ETT: Mutt Soldiers
mutt (noun)- a dog, especially a mongrel
mongrel (noun)-
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1. |
a dog of mixed or indeterminate breed. |
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2. |
any animal or plant resulting from the crossing of
different breeds or varieties. |
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3. |
any cross between different things, esp. if inharmonious
or indiscriminate. |
I’m a mutt soldier. No if, ands or buts about it. I’m definitely a cross of breeds and variety. Before I get to my explanation let me illuminate how I arrived at this conclusion. Which by the way was inevitable. I’ll explain that too.
Recently, I spent some time reading through the past posts of two of my favorite blogs. Both of whom happen to be former ETTs, not that I’m biased. Bouhammer and Bill and Bob’s Excellent Afghan Adventure. A normal blogger would insert a hyper link here to those blogs but I will probably screw that up crashing this post and pissing myself off. So check them out on my blogroll, I highly recommend them, you won’t be sorry and you’ll see what I’m talking about. But I digress.
After reading through Troy and Old Blues posts I realized that I experience the same things they did when they were here. No DUH! I’m mean specifically with respect to our mission and where we fit with the coalition and as the Army as a whole. We endured the same struggles; we just don’t quite fit anywhere.
I was suddenly resigned to the inevitability of this conclusion after we watched Lawrence of Arabia the other evening. By the way a great movie about Combat Advising. No, we didn’t watch it all in one night wasting your tax money. Well; in one scene Lawrence has returned from the desert after capturing Aqaba and is thrown out of the officer’s mess because of his Arab dress and demeanor. Then the epiphany hit, each and every one of us who’s been a Combat Advisor reaches this moment. Sometimes it’s thrust upon us and other times we reach it on our own.
Now being a mutt isn’t bad when I was an innocent child, my parents are rolling their eyes at this one. My family had a mutt dog named Sweetness. This was a dichotomy if ever one existed as this dog was fast and mean as hell. Not to anyone in our family but if you were a stranger then you’d better watch the hell out she would destroy stuff and there was no getting away from her. So, there are merits.
ETTs are mutts because they just don’t fit anywhere.
We are not Special Forces soldiers though we execute a traditional SF mission. Foreign Internal Defense was the founding paradigm behind SF and they’ve now relinquished it to ETTs. They’d prefer the much sexier mission of direct action versus training foreign armies. An SF soldier gets about 18 months worth of training and goes through a special selection process to ensure that he’s the right fit for training foreign militaries which they don’t really do anymore.
ETTs get two months training and are selected from the force with no pre-screening. As many have advocated, Troy, Old Blue, John Nagl and myself there must be some type of pre-screening put in place. Not all personalities work for this mission. Our training consists of limited COIN and weapons. Then we’re unleashed upon the Afghans to bring havoc or success.
I think SF will eventually regret this decision and try to retake the FID mission, but it seems the horse is out of the barn. The Army has figured out they can do it much cheaper and easier with ETTs. Suddenly the investment to train an SF soldier doesn’t seem worth it. I’m not advocating the elimination of SF I’m just stating that they’ve ceded their main mission. ETTs hearken back to the Vietnam days of SF.
Picture it this way you go hunting with your buddies bringing your highly prized, small fortune to buy and train Lab. Your buddy brings some dog that he got for free at the pound; unsure of the exact breed or mental stability of the dog. An apt description of an ETT. And the pound puppy keeps getting to the birds first and bringing them back. You don’t feel so hot about your expensive dog.
ETTs also aren’t conventional coalition soldiers either. We operate on our own with limited supplies and combat support. The coalition has no idea what we are. In fact my team and I have been referred to as psychotic, cowboys and unhinged by our fellow US soldiers. Just for the fact that we’re willing to operate outside the wire vastly outnumbered by the Afghans we mentor. We venture beyond the confines of the FOB much more frequently than our CF brothers. We speak Dari/ Pasto and eat with the Afghans, we don’t look or act like CF.
We have no logistics or admin tail. We don’t belong or report to the CF but we’re dependent upon them for logistical support and what we call effects; CAS, artillery and attack aviation. Our own chain is unsure of where they fit and thus have chosen by all appearances to leave us to fend for ourselves. My NCOs are the master scroungers of the FOB. If it’s not secured they will figure out a use for it.
So where do we fit? John Nagl, author of Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife, has advocated for a standing advisor corps. Which I support. This is a valuable skill and we have a vast untapped resource in people who’ve successfully accomplished the mission for use in future missions and training future ETTs. The idea though has been opposed by what seems to be the SF community as it begs the question; if we’ve got a Combat Advisor Corps then why do we need SF? I think this one is doomed from the start.
We’re comfortable and proud of our mutt status and there is no fit right now for ETTs. Maybe there will be in the future but as of now no. Nobody expects much of a mutt and then he starts whooping the pure breeds at their game. Then people take notice. Until that time we’ll continue to suffer the bewildered questions and looks of our fellow US soldiers. That sort of awe, wonder and pity that goes with being an ETT.
Enjoying catching up with your posts.
I'm fluctuating between ROFL and shaking my head in agreement.
