Human terrain teams train at Fort Leavenworth

By Melissa Bower, Fort Leavenworth LampMay 21, 2010

Human terrain teams train at Fort Leavenworth
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (May 20, 2010) - Ghouse Loynab and Zabeh Noori both have in-depth knowledge of Afghanistan and want to help the U.S. Army develop better relationships with its people.

Both sons of Afghan immigrants, U.S. citizens Loynab and Noori are part of Training and Doctrine Command's Human Terrain System. The program deploys teams of social scientists along with U.S. military, a practice that began in Iraq in 2007.

Teams of scientists and their military counterparts were on post May 13 conducting a training scenario. John Townsend, senior seminar leader, said the goal of the exercise was to gather information from a local population and learn how to present it to a military commander in a briefing. The teams also learn how to move as a military unit, get exercise to build endurance for their deployment and learn teambuilding skills.

Loynab and Noori said their goal is to serve as a bridge between the military and the community. They describe themselves as a police community outreach program. Loynab and Noori said they hope to reduce casualties on both sides.

"My goal is to help the U.S. military to make Afghanistan a better place to live for all the citizens of Afghanistan," Loynab said.

Loynab said there are cultural rules to remember in Afghanistan, such as not speaking with women directly, and having a member of the Afghan National Army with U.S. service members to help build legitimacy. He and his human terrain teammate both speak native languages, as well.

Townsend said each team is led by someone with a military background. Each team also has a social scientist, research manager and a human terrain analyst. Townsend said most scientists involved in the program have a master's degree or doctoral-level experience in their field, usually anthropology or another social science.

Townsend worked in a team himself after retiring from a military career. He said Human Terrain System teams are different from military intelligence gathering, because human terrain teams are interested in the wider social picture.

"We focus on the civilian population as a whole. There's nothing secret about what we do," he said. "We may look at everybody in that village and all the aspects of that village."

While deployed, Townsend said that during his HTS training in 2008, candidates were told to operate separately from the brigade's intelligence operations, but he was invited to attend a targeting board and decided to go as a learning experience. He listened as the brigade combat team went through the top 10 people they were targeting as a threat. Townsend thought he recognized one of the names on the list. He went back to his human terrain team, who confirmed the name of the No. 2 suspect as the son of an important local tribal leader.

"It could hurt the brigade's mission immediately and into the future if this suspect's arrest went bad," Townsend said.

Based off the human terrain team's trusted relationship with the tribal leader, their recommendation was made to the BCT to inform the tribal leader and give him the opportunity to turn in his son.

The brigade decided to go with the human terrain team's recommendation, the man did turn in his son, and the son was found to be guilty of what he was accused. Townsend said the incident helped build trust between the community, the Iraqi Security Forces and legal system, and the U.S. military.

Human terrain teams spend about four months preparing for a deployment. They become U.S. Army civilians upon deployment, and Townsend said the hope is that the scientists will stay for about 12 months downrange. As Army civilians, they're able to receive the benefits and leave time, he said.

Townsend said human terrain teams have operated at the brigade level in the past, but that is changing. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, has asked for human terrain teams at the battalion level. Townsend said that means Human Terrain System would be training four times as many teams to accommodate demand.