- [Announcer] Welcome back to the Warrior's Corner.
Please join me in welcoming Major General Frank Muth,
Program Manager, Saudi Arabian
National Guard Modernization Program.
(speaking a foreign language)
(chuckling)
- How's everybody doin' this afternoon?
All right, so a couple things.
Ground rules.
One is if anybody who knows me, I'm pretty energetic,
the aide found the Diet Coke, which is pouring gasoline
on fire, so we're all in trouble, 'cause I'll be movin'
around a little bit.
My name is Frank Muth, and I'm the 21st Program Manager
for Saudi Army National Guard.
I'm honored to be here today with you,
along with fellow teammates, Sergeant Major Stevenson,
Sergeant Major of the program, and CW5 Troy DeGolyer,
who is the Chief of the program.
So I thought before we started,
we're gonna show a little video,
and then I'm gonna talk a little bit about the history
of who we are and what we're about,
and then we'll get into some of the programmatics.
So, roll the hooah.
(rock music)
(blades whirring)
(engines rumbling)
(weapon firing)
All right, so what you saw there was that's USISAC,
our higher headquarters.
Just out of Redstone Arsenal, and also
under Army Materiel Command.
That's who, basically, we work for.
Now, before I start talking about what we are,
and what our team's about,
I wanna give you a quick history about Saudi Arabia.
I wanna give you a history about King Abdulaziz,
and his rise to bringing the Arabian Peninsula together
under one crown, under one country.
And why is that important?
I've been doing this job for 15 months,
and I will tell you that understanding the Saudi culture,
understanding their history, 'cause they live it everyday,
they are proud of it, they're proud of their nation,
they're proud of who they are.
And for you, for our team, to be able to understand
and be able to connect with them, 'cause you know there,
it's all about two, three things.
Time, trust, and relationships.
And the only way you can achieve that is to spend time
with them, develop the trust, and ultimately,
build a relationship that allows for security cooperation.
'Cause as we build our SFABs, let me tell you what,
at 44 years is we've been in existence.
We are the original SFAB.
Security Force Assistance Brigade.
But we're much larger, only because we cover down
on a 130,000 soldiers.
So, what's this history I wanna talk about?
1875, 1876, depending on the Gregorian,
or the Islamic calendar, King Abdulaziz was born
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
And 1890, there was a guy there, the mayor of Riyadh,
basically disgraced King Abdul's family, his father,
kicked him out, and they went into hiding in Kuwait.
He comes back into Saudi Arabia with his brother
and a small band of warriors in 1902, ambushes the same guy
that threw his family out and disgraced them,
and kills him in Riyadh.
And that starts his march across this Arabian Peninsula
to consolidate the country, and in 1932,
establishes the nation we know today as the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia.
His relationship with the United States was
after the Conference at Cairo.
In 1943, he is taken to the USS Quincy, a destroyer,
off the coast of Cairo, and there he meets with FDR,
and it's the first time that the US
and Saudi relationship begins, and what ultimately came
out of that were three DC3s that were delivered
within six months to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Fast forward to 1973, and in 1973, the crown prince
at the time strikes a deal or an agreement
with the ambassador to Saudi Arabia from the US,
and the Program Manager Saudi Army National Guard,
with a mission of modernizing, advising and assisting,
becomes our organization.
And we've been in existence for 44 years,
and I'm the 21st Program Manager.
And it truly is an honor.
So now, you've understood the history of what that nation is
and how it has formed.
Now, what about the Saudi Army National Guard?
I talked to you about King Abdulaziz,
from 1902 to 1932, establishing,
going throughout the Arabian Peninsula, consolidating power.
How did he do that?
He would go around to the Bedu tribes.
He would visit them, and he would bring them
into his fold, into his vision for the nation,
and they would join his army.
They were called the White Army, because they wore,
Bedu robes were white.
That is the foundation of the Saudi Army National Guard.
The ones that formed behind him, that allowed for him
to establish power, to defeat the other forces
in Saudi Arabia and consolidate power, that is the history
of the Saudi Army National Guard.
That's why they live their history.
They are the ones that helped found the nation,
supporting King Abdulaziz.
So, that's the importance and that's the difference
of what Saudi Army National Guard is
to some of the other ministries that exist
within Saudi Arabia.
To include their recruiting is to the Bedu tribes.
