad, Iraq. This is his fourth tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is his sixth overall deployment and he previously was the Civil Affairs officer for the 1st Infantry Division G9 (Civil-Military officer) and course developer / chief instructor with the Directorate of Cultural Influence and Counterinsurgency training over 8,000 Transition Team members who are inbound in support of the Global War on Terrorism, in Cultural Influence, Counterinsurgency, and the role of the advisor.

As the Iraqi Security Forces continue to increase their capabilities, it struck me that our appetite for continuous information has not reduced. Our 24/7 news media exposure and information gluttony has affected our professional behavior. In short, we are insatiable when it comes to offering the best possible information to our bosses in order for him or her to make the best-informed decision. This is going to be a problem given the future force structure we have championed – the Advise and Assist Brigades (or AABs) in Iraq.

Take Col. Roger Cloutier’s 1/3 AAB as an example. They are filling the shoes in the Baghdad Province where six U.S. BCT’s (Brigade Combat Teams) stood last year. Yes, that is a ratio of 6 BCT’s to 1 AAB. Pretty staggering, given the political climate and the expectations for success poured onto the shoulders of Cloutier’s team. In addition to assuming the partnership and advising for six Iraqi divisions, Cloutier’s team also has to increase his operational area do to the Security and Status of Forces Agreement, conduct several base closures and transfers, while simultaneously maintaining pressure on the violent extremist networks in the country’s capital. Yikes!!

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Warfighter Wednesday: Iraq Perspective – Springtime in Baghdad

Filed under DoD News by on June 2, 2010 at 10:38 am {one comment}
Maj. Gary J. Morea, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Brigade Aviation officer

Maj. Gary J. Morea, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Brigade Aviation officer

By Maj. Gary J. Morea, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Brigade Aviation officer, currently serving in Baghdad, Iraq. This is his third tour in Iraq, having previously served as an Apache pilot and aviation planner in the 11th Aviation Regiment during the initial invasion and subsequent transition to stability operations.

My first experience in Baghdad was in the Spring of 2003. We had completed the invasion and were re-positioning forces and consolidating on existing Iraqi bases that we had taken over.

My unit at the time, the 11th Aviation Regiment, was moving to Balad, a former Iraqi Air Force Base located approximately 60 miles North of Baghdad from OBJECTIVE RAMS–literally a circle drawn in the sand approximately 50 miles West of An Najaf. OBJECTIVE RAMS was spartan and desolate and we lived there for approximately two months. When it was time for the move North, I volunteered to go with the ground convoy in order to get a “change of scenery.”

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Warfighter Wednesday: Using My Early Experience and Education in Agriculture as an Army Officer

Filed under DoD News by on May 26, 2010 at 9:30 am {no comments}

By Lt. Col Stanley P. Fugate, Deputy Commander for Civil Capacity 1-3 AAB FOB Falcon, Baghdad, Iraq

Lt. Col Stanley P. Fugate Deputy Commander for Civil Capacity 1-3 AAB FOB Falcon, Baghdad, Iraq

Lt. Col Stanley P. Fugate, deputy commander for Civil Capacity 1-3 AAB FOB Falcon, Baghdad, Iraq

Lt. Col Stanley P. Fugate is the 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, deputy commander for Civil Capacity in Baghdad, Iraq. This is his first deployment to Iraq, but he has been deployed to Kuwait three other times. Fugate is the second in command of the Brigade.

In my 23 years as an Army armor officer, I never thought or dreamed that I would use or have to refer back to my undergraduate degree in Agriculture Business from the University of Tennessee. But as a brigade deputy commander for Civil Capacity deployed to Iraq, I constantly find myself referring back to classes that I had long ago on subjects such as dairy science, animal science, agriculture engineering, plant science, and agriculture economics, just to name a few.

Even my experience of growing up on a farm in Tennessee and being involved in 4-H projects has helped and assisted me with my job as the deputy commander for 1-3 Advise and Assist Brigade in Baghdad, Iraq.

As the DCO for Civil Capacity, it is my job to oversee the brigade commander’s Emergency Response Program’s many projects. I also have direct project oversight responsibility and I advise the commander in the conduct of Civil Military Operations in support of the brigade’s mission to assist the Iraqi Security Forces.

Many of our current brigade projects in the Baghdad Province are agriculture projects: Green house projects, demonstration farms, community farms, dairy processing plant construction, milk collection centers, poultry processing plant construction, beekeeping, agriculture research center construction, milk production improvement, and drip irrigation projects. It always comes in handy if you know a little something about the mechanics and complexity of the projects and what effect and outcome they will have for the local Iraqi farmers. (more…)

Warfighter Wednesday: Iraq Perspective – What’s it like there?

Filed under DoD News by on May 19, 2010 at 8:48 am {one comment}
Maj. Chris Auclair, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Fires and Effects Coordinator

Maj. Chris Auclair, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Fires and Effects Coordinator

By Maj. Chris Auclair, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division Fires and Effects Coordinator, currently serving in Baghdad, Iraq. This is his second tour in Baghdad, having previously served as a Paladin Battery Commander in 1st Brigade during the initial invasion and subsequent transition to stability operations.

During Christmas 2003, after having returned from Iraq for the first time, my family asked what it was like going toe-to-toe against the Iraqi Army and what it was like transitioning to security operations in Baghdad. The one story that had the most effect on my family was the story I told about Spc. Chad Lawson.

On 28 May 2003, Lawson, seven other soldiers and I were returning from our battalion headquarters located at Uday Hussein’s palace in Baghdad to our small battery outpost in northern Adhamiya. As we neared Abu Hanifa Mosque, a major landmark in Baghdad, Lawson’s HMMWV was hit with an IED leaving nothing but a crumbled heap of metal. Rushing to what was left of Lawson’s vehicle, we expected the worst and dreaded what we were sure to find. As we approached, Lawson was climbing out of the wreckage despite his severe wounds. (more…)

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    German soldiers of 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, 40th Mechanized Infantry Regiment pull security during an Operational Mentor Liaison Team (OMLT) training exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.  OMLT XXIII and Police Operational Mentor Liaison Team VII training are designed to prepare teams for deployment to Afghanistan with the ability to train, advise, and enable the Afghan National Security Force in areas such as counter-insurgency, combat advisory, and force enabling support operations. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ian Schell  (DVIDS)


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    While flying over Colorado a B-2 Stealth Bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base, MO, moves into position for a mid-air refueling via the boom of a KC-135R Stratotanker from the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Milwaukee on 09 May, 2012. The B-2 Stealth bomber and the KC-135 crews conducted the aerial refueling to maintain mission readiness standards.

    U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt Jeremy M. Wilson (DVIDS)


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    Royal Canadian Mounted Police assigned to a Marine Security Emergency Response Team debark from the HMCS Ville de Quebec (FFH 332) to conduct boarding operations during Exercise Frontier Sentinel 2012 May 8, 2012 at sea off Sydney, Nova Scotia. Exercise Frontier Sentinel is a combined interagency exercise involving Joint Task Force Atlantic, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Command. The exercise is designed to continue to develop and validate the existing plans, treaties and standard operation procedures for a bilateral response to maritime homeland defense and security threats.

    (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ernesto Hernandez Fonte / Released) (DVIDS)