Post-conflict Era to Challenge Military Trainers

By Donna Miles  American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 31, 2011 - With just two months remaining on his brigade's deployment to Afghanistan as part of the 30,000-troop surge there, Army Col. Sean Jenkins has seen the operational benefit of the nose-to-the-grindstone training regimen and nearly back-to-back deployments on his soldiers. A U.S. soldier with 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Red Currahee, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Task Force Currahee, rests after climbing to a mountain top near the area where his platoon secured key terrain in Afghanistan's Paktika province. The soldier's mortar platoon provided indirect-fire support during Operation Red Storm, which cleared the Gwashta Pass, May 23 to May 28, 2011. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Graham  "They're remarkable," Jenkins told American Forces Press Service of his 101st Airborne Division, 4th Brigade Combat Team soldiers operating along Afghanistan's long border with Pakistan in remote Paktika province. The colonel marveled at his soldiers' ability to make decisions with strategic consequences in the blink of an eye and to accomplish the near-impossible. Borrowing a quote from Army Maj. Gen. Robert Brown, commander of the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Jenkins said, "I think if we told them to go to Mars in two weeks, they would figure out a way to get there." But as the United States removes all of its forces from Iraq by the year's end and evaluates the situation in Afghanistan this summer with an eye toward an eventual drawdown there as well, Jenkins finds himself among those questioning how to maintain this force after the deployments end. How, after the longest military conflict in U.S. history, will the all-volunteer force downshift from the full-steam-ahead momentum it's maintained for a decade and adapt to post-combat training? "They have seen so much, they have experienced so much, they have been so busy. How do you maintain that?" Jenkins asked. "I don't think [the Joint Readiness Training Center] or [National Training Center] is going to keep them all excited." Jenkins acknowledged that the Army has developed some bona fide "adrenaline junkies." It's not that they want to go to war and get shot at, he emphasized. It's not that they want to leave their families for 12 months at a time. "Nobody wants that," he said. After the current military operations end, Jenkins said, America's combat-tested troops will want to participate in challenging training that'll maintain the capabilities they've worked so hard to build over the past decade. "They thrive on it," the colonel said. "A poor analogy would be that I practice football all season long, but never get to play in a game," Jenkins added. "You are truly there for the love of the game." And for today's troops, "you are truly there for the love of your country," the colonel said. "That's why you are in the military, and that's why you are in the Army. But you don't want to just sit. You have to practice your trade." That doesn't necessarily mean having to deploy to another country, Jenkins said, but will put some heavy demands on leaders to keep soldiers engaged when they return to a post-conflict garrison environment. "It means that we as leaders have to provide them incredibly well-thought-out, challenging, rewarding training, to keep that edge," Jenkins said. "We are a learning organization, and we will have to keep figuring it out." (Editors Note: This the first article in a series about how the Defense Department and military services plan to maintain combat effectiveness and readiness as the current operational tempo begins to decline.)

Related Sites: 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division

"Reapers" mortar platoon soldiers from 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Red Currahee, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Task Force Currahee, clear a cave and secure the area where they will provide indirect-fire support during Operation Red Storm. The operation cleared the Gwashta Pass in Afghanistan's Paktika province, May 23 to May 28, 2011, enabling the first convoy from Forward Operating Base Waza Khwah to Forward Operating Base Sharana in more than two years. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Graham Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution Army Sgt. Randy Hiser, a military police team leader from Task Force Apache, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, teaches Afghan police officers the correct way to take down a combative suspect during advanced training at Forward Operating Base Rushmore in Afghanistan's Paktika province, Jan. 20, 2011. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zachary Burke  Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution Military police soldiers with Task Force Apache, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, move behind a truck during a simulated patrol at Forward Operating Base Rushmore in Afghanistan's Paktika province, Jan. 20, 2011. The simulated patrol showed Afghan police officers the proper way to use cover while on patrol. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zachary Burke Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution Task Force White Currahee soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, fire mortars at Combat Outpost Margah in Afghanistan's Paktika province, Jan. 24, 2011. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zachary Burke  Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution