FORT POLK, La. -- During a theater assessment reconnaissance to Iraq from Nov. 3-13, members of the 1st Battalion, 353rd Infantry Regiment, 162nd Infantry Brigade visited camps and forward operating bases in Kuwait and Baghdad.
The contingent focused on three areas: To coordinate and synchronize combat advisor training efforts, increase in-theater relevancy and currency and validate course curriculum.
Early on, members of the 162nd met with key leaders of each training institution at Camp Buehring in Kuwait and the Counter Insurgency and Stability Operations Center in Taji, Baghdad, to synchronize training efforts with the 162nd at Fort Polk. At Camp Buehring, the team met with the Multi National Corps-Iraq Security Force Assistance officer in charge to discuss in-theater training requirements for combat advisors and stability transition teams that train with "advise and assist" brigades.
It was determined that after teams receive in-resident training from the 162nd Inf Bde at either Fort Polk as a combat advisor or as a stability transition team in a deploying advise and assist brigade, the teams will deploy to Camp Buehring to conduct a minimum of five Army Forces Central Command directed tasks.
Once these mandatory tasks and any additional training opportunities are complete, teams deploy forward into Iraq to complete what could be considered phase three of training, the COINSOC Leader's Course in Taji, Baghdad.
TAR members and COINSOC Leader's Course personnel discussed both training programs and the importance of synchronization. Both the COINSOC and 162nd Inf Bde also agreed that each would attend the others training academies to ensure that not only both institutions are nested, but build off of the other's program of instruction.
An area of emphasis for the TAR was to increase currency and relevancy to expand the 162 nd Inf Bde's knowledge base for both the combat advisor and stability transition team training programs. Not only did the visits to Camp Buehring and Camp Taji training institutions allow for this, but visiting myriad combat teams such as 35th and 37th Iraqi Army Brigade, the 6th Iraqi Army Division, the Iraqi Ground Forces Command, and the Baghdad Operations Command all provided a plethora of information and points of contact. Each combat advisor team provided insight and a unique perspective on ways of not only improving training such as the need to conduct combined targeting and understanding Iraqi logistics' procedures, but also shared the latest in-theater techniques, tactics, and procedures such as combined U.S. and Iraqi command posts.
These combined command posts allow for intelligence sharing, a common operating picture and mission synchronization. Additionally, the TAR's visit to MNC-I at Camp Victory, Baghdad, provided insight into the theater commander's vision on future stability transition team coverage of Iraqi security force headquarters based on the security agreement and pending troop reductions.
One of the major focus areas for the TAR was to validate the 162nd Inf Bde course curriculum with 1st Bde, 82nd Airborne Division, one of the first advise and assist brigades to deploy to Iraq. The visit to FOB Ramadi and the Devil Brigade of 1st Bde, 82nd Abne Div validated 162nd Inf Bde's advise and assist brigades program of instruction with minor modifications to key leader engagement training based on levels of ISF coverage at echelons above the brigade level.
The 162nd Inf Bde plans to conduct future periodic TARs not only to Iraq, but Afghanistan as well.
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