Military transition team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section needs to be updated. Parts of this article or section have been identified as no longer being up to date. Please update the article to reflect recent events, and remove this template when finished. |
 |
A Military Transition Team, MiTT is a U.S. Army or Marine elite team that embeds and trains with the Iraqi Army, the Iraqi Police, the Afghan National Army and other allies in the War on Terror. MiTTs advise the fledgling security forces in the areas of intelligence, communications, fire support, logistics and infantry tactics. The aim is to make the Iraqi unit (at battalion, brigade, or division level) self-sustainable tactically, operationally and logistically so that the battalion is prepared to take over responsibility for battle space. Also, MiTTs can, if necessary, call in U.S. air support and battle assistance, thus boosting confidence and troop morale. In Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the transition teams are a central part of the strategy to train and equip national security forces, hand over battle space and reduce Coalition troop levels. MiTTs also report misconduct and allow the U.S. Military to monitor the level of professionalism of the fledgling security force.
MiTT soldiers are generally ranking from Staff Sergeants to Colonels and the teams consists of 10 to 15 members. As of February 2006, there were more than 200 MiTTs in Iraq and about 75 in Afghanistan. It is estimated that about 5,000 MiTT soldiers will eventually serve in Iraq. [1]
Generally, military spokespersons have been very satisfied with the results of the MiTT strategy in the Iraq war. It is believed that if the U.S. Military can transition from fighting the insurgents to advising national security forces, U.S. causualty rates may come down. The handover of battlespace to Iraqi Security Forces is an often cited benchmark of progress in the Iraq war. In the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq, victory is defined as "An Iraq that is in the lead defeating terrorists and insurgents and is providing its own security."
[edit] Training
State-side training for Army Military Transition Teams (MiTT) is located at Fort Riley, Kansas. 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division is responsible for the initial creation, integration, pre-deployment preparation and training of the MiTT teams.
Currently all MiTT, receive additional training before they are assigned to their Iraqi Units receive training at the Phoenix Academy located in Taji, Iraq.
[edit] References
- Army Times: "Military Transition Team training shifts to Riley"
- DoD: "Iraqi Soldiers Learn From Military Transition Teams"
- Captain James Van Thach the first Vietnamese-American to serve as an Military Advisor to the New Iraqi Army
