• Emerging issues center on clarifying " engagement " as a Warfighting Function ( WfF ) and identifying a proponent to develop training tasks for SOF and the Conventional Force from the institutional to the unit level in expeditionary operations .
Engagement
Although JRTC focuses on Combined Arms Maneuver , like the Army , it is committed to institutionalizing the lessons learned from the last fifteen years of conflict and anticipating the complex operational environment of the future . Realizing that the success of military operations in the future will be highly dependent on fully understanding engagement with the local population and its effects on strategy and operations , JRTC leadership has directed that additional focus be placed on Engagement : the tasks and systems associated with influencing the behaviors of peoples , militaries , and governments . In late 2015 , the JRTC Operations Group created Task Force Engagement ( TFE ) and added Engagement as a topic for discussion during post rotation after action reviews ( AAR ). By doing so , JRTC channeled George C . Marshall ’ s vision into an operational test bed for the doctrinal evolution of an Engagement WfF .
TFE provides the Brigade Combat Team ( BCT ) with observer / coach / trainers , whose primary area of mentorship is focused on influencing the behaviors of people , militaries , and governments , specifically the interaction between the BCT and UAPs within the JRTC operational environment . The TFE mentors ’ areas of expertise includes information operations , civil affairs operations , and public affairs operations . The culminating event for the TFE mentors is the final AAR provided to the BCT leadership , including subordinate battalion command teams . During this review , the brigade ’ s leadership is provided feedback on how the unit performed in relation to its training objectives and on its systems and processes for engagement-related activities . In keeping with the spirit of collaborative , collective training , JRTC has opened the audience for the Engagement AAR to include UAPs . The creation of TFE and an Engagement AAR is an evolutionary leap forward in training units for expeditionary operations .
Conclusions to operate together and did so only through experience . The JRTC in training for expeditionary operations offers an alternative model , one that will allow military and UAPs to train and learn together , and create a whole of government ethos that can be further shared and built upon .
Notes :
1
General of the Army George C . Marshall is an iconic bridge between U . S . military and diplomatic communities . In 1939 as chief of Staff of the Army , Marshall set in motion the training machine that would carry the U . S . Army through World War II . In 1947 as newly appointed Secretary of State , Marshall announced the European Recovery Program , dubbed “ The Marshall Plan ,” which set the stage for the creation of USAID .
2
LTC King is an Infantry officer with multiple tours in Afghanistan as one of the first AFPAK Hands courses . LTC Short is a Civil Affairs officer with operational tours in support of Operation Enduring Freedom , Afghanistan , and U . S . Pacific Command . LTC ( ret ) Odom is a retired U . S . Army foreign Area Officer for the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa . He was the U . S . Defense Attaché in Zaire in 1993 to 1994 for Operation Support Hope and then from 1994 to 1996 established a permanent Defense Attaché Office in Kigali Rwanda . He has been the CALL military analyst at the JRTC since 2000 but deployed to Iraq as the 1st Cavalry / Multi-National Division-Baghdad Political Advisor . LTC Joshua Hamilton is a U . S . Army Foreign Area Officer ( FAO ) specializing in African affairs . He has served in the Office of Security Cooperation at U . S . Embassy Rabat in Morocco , as a combat advisor in Baghdad , Iraq , as well as on the AFRICOM J5 staff , and as AF- RICOM Regionally Aligned Force trainer at the 162nd Infantry . He currently serves as Military Advisor to the Department of State Africa Bureau .
3
Ghostbusters , Columbia Pictures , 1984 .
4
Kopp , Harry W . and Gillespie , Charles A . Preface . Career Diplomacy : Life and Work in the U . S . Foreign Service . 2nd Ed . Washington , DC : Georgetown University Press . 2011 .
5
U . S . Department of State . Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review . Washington DC . 2015
The need for a whole of government approach to operations , especially expeditionary operations is a long standing aphorism ; in truth , one that has long been part of countless histories , investigations , or other forms of post-operational analysis . The military has long recognized that training prepares , and often documents how leaders , soldiers , and units will perform under the stress of real world operations . Whole of government advocates typically lament that military and UAPs were unprepared
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