By Amy Newcomb
GUIDON staff
amy.k.newcomb.civ@mail.mil
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- As you enter facilities on Fort Leonard Wood, you recognize the uniforms of the U.S. military -- the predominantly green digital pattern of the Army Combat Uniform; the tan pattern of the Desert Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform; the predominantly dark blue, with some gray, digital pattern of the Navy Working Uniform and the digital tiger-stripe camouflage of the Air Force Utility Uniform.
However, other military uniforms can also be seen because soldiers, from many countries with different missions are stationed here. There are senior liaison officers from Canada, Australia, Germany, and France; and there are also exchange soldiers from Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The liaisons officers provide and foster links between their Armed Forces and the U.S. services represented at the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence. They facilitate bilateral work and the exchange of information on equipment, doctrine, training and organizations.
"What I do is keep in touch with developments in the Chemical, Engineer and Military Police world and send information back and forth from Australia to the U.S.," said Lt. Col. Darron Coyle, Australian Army Liaison officer. "So, we are about making sure that we are interoperable -- similar mind sets, similar capabilities."
Coyle was a keen volunteer to serve as a liaison officer for his country, he said; and while many soldiers in the Australian Army want international assignments, there aren't many positions available.
"From the Australian perspective, we have to volunteer, and usually there is a bit of interest and a bit of competition behind this," Coyle said, "so you get short listed on a panel and our career management agency … they conduct a short board to select the most qualified (individual)."
German Army Sgt. Maj. Joerg Pohl, who supports the German LNO as the S-3 noncommissioned officer-in-charge, said Germany usually selects their liaison and exchange officers from a pool of volunteers like the Australian Army.
"In my case, I got a phone call and they said 'We have a job for you in the United States' and I said 'Yes, OK. I am able to do it," Pohl said. "We are here for three years normally … and we have the ability to extend one year."
The Military Personnel Exchange Program is also volunteer, but is based on the soldiers military occupational specialty because it is reciprocal, which means if an Australian Soldier comes to the U.S., a U.S. Soldier will go to Australia.
"My MOS is compatible between the Army school of engineering in Sydney, (Australia) and the Army school of engineering here," said Australian Army Sgt. Maj. Glen Donaldson. "There's another Sergeant Major who left the position here vacant to go to the Australian school, so it was a complete transfer."
Donaldson said he decided to volunteer for the exchange program because he had previously worked with U.S. forces in Afghanistan and liked how they did things.
"I was embedded with U.S. forces in 2007 and I just liked the overall work culture," he said. "Everything was big, too easy … nothing hard or difficult and that sort of whet my appetite and I said 'I wouldn't mind going back and trying to remain competitive for the exchange program.'"
Coyle said the biggest difference between the U.S. Army and Australian Army is the size. Pohl and Canadian Maj. Justin Behiels said the same thing in regards to their own countries in comparison to the U.S. Army.
"The proportionality is real -- that's what I learned by teaching here, always to speak on proportionality -- because the Canadian Army is proportioned very similar to the American military, but we don't have the same capabilities, because we don't have the same manpower," he said.
Coyle said it's good to have Allied Forces on military installations in the U.S. because it helps people realize there are other people out there doing the same thing they are doing.
"We are all experiencing the same fight in Afghanistan," Coyle said. "However, we are culturally different, we are structured differently, we can do different things and have different ideas on various things. Sometimes it's good to hear a different perspective on common issues."
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