It's not as a nation as a whole.
They'll go to the Bandar Tribe or the Toatri Tribe
and say we need this many men to be able to fill the ranks,
and that's how they form their organizations
and their units.
So again, you need to understand that before I talk
about the program, what their history is,
'cause how they see themselves, and how we understand
how they see themselves will either let us be effective
as a security cooperation force, or ineffective,
'cause we have to understand the way they think.
Now, before into the next slide, 130,000 soldiers
in the Saudi Army National Guard
17 brigades.
Of the 17, we cover down and provide security assistance
for 11, of the 11, five are LAV brigades.
Largest LAV fleet in the world.
1,900 LAVs.
And we're finishing out modernizing and filling
the last two LAV brigades.
Between now, we got about 350 more to deliver
between now and November 18th.
The configuration of those LAVs, they are unknown
in the world, 'cause you have an assault tank,
or NI tank one, roll what's basically the old Hammerhead,
you've got the assault gun, 90 millimeter assault gun,
you've got a 120 millimeter turret shot mortar
that you need to go direct fire or indirect,
and then you've got the standard command of control
and the LAV 25.
Very unique force.
So, they have five of those brigades, and they have
Security Brigades, and they also have,
which are riot control, and then they have Quick Reaction
Brigades, which are riot control, but also have
a combat aspect to it.
And then, lastly, which they started in 2008,
and I'll go into a little bit more detail, aviation.
And the founder of that, one of those guys,
is right back there.
Don, wave your hand.
Don and I go way back.
Aviators from way back.
So, they started in 2008 with the concept
of standing up an aviation force for the first time.
And we just finished fully fielding the first brigade
with the H6-I deliveries this past May.
So ultimately their gonna build three operational brigade
and a training brigade, and I'll get that
into it a little bit more.
Slide.
So, that's the history, that's the force
of Saudi Army National Guard.
So, how are we made up?
And then, what is our mission?
And how do we try to accomplish
what we've been assigned to do?
Okay, train, advise and assist, and modernize.
So first, there's our mission statement.
I want you to take two words out of that mission statement.
Capability and capacity.
So, this is how we define, really we say it
the other way.
I should probably change it in the mission statement.
Capacity.
What's capacity?
In our eyes, security cooperation, security assistance.
If we buy them a LAV 25, that is capacity.
If we buy them an A-64 Echo, or a Mike Model Blackhawk,
or they have these CEASAR, these French guns,
actually a pretty good gun.
It's like a triple seven, but it's on the back
of a truck.
That is capacity.
But unless they are trained, unless they are trained
to both use it, employ it, maintain it,
and employ it as a combined arms team in combat,
that's all it is.
It's not capability, that's just capacity.
It could just be sittin' there in motor pool,
collecting dust, not gettin' rusty there,
'cause it doesn't rain much, but collecting dust.
What we bring to the table, what one of our missions is,
is taking that capacity, which we are part of
in the FMS process of buying, and building capability.
'Cause otherwise, it's just sitting there.
And we're not doing our jobs, and we're not building
that force that we've been in charge to do.
To the right.
This is, again, very unique security cooperation force.
Doesn't exist.
130 uniformed personnel.
Of the 130 uniformed personnel, just to cover
those LAV Brigades, the maneuver,
we have 72 senior uniformed personnel.
Lowest rank NCO, sergeant first class.
Lowest rank office, major.
And then we have the warrants.
On the aviation side, we have 50.
We are in the cockpit with them.
So we're not just advising them, we're out.
We have instructor pilots, we have senior instructor pilots,
on of the most senior Apache pilot in the United States Army
and their out there, and they're getting the cockpits
with them, they're training 'em on maintenance,
they're training 'em on safety, they're training 'em
on the basic skills, what we call 1000 Series Tasks.
We're taking that capacity
and we're building that capability.
Along with the maneuver and the aviation,
my number one, our number one priorities,
after I got there for about six months,
and I went yikes, of course, is our logistics.
Our SNS.
Which again, that is led by a 06,
and then his team needs about 32.
You can't get out that motor pool
unless your logistics is straight.
Unless you have the ability to fix it, not just there
in the motor pool.
Maintain it, train it, and then fix it again.
Right?
And guess what?
There was a big problem.
And soon as I recognized that, soon as we recognized that,
our team made that our number one priority.
