Iraqi army surging ethics training

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

09.18.2008

Courtesy Story

Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq Public Affairs

By the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq Public Affairs Office

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi army wants every Iraqi soldier to receive ethics training just like he receives marksmanship training or drill and ceremony training.

Since 2003 the primary focus for the Iraqi army has been building the force. Getting soldiers trained to fight took precedence over many other military functions. Iraqis came from all locations and all walks of life to join the fight to secure their country from terrorists.

Every one of those Soldiers brought a unique set of values with him: personal values, family values, community values and religious values. Creating a culture of ethical behavior means that each Soldier must now learn and accept Iraqi army values.

Those core values are the same as the United States Army's: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and courage.

Unifying ethical standards in a force of more than 150,000 Soldiers cannot be done haphazardly or in a reactionary fashion. The Center for Military Values, Principles and Leadership Development is tasked with creating ethics training doctrine for the Army and providing ethics training for the Soldiers.

Army values and principles is just one of the five blocks of training CMVPLD covers. In addition, Soldiers learn; role of the military in a democracy, law of armed conflict, military professionalism and leadership.

"We would like to expand the values and the principles to all of the Iraqi Army from the Jundi to the senior level," said Iraqi army Staff Brig. Gen. Mohan, director of CMVPLD.

The decline in violence in Iraq has given the center some breathing room to push training out to the field. Mobile training teams are visiting all the Basic Combat Training locations as well as the four military academies.

"According to our plan, no one will graduate without getting the training in 2009," said Mohan.

The center is also incorporating ethics training into Unit Set Fielding where entire brigades come together for the first time and Warfighter programs where existing Iraqi battalions come out of their battlespace to train in large unit operations. In these exercises, ethical dilemmas are incorporated into the training lanes so that leaders and Soldiers must make values judgments as well as tactical decisions.

Mohan recently addressed Soldiers from the Iraqi Army 8th Division during a Warfighter class at Numaniyah.

Iraqi army Lt. Gen. Authman, 8th Division commanding general said, "Always when I meet my officers from this division or different units I have, I make sure for the officers first to build their ethics with the civilian people so they can treat them fairly when they go outside doing their missions." Authman continued, "I always make sure for the human rights even using the human rights for the criminals when we capture them, because they are still human beings. And then we are going to leave the court alone to deal with those criminals."

Not all the Army ethics training takes place in the Army. Mohan and his staff work with the ministries of education and higher education to spread their messages to students in primary and intermediate schools as well as colleges.

They also publish stories about Army values and principles in Ministry of Defense newspapers and magazines and they broadcast them on television and the Internet.

The CMVPLD was established in 2006 at the Iraqi Military Academy-Rustamiyah. In 2007 it moved to the Iraqi cultural center in the international zone of Baghdad. In April 2008, it reported to the National Defense University.

• Date Taken: 09.18.2008
• Date Posted: 09.18.2008 08:46
• Story ID: 23803
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