Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams in Ohio - Case Study Example

Broad Topic: Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team Narrow Topic: Provide my Personal Experience as a Combat Advisor for Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team 1.9, during my deployment to Afghanistan. Thesis Sentence: This assignment as a Combat Advisor provided me knowledge and insight that have profoundly affected my career and life. I. Introduction A. Personal background II.OMLT Mission A. Mission of an OMLT B. Selecting the team III. Mission training phases A. Pre Deployment B. Deployment training C. Germany IV.Afghanistan A. Mentoring / Advising V. Conclusion A. Lessons learned from my experience as a Combat Advisor, Mentor and NCOIC that Soldiers can apply if deployed as part of an Advisor Team. OPERATIONAL MENTORING AND LIASON TEAM SGM Douglas M. Lundblad United States Sergeants Major Academy Class 38Phase II MOS 11Z6O douglas.m.lundblad@us.army.mil OPPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, 10/01/2011 – 06-14-2013 07/29/2013 Unclassified U.S. Team NCOIC, Operations Sergeant Major for the US Hungarian combined OMLT Afghan National Civil Order Police BDE CSM Advisor Abstract The Ohio–Hungary National Guard State Partnership is regarded as amid the twenty-two European partnerships which laid the foundation of the U.S. European Command State Partnership Program. Moreover, it can also be viewed as amid the sixty-five worldwide partnerships which constructed the National Guard State Partnership Program. Ohio-Hungary has conducted over one hundred fifty SPP events performing the cooperation activities ranging from bilateral familiarizations, small unit exchanges, exercises, senior military and civic leader visits to deployments of Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams (OMLT) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The Ohio Army National Guard has been deployed to Afghanistan with the Hungarian Army since the year 2008 as a part of Operational Mentoring Liaison Team program. I was selected as the senior S3 Advisor for OMLT 1.9 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and OMLT program from October 2011 to August 2013. My duties as the senior S3 advisor were serving as Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC), conducting operations as a Sergeant Major for the US Hungarian combined OMLT and acting as a tactical advisor for the Afghan Civil Order Police Brigade Sergeant Major. OPERATIONAL MENTOR AND LIASON TEAM In October 2011, the 174th Air Defense Brigade, Ohio Army National Guard assigned me as a US/Hungarian Operational Mentor in the Liaison Team of 1.9 for an infantry advisory mission to Afghanistan. This was my third deployment in support of OEF since 9/11.Advising missions are complex in nature and are regularly performed by Special Forces and Civil Affairs units that are trained extensively in performing foreign internal-defense operations. The Operational Mentor and Liaison mission is crucial to the strategic success in Afghanistan but contains certain countless challenges that need to be addressed as International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) tends to transfer accountability to Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The OMLT mission can succeed if the NATO-ISAF identifies the proper personnel, leverages the appropriate resources and delivers an effective as well as accurate assessment tool to resolve the intricate problems within the vastly different ANSF organizations. This assignment as a Combat Advisor provided me the knowledge and the insight that have profoundly affected my career and life. OMLTMission and Team Selection The OMLT program is an important part of NATO ISAF which made greater contribution towards the development of ANSF. OMLT provide effective training and mentoring. They also act as an association between ISAF and ANSF for coordinating effective operations planning and making sure that ANSF units receive necessary assistance such as close air support, medical along with casualty evacuation. OMLTs are composed of twelve to thirty soldiers from one or several countries. Each OMLT is deployed with an Afghan unit for a period of seven months. In the year 2010, there were a total of fifty-nine OLMTs operating in all five regions of Afghanistan. The NATO-ISAF OMLT program works as a complementary with U.S. led embedded teams. Twenty-seven nations have contributed to the OMLT program. The Ohio Army National Guard has partnered with Hungary on this mission since the year 2008. After the selection as the NCOIC, I was instructed by my commander to help in selecting and training ten soldiers from my brigade to mobilize to Afghanistan in support of Operational Mentor and Liaison Team program. The decisive competencies for every advisor are to communicate, cooperate and coordinate effectively in a combat environment. A soldier’s selection as an effective and efficient member of an OMLT depends on his ability to possess the level of right maturity, knowledge, skill and ability to understand individual role as a member of the team. More importantly, I believe that the mentor’s character and cultural understanding are relatively more important than tactical as well as technical skills. Brigade and battalion advisors must undergo situational understanding such as language skills and ought to possess personal characteristics in order to build rapport, act with flexibility and be respectful as well as patient. Furthermore, the senior mentors must be proficient in making effective operational level planning. Trying to find out the right combination of these special skills and attributes in a small pool of soldiers was a daunting task. After two months of vetting, the commander selected fifteen soldiers to begin pre-mobilization training for the next six months. OMLT Training During the pre-deployment phase of October 2012-June 2012, I was given the task of developing an eight month combined training plan prior to deployment at Combat Advisor School in FT Polk, Louisiana. The training took place for three days per month for the first five months followed by a three week Field Training Exercise (FTX) during the sixth month. Though the primary purpose of the pre-deployment combined training period is team building but the core of monthly training revolved around mounted operations that comprise drivers training, crew-served weapons employment, basic warrior skills, medical training and battle drill Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) development/refinement. These have been identified as the critical high-payoff areas by the leaders of the US and the Hungarian Defense Force (HDF). In addition, I prepared a schedule for the soldiers to attend certain specialty schools such as Joint Fire Observer, Blue Force Tracker