So, those are the three divisions that are underneath there,
to include Health Affairs.
I'll talk a little bit about that.
And then, underneath that, we have a G staff.
So, right here, Contract Division.
We have an entire division of nothing but contracts.
Contract specialists.
We oversee about 123 contracts, and we outlay
about 120 million a month, is what our bills are
that we end up having to pay.
We have a Program Management Division.
Program Manage Division, alls they do again is as we go
through the FMS case, letters of request
to letters of acceptance, they process it, they work
with DSCA, do all the processing, and then will follow it
through to receipt, and then tracking all the way
through until payment's complete, and then
that contract is closed out.
The WFO.
Troy's here with us today, but he's part
of the Washington Field Office.
And Tech Affairs.
Believe it or not, construction.
We have about $1.8 billion worth of construction going on.
11 different projects.
We're building airfields and a lot of other things.
What do we do?
Talked about it to the right.
It is my right.
Advised, train and assist.
We're also there to expand aviation.
Again, I have other slides that get more details.
Shoot, move, communicate, maintain or sustain, and medicate.
And I'll tell you what, my next slide's gonna show you
where they are and what they're doing.
They are at war right now.
They are on the border with Yemen right now,
fighting the Houthis.
Fight Houthis crossing the border.
Now, at least the saying is.
So, we have a brigade down there.
And I'll tell you what drove that home was
the first brigade that went down on the border had
some challenges with training.
And so, we were able to conduct some lessons learned
and incorporate those lessons learned, specifically focused
on the medical side, at the point of injury,
and it's been dramatic how much they've turned around.
And nothing will drive innovation and change
in any organization in combat.
And we have seen that in the last 16 years.
And we have been able to get them to adopt several
of our models and we can talk more about that
in the next couple slides.
Manage those FMS cases right now.
It's about 35 billion total.
The biggest cases out there are the aviation
at 15 billion, and the ground maneuver and the LAVs are
about 19 billion.
And then that Program Management Contract.
Now, 44 year relationship.
We are 100% FMS funded.
My pay is paid for by the Saudis back to the US government.
Everybody's pay is compensated by the Saudi government.
Everything is FMS, and that's how we have to operate.
So if they give us a letter of direction and say,
"Do this," course it's gotta meet the legal, ethical peace,
we have to do it.
If they don't wanna compete it and they wanna sole source it
we don't have a choice.
If I get a direction from the prince and he has a letter
of direction that says do this, that's what we have to do.
And that's part of the fact that they pay for 100%.
Five-year umbrella case.
Really interesting.
My background's a little bit of G8.
Working the palm.
Maybe a little bit the EE peg stuff.
The beauty about this budget is it rolls over.
Think about that.
I used to get that question when I used to teach classes
on how to build the palm.
People would say, "Man, wouldn't that be great
"if we could hold money over at the end of the year."
I said, "Man, that would be awesome."
Last year, at the end of the year,
we had about 35 million left over.
Guess what?
I got to use it this year on other stuff.
So, if we have efficiencies and we have savings,
and it has met all the requirements, I can roll
that over to the next year and use it on something else,
or to be able to spread it out, or focus on something
that maybe has popped up and we didn't anticipate.
But the umbrella case is just like a palm.
So, just like 1923 Palm, if somebody builds that,
we build a 1923 umbrella case.
We build it for the Saudis for the SANG,
and we set it up there, and then they send it
to the Economic Council and the Finance Committee,
get it approved, and then it comes back through
and it covers us.
Right now, it's broken down into everything but aviation,
'cause it's just a separate umbrella case,
and then our budget that we operate internally,
I operate at about 360 million a year,
that's done separately.
So that's a completely separate case that operates,
again, and it flows from year to year,
and we're allowed to pass money down.
Which gives us a lot of flexibility.
Now, where's everybody and what are they doing right now?
At least the key fighters in SANG, slide.
So, there they are.
I'll just say without talking about specific brigades.
Essentially, there are three brigades in Riyadh,
won't name 'em.
One's up on the norther border, one's on the souther border,
and I'll tell ya, when I first got there last year,
the first brigade on the border was just ready
to start coming out.
(snorting)
And they were dealing with, by the way, sorry.
I brought a cold back from Saudi, but (snorting) excuse me.
So, they were just coming out with the first brigade,
and we went in there, we looked at them, and we said,
"R4 gen model."
