Military advisor

Military advisors, or combat advisors, are soldiers sent to foreign nations[1] to aid that nation with its military training, organization, and other various military tasks. These soldiers are often sent to aid a nation without the potential casualties and political ramifications of mobilizing military forces to aid a nation.

European advisors during the American Revolution

The French Marquis de Lafayette and the German/Prussian Baron von Steuben offered key assistance to the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Early US Army advisory missions

Contrary to popular belief, developing capabilities and increasing capacity through advising is an operation the U.S. Army has conducted for more than one hundred years. The Army has performed advisory missions to increase the capability and capacity of foreign militaries from the Philippine Insurrection at the beginning of the 20th Century to more recent conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.[2]

US advisors in Vietnam

In the early 1960s, elements of the U.S. Army Special Forces and Echo 31 went to South Vietnam as military advisors to train and assist the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) for impending actions against the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). United States Marines also filled a significant role as advisors to Vietnamese forces.[3]

US advisors during the "War on Terror"

Combat advisors served on the front-lines of the U.S. War on Terror. They were designated as Embedded Training Teams (ETTS) in Afghanistan and Military Transition Teams (MTTs) in Iraq. These soldiers and Marines live with their Afghan and Iraqi counterparts (often in very austere and stoic conditions) in remote combat outposts often a great distance away from any U.S. or coalition support.

ETTs and MTTs are composed primarily of United States Marines, United States Army, and United States Army National Guard personnel with a combat-arms background. United States Army Reserve, United States Air Force and United States Navy personnel serve as advisors in logistics and other support roles. The advisors on the ground in infantry or commando units of the ANA (Afghan National Army) or the Iraqi Army are soldiers or Marines with combat-arms experience. Special Forces and Navy SEALS also work with ANA/ASF or the Iraqi Army, but the bulk of combat advisors are infantry and combat-arms soldiers and Marines.

The Combat Advisor Mission Defined. The combat advisor mission requires US officers and NCOs to teach, coach and mentor host nation (HN) security force counterparts. This enables the rapid development of our counterparts' leadership capabilities; helps develop command and control (C2) and operational capabilities at every echelon; allows direct access to Coalition Forces (CF) enablers to enhance HN security force counterinsurgency (COIN) operations; and incorporates CF lethal and nonlethal effects on the battlefield.[4]

Security Forces Assistance (SFA) defines a more in-depth method of embedded mentorship. MTTs have fallen in disuse with shifts in focus and doctrine. Specifically, previous MTTs were created from soldiers from separate units, often on an ad hoc basis. SFATs, on the other hand, provide all personnel from organic, modular Brigade Combat Teams rather than supplying personnel piece-mealed from various Army units. By design, these teams are manned by a company command team and selected leaders from one command. This SFAT concept has been in place since 2012, with a "by, with and through" method of combat advising. Current Advisory Teams are trained at Fort Polk, Louisiana at the Advisor Academy, "Tigerland."[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ But note too domestic military advisors - for example: Mcateer, Sean M. (2009). 500 Days: The War in Eastern Europe, 1944-1945. Dorrance Publishing. p. 51. ISBN 9781434961594. Retrieved 2014-01-15. By June 22nd, 1941, Zhukov was probably Stalin's most trusted military advisor. Compare: Sandler, Stanley, ed. (2002). Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia. Warfare Series. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 127. ISBN 9781576073445. Retrieved 2014-01-15. Brusilov next served as the provisional government's military advisor (February–May 1917) [...] He did act as Red Army chief adviser against Poland (1920) [...].
  2. ↑ Jaworski, Pace. "Conventional Advising: A Tactical Leader’s Assessment of a Strategic Initiative" (PDF). The Cavalry & Armor Journal, JAN 2013. US Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  3. ↑ United States Marine Corps Advisor's Association
  4. ↑ Scott, Cory N. (2008). "Preparing Air Defenders for the Combat Advisor Mission" (PDF).
  5. ↑ Jaworski, Pace. "Conventional Advising: A Tactical Leader’s Assessment of a Strategic Initiative" (PDF). The Cavalry & Armor Journal, JAN 2013. US Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
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