Hagel: US “accelerating” training of Iraqis

The Associated Press reports that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a former infantry sergeant who should know better, told reporters that US advisers in Iraq are accelerating the training of Iraqi and peshmerga troops who will fight against ISIS/ISISL/Islamic State forces;

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the U.S. military is accelerating its efforts to train and advise Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State militants.

Hagel said U.S. special operations troops in Iraq’s western Anbar province are getting an early start on the train-and-advise effort.

Hagel said the effort began a few days ago. He did not provide details.

I have o idea how you do that, accelerate training, unless you add more hours to a day. You either train to a standard or you don’t. But, you know he’s a politician now, not a soldier, so he just says things people want to hear…no one expects his acceleration of training to work in anyone’s favor, well, except ISIS’ favor.

Speaking of pretty words, Hagel went on to the Reagan Library from NTC and announced more shit he doesn’t understand;

Hagel announced a “defense innovation initiative” that he likened to historic and successful campaigns during the Cold War to offset military advantages of U.S. adversaries. He described a “game-changing” strategy to sharpen American’s military edge in the face of budget impasses on Capitol Hill.

“We must change the way we innovate, operate and do business,” he told a defense forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

In a memo to Pentagon leaders in which be outlined the initiative, Hagel said the U.S. must not lose its commanding edge in military technology.

Of course we mustn’t lose our technological edge, but the Pentagon is throwing out the experienced officers and NCOs – the greatest benefit of a decade of war – to keep the head nodders, the officers and NCOs whose only real accomplishment was to keep themselves out of deployments for a decade of war.

I guess that’s how you innovate – toss out the experience, and shift the focus of the forces to a part of the world where no one is shooting at anyone.

Category: Big Pentagon