Right?
And they looked at us like what?
And I was like, "Hey, this thing called reset."
They're like what?
So, we had to go in there and show them and prove to them
after 16 years of combat, understanding what
an R4 gen model is, and it has a reset
and even a patch chart to anticipate many years out,
knowing that this is not gonna end any time soon,
and here if you're rotating people in and out brigades
every year, you've gotta anticipate those requirement,
anticipate the training needs, and get that on the calendar
and then force everybody to do that.
And it has been, it was slow to start,
but it's amazing in the last five months how much ground
we have gained.
So you've got the brigade up north, the brigade down south,
the brigade in the center of Riyadh.
And those two building brigades are out in the east,
and again, one will be finished this month,
and then the next one will be finished November of 18.
Slide.
So, let's talk about our program a little bit.
And we're gonna break these down into three areas.
One, overall program.
Then the next slide's gonna talk our maneuver side.
Then the next one's aviation.
And then we're gonna get into the number one priority,
right now, which is their maintenance.
And as we took a deep dive and we found some things
that on the surface I couldn't see, once we saw them
and let them see themselves, that became
our number one priority, even though we're rotating units
down to the border, we've gotta get
after this maintenance issue.
So, up at the top, the first green,
and my old boss is back there,
and he would actually shoot me.
Jim Barkley would say, "Frank, if you put any acquisition
"symbols up there, I'mma beat your brains in."
But anyway, so, that green triangle
up there beat our facility.
Here's what we found.
When they came off of the border the first time,
they did not have a battle damage and repair facility.
So, we had 19 LAVs from the first brigade
that were shot up pretty bad.
From RPGs to you name it.
And we had no way to repair them.
GDLS came in and said, "Hey, you give us the place,
"we will retrofit the entire building
"and we'll start repairing these vehicles."
Said okay.
We grabbed a very old building, and I've been back there
six time, and they gutted it, and they have now,
they've got 19 lined up.
Five of 'em are in the bays,
and they're being rebuilt right now.
When I say rebuilt, if you're a car person
like I am, it's a frame off restoration.
They are gutting that thing, they're sandblasting it,
they're redoing the inside, and it's every variant.
Right now, there's a command and control one in there,
three LAV 25s and an assault gun, yeah.
And then, I think we've got an AT in there, also.
It's phenomenal.
And don't know if the Ministry of Defense folks have
the same facility, but we're very lucky to have
that flexibility and capability to when you see a problem,
to be able to solve it quickly and put something in place.
The next piece is if you keep going along that same line
of life cycle management and maintenance,
is the 10-year maintenance plan.
So, last year when we discovered that there was some severe
maintenance problems within their entire fleet,
and remember, the LAVs are 1,900, but they've got a lot
of soft skins, pinzgauer, and some other type
of vehicles from across Europe,
that there was some challenges.
I asked our SNS chief, Scott Lukengate, Colonel type,
go out there and do a deep dive.
Took two months to do a strategic study, and he came back
and he says, we some issues.
And so we went through an entire 10-year plan
to talk about one, get the 1020 across the fleet,
two, reset 'em.
How often do we stir our fleet?
Every 10 years, right?
So, the three LAV brigades, the oldest ones,
are 22 years old, bought in 1990 and 1992.
They've never touched 'em, other than doing
daily maintenance and then occasionally,
some GS-level maintenance.
They've never stirred them at all.
And if you wanna keep a fleet for more than 30 years,
which they're fast approaching, you better start touching
them vehicles right now.
So, we looked at that, we said okay, 1020, reset,
and then what about block upgrades?
Engineered change proposals, ECPs?
Power pack upgrades?
That diesel coming right now, 325 horsepower.
What?
No way!
That's so underpowered.
We need at least another 25 to 50 horsepower on that.
Okay, the suspension, 'cause they're adding stuff on there.
Armor upgrades.
Add some sights into it, add some laser sights.
Not laser, but laser range finders.
All these things we could do to it
that we've already been doing to our strikers for years,
we've gotta do that to these vehicles.
So, we walk them through it in an entire plan to include,
changing some of, and including a depo.
And that's where it comes back to the BDR Facility.
When we're done, Battle Damage and Repair, the intent is
that facility becomes a depot-like facility
to allow them to start to reset and stir their fleet.
