Military Notes From Back Seat Driver
I am not in the military but I have a few ideas that maybe they can use.I was watching a Taliban training film on TV and saw a man was demonstrating a head high karate style kick. I am glad that he wore long pants under his floor length gown that flew up into the air. Many other attack demonstrations were also shown. The film also showed individuals making home made bombs like the roadside bombs injuring and killing American service people and natives.
It made me uneasy to see this even though I know this type of training has been going on for a dozen years. Most of us probably characterize the behavior as crazy or radical. Who are the enemies of these people? I think it goes further than just Americans. I think they are killing their own fellow Moslems in much greater quantity than Americans. I think we need to understand them better.
I hope American military and law enforcement training is at least as intense as the Taliban training.
I think the military needs a four month intense school to teach specialists in the language and customs of a theater of military operations such as Iraq or Afghanistan. If America is going to nation build or occupy a country then we need people who can speak the language and know the customs. I am sure most bad guys know they can speak freely in their home language in front of the vast majority of the Americans. We know rank and file good guys know they cannot talk English to the Americans. Think about the intelligence and one on one goodwill that could be gathered by basic communications.
If America does not have at least 5% of their troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan that can speak the language it is unfortunate. I would certainly have all troops trained in the languages before they were sent back on a second tour of duty. It would be worth promoting any enlisted person a pay grade to learn the language and customs and be able to pass a difficult test. Maybe it would be worth holding back a promotion or even demotion if someone does not pass the language and customs test. Maybe we should have 20% of the occupying military know the language and customs at least at the ninth grade level as a future goal.
Where are the dogs and surveillance cameras? We have been in Iraq and Afghanistan for years and I have yet to see any bond sniffing dogs or surveillance cameras. They are so popular in the New York and New Jersey areas whenever we have a terrorist alert. One would think we would see on TV some success with a dog finding roadside bombs or camera surveillance capturing bad guys doing illegal things and are instantly caught or killed.
CSI. I really enjoy those shows on TV. Where is the CSI equivalent in Iraq or Afghanistan? Where are the success or failure stories of Crime Scene investigation work being accomplished there? You hear about the car bombs, the roadside bombs, and the sheer killing of dozens found in a group somewhere in the street. What conclusions have they made from any tests or observations are available? What hinders their investigations if anything? If they need to build databases to identify fingerprints, DNA, and other things...then lets build them. I think it would be easier to go after criminals with force and evidence instead of waiting to catch them in the act the next time.
I would ramp up cellular technology in both Iraq and Afghanistan and make a camera phone available to everyone above the age of 10. There has to be more good guys and gals there than bad guys and gals. The good ones could film the bad ones and make the photos available to the Americans for intelligence gathering. Then instead of going out on a blind patrol waiting to be ambushed, our soldiers could make direct assaults on contraband stockpiles, bomb making locations, hidden bomb locations, or direct enemy locations. Maybe we can obtain faces and descriptions of these criminals and identify them and put them in jail or kill them if they do not give up peacefully.
Dear Generals, hopefully you should at least think about my ideas....You know there will be Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan for the next decade...it remains to be seen what the headcount will be in the future.
posted by God Bless America - Bob @ 4:45 PM
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