Military Partnership Lessons Learned from Base Closure and Transition in Iraq

Abstract

This paper reviews lessons learned from the transition of Joint Base Balad by the U.S. Air Force to the Iraqi Air Force in 2011. Complications encountered during the transition included: Political uncertainty regarding the future of the military mission in Iraq; limited partnerships with the Iraqi military; and unity of effort issues regarding strategic security between USF-I and the 332 Air Expeditionary Wing. These issues resulted in a diminished ability to form strong Iraqi partnerships at Balad which would have assisted in establishing better long and short term security in the region. The author proposes in the absence of a strong Iraqi Air Force unit to partner with, U.S. Forces could have established partnerships with host nation contractors. Some of the benefits of hiring host nation contractors to provide base operating support would have been increased cooperation by demonstrating the benefits of U.S. presence; decreased cost; and increased opportunity to conduct population-centric counterinsurgency operations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 14, 2013
Accession Number
AD1018864

Entities

People

  • Carolyn J. Patrick

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Civil Engineering
  • Contractors
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • International Security
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Recreation
  • Security
  • Security Personnel
  • Social Psychology
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Water Purification

Readers

  • Economics
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.