Very important.
Because, again, they do not plan on replacing it,
they already told me that.
And I said, "Well, then you gotta invest back
"in these vehicles."
And we'll talk deployment or reset, the next line,
or leader development, 'cause that's covered
on the next slide.
But case management.
So, I've talked about the whole program management process,
and how we function.
I've just put in there the star, the LAV,
replace and extend.
Again, that is one of our number one focuses right now.
And the second and third aviation brigade.
That's coming up.
Now, close unused cases.
Believe it or not, we have about 50 unclosed, unused cases.
So, think of it as it's authorized money,
and you have the ability to approp it, is the best way
for all of us to understand, but the case still exists.
And some of it even has money in there.
So, when we close cases now, and we started this
about three years ago, these cases have seven,
or they could have, one of 'em had $10 million left in it.
So, as soon as I closed it, I was able to pull that out
and put it back towards something that they need.
Especially as they're rotating in and out of combat.
Again, we are learning about changes and what we wanna try
to incorporate to make them better everyday.
So, slide.
Maneuver.
Let's talk about the maneuver.
Last year, when the first brigade came off the line,
we actually, part of a team, went down
and interviewed the brigade and got lessons learned.
If you understand where we're working,
sometimes it's difficult for them
to see themselves truthfully.
'Cause they'll look at themselves
and say everything is good.
We may have to go behind a closed door to have a discuss
about what is truly the case.
Tom Anderson, we were both there together.
He just left us a month ago.
And he worked with the Ministry of Defense maneuver force.
You have to get them to see themselves.
And we have made breakthroughs in the last three months.
It's just been amazing.
And again, combat drives innovation.
So, they came back, we did a study.
They put an 80-page report together, and we sat down
with their leadership.
And again, that's where we came up with shoot, move,
communicate, sustain and medicate.
So talk that medicate piece.
They were having problems with people not getting
off the point of injury, and not surviving.
And we had to show them it only takes like four basic things
for you to learn and understand at the soldier level,
be able to bring that, I'm not gonna use an exact number,
but let's say it's very high, 70, 80% died of wounds,
just an example, that may not be the case, and down
to a much lower number.
Ours, in the US Army, is 2%.
Got it down to 16%.
And four things.
Stop the bleeding, get them breathing, get them prepped
and stop shock, and move.
Four basic things, and put a four capability
kit bag together, nothing elaborate,
and then trained their medics.
Night and day how much better they're fighting now.
Why?
'Cause they know somebody's there to take care of them.
And again, that was our team looking at lessons learned
and incorporating that into the training program.
And it's been amazing.
Now, same thing if you get into the R4 gen.
What happened?
We brought them back and we said an R4 gen process is
12 months long.
You reset, you go through, maintain, you turn on
your manning, you look at your maintenance,
and then you start your training once you get that back.
That first brigade that came off the line,
it was a little challenge getting them going,
and they're the ones just deployed up to the north,
and I'll just say, we got to the last month,
and nobody was gonna go to the range and fire.
We made the decision that you've got to go shoot.
That unit went out and trained.
But because of that, we were able to turn
to the senior leadership and say, you have another brigade
that's going to the southern border,
where more things are happening, and you have a window
to truly focus on a training-intensive calendar.
A gated training strategy.
Starting at the individual soldier, working all the up
at least to company level.
One, they adopted it.
Two, they actually filled an entire four month calendar out
and the brigade and the senior leadership signed it.
That makes the biggest difference in the world.
And they adopted this model.
And they adopted it based on, one, our team's recommendation
and the ability to get these guys trained.
And what we call a get 'em outta the classroom
and get 'em in the field shooting and maneuvering.
So, that has been a big deal.
Next thing we were trying to understand is how do we infuse
NCO capability in these organizations?
We don't go anywhere unless we're together.
Everywhere we go, at every senior leader discussion,
Sergeant Major Stevenson, we are together as a team
to show them the significance and the impact
of the NCO on any formation.
Why is our Army the best in the world?
The backbone of our Army are the NCO corp.
And they'll be the first to admit that they have not tapped
into that capability.
So, we can sit down and come up with a 10-year plan,
and put in a B knock, an A knock,
and a Sergeant Majors Academy, and in five years,
we're gonna graduate our first class.
Well, how about the next five years of combat
that they're fightin' everyday?