Training, Small Arms Designated Marksmen, Weapons Intelligence Team Training, Military Transition Team Medical Course and Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) career progression schools. This was an extremely difficult task for me to accomplish due to the limited amount of training days comprised in each month. During the third month of the training, I and the commander traveled to Afghanistan for a Pre-Deployment Site Survey (PDSS) mission. That visit was of immeasurable value for team leadership. Time and resources were effectively utilized during that period along with facilitating to maximize successful mission planning as well as preparation. Future OMLT leadership teams should always be availed with this opportunity. In April 2012, the team conducted a three week training culminating in pre-mobilization FTX at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. I believe this training has not only brought us together as a team, but most significantly improved the technical and the tactical combat skills for each soldier. On July 8, 2012, OMLT 1.9, 174th Air Defense Brigade and Ohio Army National Guard were deployed to FT Polk, Louisiana and were also assigned to the162nd Infantry Brigade for mobilization training. The Combat Advisor training is an eight week training program which focused on three significant areas that encompass Force Protection, Combat Skills and Technical along with Tactical Training. Additionally, the last four weeks of the training program comprise Afghan culture, language, use of interpreter, advisor skills and counterinsurgency (COIN). I believe that the team training conducted during the pre-deployment phase at home station was far more beneficial than the training which was conducted at FT Polk. However, I feel that COIN, Afghan language, culture and advisory skill related training were much significant in routinely utilizing the skills in an effective manner. On September 10, 2012, OMLT 1.9 was validated and sent to Germany to attend NATO Phase II training. NATO Phase II training began in September, 2012 at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JMRC) particularly in the region of Hohenfels, Germany in order to ensure greater standardization with partnered OMLT countries in Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP) such as urban operations, combat patrol, cordon and search, platoon attack and base defense. My primary responsibility during this phase was integrating the US and the Hungarian OMLT. Additionally, my other duty was to routinely work with the Hungarian Sergeant Major for conducting combined team battle drills and SOP development as well as preparing the OMLT staff to successfully execute their mission of coaching, teaching, mentoring and refining TTPs. This presented new challenges for both the US and the Hungarian soldiers. Effectual partnerships take much time as well as utmost attention to develop. Therefore, diligent pursuit of mutually beneficial relationship with multinational partners requires patience. By the end of the three week training, we had successfully combined both the US and the Hungarian teams and also standardized the OMLT training and operating procedures. Afghanistan Relief-in-Place (RIP) took place in November, 2012 at Camp Khelegia, Afghanistan. The OMLT mission was to mentor and support the operational planning and employment of 3rd battalion 2nd brigade of the 209thANA Corps. During this period, I was held responsible for conducting various operations and assisting in scheduling the staff for effectively performing duties in the Tactical Operation Center (TOC). Moreover, I was also held liable for serving as a key advisor especially to the OMLT S3, XO and Commander towards developing long and short- range guidance. During five multi-national joint operations involving Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan National Police (ANP), the U.S. and the Hungarian Defense Forces, I was accountable for developing base defense plans in various areas that ranged from school houses to Afghan Local Police stations. Assigning advisors was an important task to accomplish once we had arrived in the country. Building rapport is crucial for the success of the advisors. It can be stated that mentors will never have a second chance to reveal a positive impression initially. Cultural understanding and professional skill set must be in a balanced form. In this regard, mentors require to enlarge personal interrelation with their counterparts and also to become instrumental especially in talking and walking through the development of course-of-action (COA) with their counterparts along with understanding the execution of doctrine. One important piece of advice which has been given to me by my predecessor is that mentors, who want to perform well and desire to make lasting results during the rotation should re-think about what is possible to accomplish and discuss future goals with his mentee.Another important piece of advice is to place one’s own personal ambitions aside and place the ANA Soldiers as well as ANA mission first. With all this concern, I had the difficult task of ensuring that the twelve US soldiers on the team were successfully transitioned and fully integrated with the Hungarian soldiers. I worked hard to ensure that both U.S. and Hungarian soldiers were well-trained and prepared for any adversity during the rotation. During the second half of the deployment, the OMLT transitioned from advising Infantry ANA Soldiers to mentoring the Afghan Civil Order Police (ANCOP). This was an entirely different mission and would require a different mindset. This involved moving to a new base, assigning new mentors and most vitally restructuring the team. The staff sections of the team comprising S1, S2, S3, S4, Commander, XO and Sergeant Majors would become the primary advisors, providing a capable force protection package. I was assigned to advise the brigade Command Sergeant Major (CSM). I quickly formed a strong relationship while serving as the primary advisor to ANCOP CSM, which aided in enabling the ANCOP CSM to clearly establish its objectives and procedures to attain predetermined targets. Conclusion The OMLT program and the Ohio State Partnership with Hungary play a decisive role as a part of NATO-ISAFs strategy related to security assistance mission in Afghanistan. For the Americans of OMLT 1.9, there are many skills to share as well as to develop. The most important skill-set for this operation is the combat-advising skills that would embrace influencing, monitoring, mentoring and leading each American soldier. The role of Combat Advisor is one of the most challenging, frustrating and rewarding assignments that a leader can have. The friendship and rapport that you will build while mentoring a foreign military will last for a lifetime. References Read More