I've heard it all before. but never put quite so well. You even used the "a" word. Kept checking the ceiling to make sure it was not going to fall in.
Keep up the good work.
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I've been enjoying your blog. Thanks for posting, and telling us what is Really going on "over there" instead of having to choke and gag on what the press feeds us here! And please don't ever forget how much we appreciate you.
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It is indeed strange to see that ETT's are stuck in a time warp since Troy and Blue were there on the ground. This is supposed to be the very heart of COIN yet the rest of the CF have no fucking clue. People better take notice of you Mutts soon as this year is going to be the worst fighting to date. Failure in Afghanistan is not an option but apparently the Army hasn't figured that out yet.
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Does CF stand for "Coalition Forces" or "Conventional Forces" or "Canadian Forces" or something else entirely, Vampire?
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I think "CF" stands for "Cluster Fu*k".
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There 2 different missions but I have no doubt you're right. There would be no SF without the support of JFK and I don't see anybody on the horizon who has the strategic sense to support the special requirements.
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Nothing has changed in almost 40 years. It was the same in Vietnam. No one thought of asking us grunts if we had an opinion. By'68 not many of us thought about building roads and education. We just wanted to make it through a year and head back to the world. War would have been acceptable but general staff stupidity was not and there was more than enough of that to go around.
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First of all thank you for the highest compliment that I've had all year... militarily that is. Reading what you have said about my blog makes it all worthwhile.
On your topic du jour, it's really hard to explain, or even accurately describe the feelings that you have put into electrons on this post. I think you've done it as well as anyone ever has. It's really quite something to be called "crazy" by Soldiers of some of the most elite units in the Army. What I found funny was the reception we got from the SF before they really understood what we were doing and the way that they worked with us after they had seen us work.
It's a little-understood mission, avoided by most active duty Soldiers who can and sought by none of them. I don't believe there will ever be an Advisor Corps or Advisor Tab or any of that. We are the mutts, the bastard children of this war.
Years from now, it will capture the imaginations of those who take an interest in the history of this war. For now, suffice it to say that you are one more in a lengthening and proud line of muttly bastards, little understood even by your own Army, doing something that makes a difference out of all proportion to your size.
Keep eating the food, drinking the chai, learning the Dari and Pashto, and how to have your hand held by another man without your skin crawling off. You are doing a helluva job and really making a difference.
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Someone will make a movie about you guys in 10-15 years. Maybe an elderly Bruce Willis to play the old Vampire man?
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[From Texas: A new reader, here, linked from Blackfive, where I first linked to 'Bill and Bob's...' a week or so ago during the Men's Journal article debacle (sp-?)]
You are appreciated and admired for what you do - and for the kind of man you clearly are. As a mom of a home-schooled daughter in her mid-teens can I be honest and tell you how concerned I get when I survey the 'young men' out there her age, who'll be the 'men' she'll be dating in a few years(as soon as she's old enough to carry a handgun legally!)?
I look forward to following your work, and - so far - enjoy trying to figure out all the acronyms you use (of course I 'get' that you write to those who already know them).
Sincerely,
Wholebrainer
p.s. Find someone to make prints of that banner photo, please. Y'all make Hollywood look like Hollywuss.
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Vampire06
Your blog is outstanding. I have read and enjoyed each and every entry. You and the rest of the Armed Forces are doing a great but often un-hearlded job. Stay safe and keep your powder dry.
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Excellent post! Mutts do 90% of the work and get 10% of the credit...
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Sir,
Sadly, I don't think there ever will be an Advisor Corps.
It'd be a perfect Guard/Reserve mission but there is no way the SF community will give up that mission.
When I think of the perfect ETT I am reminded of SFC Fuga, whom we (209th Corps) lost in 2006. He was working on his third year as an ETT.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=19368345
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Hey, "Muttley" - The dog you had named "Sweetness" sums up the saying "It's not the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog." - Keep up the good fight, Sir! >Sweaty
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The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 03/12/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
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MAC-V SOG were not originally trained 18 series Soldiers, nor were 18A's their own career group. Nevertheless, those specialized volunteers made the biggest man for man difference in that conflict.
New Breeds are born out of Mutts and perhaps it is time for a new unit, a new patch, a new organization. The new administration may even find the ETT program acknowledgement to be their "JFK moment." (JFK is beloved by SF for recognizing their achievements and ordering the allowance of the Green Beret.)
But be careful what you wish for. When the command has no idea what to do with you, you get more latitude to do what you need to do.
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Well put, one mutt to another! Yeah, I was told by more than a few Soldiers in much vaunted units like the 82nd Airborne, the 10th Mountain, and the 173rd Airbone that we we're nuts for going up in the mountains with only two U.S. Soldiers and 15-20 ANA. Felt perfectly safe to me! Continue to fight the good fight Brother!
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HA! I think I know you, former neighbor from across the hesco. We are being forced to return to the previous teams call signs, ranger. UUUUgh. I guess this is the place where all the cool dudes hang out.
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I don't care what you are called, you are a purebred hero to me. Thank you.
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I want to subscribe to this blog.
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