So, a phenomenal NCO out on the east said,
"Sir, I'm gonna put together a Warrior Leaders course.
"It's gonna be a six-week course, and we're gonna pull
"staff sergeants and sergeant first classes out
"of the LAV formations, put them through an intensive
"six-week training cycle, and we're focusing
"on some basic stuff."
I'm talking patrolling, weapons fire, communication,
land nav, PT.
Hold on, let me say that again.
PT, a lot of PT.
And just basic skill set, and then also, leadership.
How do you lead by example?
And then, we infuse them back into formations.
'Cause we felt that the only way
we could impact units today, impact units going back
to the border to fight, was to pull those NCOs out,
and then train 'em and put 'em back in.
And then keep doing that.
So successful that we showed our model
to the senior leadership and the prince in Riyadh.
They've adopted it now within Riyadh.
And so, now the WLC, or the Warrior Leaders Course,
is now standing up there, and the first class will begin
in the next six weeks.
That's a big shift for them.
You gotta understand.
Again, they're all about the history, like I told you about,
and there's goodness to that, to see your history
and who you are and you're proud of, but sometimes,
you get welded to certain ways and you don't wanna change.
But to get these guys to be able to change and get better,
and to try to see themselves and where they have gaps,
it's a challenge sometimes, but we're making strides,
and again, it's 'cause we have a great team here.
Also, with the leader development is also
Command General Staff College, which we have stood up
a SAMs course, a pre-command course.
Again, all the ability to try to affect the leadership.
All right.
So, that's our maneuver division, slide.
Aviation.
Wow, 2008, no aviation existed there.
The intent is to have three operational brigades,
one training brigade, three airfields, one in Riyadh,
one out in the east coast, and one on the west coast.
Now recently, we've come up with some concepts
that we are the first organization out amongst the FMS
US cases, we're actually teaching the AQT.
So, our forces, AQT, okay.
Aviation Qualification Training course.
That is basically taking, if you're
an Alpha Lima qualified pilot, you get a upgrade
to a Mike.
I was a KW guy, but then Alpha Lima, and then got
a Mike Model transition.
We're allowed to give the, if they're Alpha Lima qualified,
a Mike Model transition.
If you're a Delta Model 864 qualified,
we can give an echo model transition.
Nobody's ever been able to do that after net.
And we're doing that right now.
So, that's phase one.
Phase two is the full AQC.
Which that means you come out and you're basic aviator
and you get a Echo Model transition right there, in country.
And then you get a Mike Model transition,
'cause we have 864 Echos in the Saudi force, SANG force,
UA 60 Mikes, and 86Is.
Now, phase three of that, flight school 2020.
We're standing up a center of excellence in SANG
to allow for both Ministry of Defense, and ultimately,
our intent is to open it up to the GCC partners.
So, if you're from Kuwait and you wanna go to flight school,
you don't have to come back to Fort Rucker.
You can go to DeRobb Airfield in Riyadh, and go
through flight school.
So, you can imagine some of the cultural challenges,
when they come to the US, really hinders some
of their ability to get after some of that training.
So, UAE, it's basically GCC partner intent is to open it up.
So, those three phases of that.
So right now, we have that first brigade
that's fully operational.
We're expecting a deployment order to the border
for a portion of that, and so far since we've stood them up,
they've done multiple gunnaries, they've done high altitude
training, air ground integration, fries and spies,
and we're gonna do one more.
We think we're gonna get a four-week head's up
before they deploy, and we already have
another gated-training strategy to get them through
full gunnery, full MRX, and then kind of combine the two,
and then get them out the door.
So, that's with that first brigade.
The other two brigades will be fielded by 2023.
Slide.
How we doing on time?
Gettin' close.
10 minutes?
Okay, I'll finish up.
So, before we open up the questions, now,
let's talk maintenance.
So there we were, there I was, I went to that BDR facility.
The Battle Damage and Repair facility.
And remember, we were talking about we need
to set the depot up, we need to do block upgrades,
we need to do all this reset, or changes
in ECPs and everything.
So I go to the BDR facility and the GDLS guy pulls me aside.
Says, "Hey, I gotta show you something."
I said what?
He says, "Yeah, you gotta see it.
"I can't really describe it."
I said okay, and he holds up, remember the old caterpillar,
equipment, it's the yellow and black stuff.
