Iraq’s 1st Brigade lacks basics

[sabra]

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http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1021210.php

Iraq’s 1st Brigade lacks basics

USA Today

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Armored Humvees and helicopter gunships would be nice.
But what the soldiers of Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, want more immediately is a gym. And cots that don’t sag so much they need cinder blocks for support. Or a system that drains away the human sewage that pools in the street outside their barracks. Or working phones.

“We can lead ourselves. We have the capability,” says Sgt. Zaman Ali, 29, a platoon leader here. “We just don’t have the supplies, equipment or living conditions. Someone is not doing their job.” The brigade is based at Camp Justice in northern Baghdad.

....

U.S. officials say setting up a strong administrative infrastructure — a system to pay soldiers on time, manage bases and perform other duties —will be as vital as weapons training. Lack of those support functions could potentially unravel much of the work done so far, says Lt. Col. Fred Wellman, spokesman for the coalition training command in Baghdad.

“Make no bones about it: one of the biggest challenges we face in building the Iraqi security forces is the infrastructure needed to maintain them,” Wellman says. “If the Iraqis do not have the proper administrative procedure and policy in place, it could undermine everything.”

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[pseudostar]

1. Okay...

So What the fuck are we doing painting all those goddamn schools?

Prioritize!

[MindPilot]

2. Gee, I think all that stuff was already there and working

until the US military blew it up.

[Larkspur]

3. It seems we're training the Iraqis to fail in their jobs

What good is the training if the Iraqis don't have the supplies to do their jobs?

[Kipling]

4. Makes it look like you're doing something?

I doubt Shrubbie gives a fuck how hard the insurgency rages. He's getting the oil, and that's that.