Senior enlisted leaders tour CENTCOM

Photo By Jacob McDonald | Spc. David Firkus, 1146th Personnel Support Battalion, a native of South St. Paul,...... read more read more

Photo By Jacob McDonald | Spc. David Firkus, 1146th Personnel Support Battalion, a native of South St. Paul, Minn., briefs a group of senior enlisted leaders on the rest and recuperation program at the Life Support Area, Kuwait, during a tour of the facilities Feb. 25.  see less | View Image Page

CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT

03.04.2008

Story by Staff Sgt. Jacob McDonald 

50th Public Affairs Detachment

✔ ✗ Subscribe

21

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait – A group of senior enlisted leaders gathered in Kuwait, Feb. 24 and 25, to tour military facilities and discuss ways to increase mission success throughout the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

The multi-service group included Army, Air Force and Marine Corps senior enlisted leaders from various offices including U.S. Transportation Command, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Headquarters Department of the Army, U.S. Army Central and other organizations responsible for providing manpower and training. The trip allowed the participants a glimpse of the training and staffing successes and problems throughout the theater.

"You have to come out and improve the [command], to make it better for the next rotations as they come in," said Sgt. Maj. John Gipe, sergeant major of the Army National Guard. "The mission has changed a whole lot since we came over here initially. You have to constantly be adjusting things, especially the training processes. That is what we are out here to do, to look at the training processes and personnel issues, to see what we can address and make better."

During the visit the leaders met with service members who told the leaders about the good and the bad. Primary among the concerns was the number of service members who were not doing the job they initially trained for, or doing jobs they don't normally do in their own service. According to Marine Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey A. Morin, senior enlisted advisor for U.S. Central Command who organized the visit, this mismatch of skill sets causes delays in preparing the Iraqi and Afghan forces to take over.

"At the end of the day, it is not about the Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine on the ground," Morin said. "Our replacement is not coming out of the 101st Airborne Division, is not coming out of 4th ID. We are talking about the enduring [replacement]. The enduring [replacement] is when we turn over individual skills and battle space to an Iraqi or to an Afghan."

Morin said having the right person in the right job at the beginning of a deployment will increase how quickly and efficiently permanent replacements are trained.

"Every day we lose, every day we are not building capacity in [the Iraqi or Afghan forces], is another day you can add on to another deployment or another rotation [for the U.S. military]," Morin said. "It's not hard to see that if it's taking the people we send over here 30 to 60 days to get on the ground and get comfortable and get proficient at what they are going to be tasked with doing here, that is 60 days that is wasted, that is 60 days we are going to have to tie on to the end.

"When you get here this is not the time to learn and find out what you are going to be required to do and be trained to do it," Morin continued. "You are here to accomplish the mission. You are here to start that mission the day you get here and if you are not ready to do that then we need to do a better job back at home station training and preparing them to do what's expected."

Morin said the senior enlisted group saw the success and where the needs lie.
"The leaders were exposed to success stories they didn't know existed," Morin said. "If we are making this much success with who we are sending, just think of what we could do if we tweaked the system a little bit and we do a little better at [job] matching, do a little bit better training back at home station."
Morin also said, because of the different military branches involved in the visit, the leaders were able to focus on branch-specific concerns when speaking with their respective service members.

"We do a great job of preparing a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine to come out here and take care of himself while he is here," Morin said. "The one thing the leaders saw here was a void in thinking externally. External thinking is projecting what you really came here to do, which is to train someone who is external from your unit. That is a member of the [Iraqi security force] or a member of the [Afghan national security force]. Quite frankly it is external thinking and external focus which will shorten the time we are here."

Despite the issues the leaders discovered, Gipe said personnel on the ground are still accomplishing the mission and getting the job done.

"I am glad to be here and I am proud of the troops," he said. "They are doing a great job. No matter if there are issues, they always drive on, do the mission and do the best job they can. It makes me very proud to be able to serve along side of them."