He holds up a oil filter with a 1992 date stamped on it,
what was just taken off the vehicle that we worked on is
the original oil filter.
I'm not kidding.
So, I go, that's the original one?
He goes yeah.
I said okay.
He puts it down, and then he goes, "Let me show you
"the air filter."
That one was 1993.
And so, we went on to look at some other things,
I won't go into detail, but I took pictures of those,
and I took that to the senior leadership,
and I said okay.
I know we were talking about doing depot-level
block upgrades and ECPs, but we gotta problem
because we just need, in our world, Private Oatmeal,
Private Oatmeal loves getting in there and getting dirty,
cleaning that, changing the engine, changing the oil.
That's what our soldiers are about.
We just gotta infuse that same passion in
with the Saudi soldiers.
And the users are not doing some of that basic maintenance,
and so, we have also, one, he shot the pictures
out to the senior leadership, and I think they got
into a little trouble.
And so, suddenly, people are now in the motor pools trying
to do this, and we've actually been approved,
myself, the sergeant major, and then, Ross Ridge
from Vanel's here, and using some
of his subject matter experts on the mechanics side,
we are gonna start when I get back going down,
we pick the battalion, we pick the company,
and I pick the three vehicles.
And they have no idea which one I'm gonna point to,
but when I do, they're gonna open up every hatch
and I'm personally puttin' on coveralls and I'm
gonna crawl through there.
They don't really get that when they see a GO do they,
and I've done it already, where I'm throwing trash
and everything outta the back of the vehicle.
I don't think they liked it very much.
Why?
Because, look, they wanna do well, they just,
you gotta get down there with leadership, and you've
gotta really kind of be part of their effort.
And they work that much harder.
So, we maybe putting some of the block upgrades on hold
until we can get everything back to 1020.
Anyway this is our concept, this is what we're trying to do.
Our number one is about the maintenance.
But I wanna close and just say again, security cooperation,
so important, that's why we're doing SFABs.
The key to it.
Time, trust, relationships.
Because if you can't give them those three,
the ability to get your message across
and to be an effective security cooperation
building organization is greatly diminished.
And they gotta know that you're committed to them
and that you're there for them to make them better everyday.
It's been my honor to be here today besides getting a ticket
out of the Kingdom for five days, and then, hang out
with you guys, and I look forward to anybody's questions.
(clapping)
Sir.
- [Man] Hello.
When you're talking about your basic maintenance,
do they have anything in the way of military trade school
as far as starting at the teenager level,
before you go into the forces, into the Reserve.
- Yes, so that's a great question and yes they do.
They have technical colleges that they actually recruit from
an ASC-level type of certification mechanic
that would be able to be recruited in.
And when they are able to do that one, they get higher rank,
two, they get more pay.
For every qualification and course they go to,
they actually get a pay increase for their pay onward.
But yes, they've established that.
Now, they recognize it could be stronger, and they're trying
to increase that.
The challenge they have is every time somebody gets
a certification and every time somebody gets promoted,
what do you think happens?
They move 'em!
I can't get 'em to stop moving people as soon as,
'cause, you get this mechanic that can truly go out there
and work on that transmission, and then they move 'em
out of the company.
I'm like, why'd you do that.
That's a loss of an investment.
- [Man] Can we start them at age 16, 17,
sort of a Reserve, or--
- I'm sorry, can't hear you, sir.
- [Man] Can we start them at a sort of a cadet
or Reserve function at that age, or 18?
So they're already prepped for that before they get
into the regular service?
- They bring 'em out of the technical college,
directly in at technical high schools,
so they do have that relationship beforehand.
So, they're already doing that.
They don't have a cadet program.
They just don't have any of that.
But they do have the technical colleges
that they recruit from.
- [Man] Thank you.
- I'm gonna give you a quick story just to give you
an idea what's going on in the Kingdom.
So, national holiday was two weeks ago.
First time you heard that the women in Saudi Arabia are
gonna be able to drive summer of 2018.
They're studying it right now.
What you didn't know is that Monday was Saudi National Day.
And I saw videos of the downtown street
of Saudi in Riyadh, I forgot the name of the street.
I can never pronounce it.
They blocked it off, opened up all the restaurants,
and there was videos that I saw of everybody, together,
dancing, and initially, I just saw the dancing.
