Iroquois Warriors in Iraq - Tapa blanda

The role of the Organized Reserves in the history of the US Army has taken many twists and turns since the nation’s founding. The organization and missions of the Army’s reserves, both the National Guard and the Army Reserve, are once again undergoing fundamental change to meet the needs of the 21st century. In Iroquois Warriors in Iraq, Mr. Steve Clay analyzes the role played by the “Iroquois Warriors” of the US Army Reserve’s 98th Division (Institutional Training). In an unprecedented move, the soldiers of the 98th were called on in mid-2004 to deploy to Iraq and to fulfill a critical role in the building, training, and advising of the new Iraqi Army. This monograph is the story of how that concept evolved and how it came to form a nexus with MNSTC-I that resulted in the use of a USAR training division for an overseas combat mission for the first time in US Army history. The monograph presents issues connected with the mobilization, deployment, training, and integration of Reserve Component (RC) units and personnel in general; the use of units to perform tasks not part of their mission essential task list (METL); and issues associated with the major task assigned to the 98th Division—training and advising a foreign army. It finishes with an analysis of the overall mission and provides conclusions and recommendations for consideration. The intent of this monograph is to expose leaders and soldiers to the issues described above, so in future conflicts, and perhaps even for the current conflict, they might gain insights that will enable them to develop solutions should similar problems arise.

Steven E. Clay, LTC (USA Retired), spent his 27-year Army career in mechanized infantry units (including two tours with the Big Red One) and in educating and training soldiers and leaders. From 1997 to 2006, he worked at the Combat Studies Institute (CSI), Fort Leavenworth, KS, in the following positions: executive officer; Chief, Staff Ride Team; and Chief, Research and Publications Team. He currently works for CSI as a contracted research historian. Mr. Clay’s published works include Blood and Sacrifice: A History of the 16th Infantry from the Civil War to the Gulf War and is co-author of CSI’s Staff Ride Handbook for the Overland Campaign: A Study in Operational-Level Command.