Iraq and Afghanistan: Actions Needed to Enhance the Ability of Army Brigades to Support the Advising Mission

Abstract

Army guidance identifies key characteristics of the augmented BCT concept, such as how advisors are to be organized, commanded, and supported. For example, BCT commanders are to organize the advisors into teams, with other necessary resources being provided to the teams by the brigade. The theater commander determines the specific numbers and types of advisors based upon the operational environment and mission requirements. BCTs are envisioned to exercise command of advisor teams and provide support such as specialized personnel, equipment, and transportation and security. However, it is recognized that BCTs may have other priorities and must balance the demand for resources between the advising mission and other missions. The Army has deployed augmented BCTs in response to theater commanders' requests, but units have faced some challenges because commanders did not always set clear priorities between the advising mission and other missions or define specific requirements for how the BCTs should support the advising mission. For example, theater commanders did not require that advisor teams include specialized personnel, such as logisticians or intelligence officers. Because the BCTs already have high demand for these personnel, the brigades are challenged to meet the advisors' requirements for those same personnel. As a result, some advising teams told GAO that they were limited in their ability to advise in some specialty areas or that they may be advising Iraqi and Afghan security forces in functional areas where the advisors have little or no experience. Also, theater commanders' requests did not always specify command relationships. As a result, in some cases, advisors were reassigned to the control of a division or a brigade that they had not trained and deployed with, which disrupted the unity of command envisioned under the augmented BCT concept.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA547027

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Army Personnel
  • Command And Control
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Deployment
  • Electronic Mail
  • Field Grade Officers
  • Governments
  • Human Resources
  • Law
  • Lessons Learned
  • Personnel Management
  • United States
  • United States Central Command
  • United States Government
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.