Somebody was showing me the video, and I saw the dancing,
and I thought it was to like Saudi music.
He turns on the volume, you know, it's Pitbull.
And so, they're dancing, and there's no groups separation,
there's no head gear.
I had never seen that.
And then the restaurants along the route,
there was no separation.
They separate families from non-families,
and you can't mingle.
They were all mingling together.
And then there was soccer games going on
throughout the Kingdom where they allowed
the stadium to mix.
And they just opened up Skype and Face Time.
These are big leaps that occurring in the country.
May not seem big to us, but it's big for them.
And a big part of that, of course,
is the current crown prince.
We call him MBS, or Mohammed bin Salman.
It's the Saudi National Holiday.
Saudi National Holiday.
Yeah, big deal.
Sir.
- [John] Sir.
Captain John Cohen.
Based on your experience, what would you say will be some
of the greatest difficulties faced by the ASFAB brigades
that are being implemented in the near future.
- That's a great question.
Here's the thing, you have got to get to know your soldiers.
You've got to spend time with them.
And you've gotta care.
And they've gotta really believe you care.
'Cause if it's this superficial thing, and they see
that you're a flash in the pan, and you're just coming
in there and you're trying to knock it out and leave,
what do you think the first they say to us every time
we visit them, or you're a new person.
How long are you staying?
Every time a senior leader comes to Saudi,
and they go to Riyadh, what do you think they ask
the senior leader?
The four stars.
This is Prince Mutaib.
He's like, how long are you in my country?
Oh, I'm only here for a day.
He's like, why do you always come to our country
and you never stay?
How can you get to know us if you're only here
for a day?
Why don't you at least stay seven days.
He says it to everybody.
I don't think any other country's
gonna be any other different.
They're gonna want to know that you are committed
to getting them better.
And for you to do that, you gotta spend the time.
We have to spend the time.
And we gotta be there, and they gotta know we're
gonna be there for a while.
And then you're spending as much time as you can with them.
You gotta get to know the leaders, you gotta get
to know how they think.
And I will tell you, a lot of times, I will bring things up
to the very seniors, and they're like that's not happening.
We never do that.
And I go you're right.
I don't say you're right, I go okay, okay.
They go back later and go, oh darn, we are doing that.
That's not good.
They just don't want to admit it.
And that's fine.
Doesn't matter to me as long as we get to the end state.
Again, I wouldn't know that unless I'd been there
long enough, and I'm at 15 months.
I think that's gonna be the key.
And they are getting some of our best soldiers
to fill out these ranks, and I think
that's gonna make a big difference.
We're lucky, we have a phenomenal team,
and it makes a difference everyday.
These guys are prime examples.
Sir.
- My name is Joseph Trevit.
I work for the Time Incorporated's The War Zone.
And as I'm sure you are well aware,
King Salman recently made a historic trip to Moscow,
and there was a discussion in the press, Saudi-run press,
about cooperative arms production and arms sales.
And I just wanted to ask whether OPI and SANG had
any concerns about interoperability or whether or not
that could impact a modernization programs
because of a sort of turf war over budgets?
- That's a great question.
I don't think I could answer that right now
without knowing what are they talking about.
Is it hardware, it is software?
You could run into a challenge, and we already have that.
Remember, we cover on the FMS cases for military sales.
They have a lot of direct commercial sales.
I'm fixing a lot of the direct commercial sales
because when you buy that, you sometimes don't get the tail.
And let's face it, 75% of your costs at the cradle
to grave of anything you buy is what?
Sustainment.
And when you D through DCS, you get up to a certain point
and it's gone.
That would be my concern, is not just the interoperability,
which is a great point.
But you're now jamming your log system with a lot
of other different stuff, which can cause a lot of problems.
To answer your question, I don't know of anything
in SANG right now.
But I can't speak for Ministry of Defense side.
But very good question.
I'm getting the hook.
Again, it's been an honor.
I know we're gonna enjoy the last five days in country.
We do know this, when I left it was 111 degrees.
I checked today, the high was 100.
Which, that may sound a lot to you, but for us,
man that's some good temperature right there.
So, you all have a great day.
It's been an honor, and if you wanna grab me
for some questions after this, by all means.
If not, have a great day.
(clapping)
- [Man] The next Warrior's Corner will begin in 10 minutes.
The speaker will be Colonel Ed.