A U.S. military officer deployed to Afghanistan and assigned to train Afghan police officers admitted that he had no idea what he was doing.
So he watched TV shows like “Cops” and “NCIS” to learn what to teach the Afghan police recruits.
Maybe that’s a sign of motivation and resourcefulness for that individual officer. But it reveals a stunning failure on the part of the U.S. military.
The anecdote illustrates a larger problem — the U.S. military lacks a deployable police development capability.
The U.S. military has been deploying to dangerous places and training local police forces for more than ten years. That’s supposedly been a vital piece of the broader counter-terrorism missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But apparently not vital enough to prompt the military to actually provide police development training to the thousands of service members who have deployed in support of that mission over the past decade. That’s embarrassing.
Medals & Misfires is a new opinion feature from the Military Times editorial staff. Read more here.
The crew of the Research Vessel Petrel, led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is on a roll.
The Defense Department on March 8 announced that troops deployed to Niger, Mali and northern Cameroon qualify to receive imminent danger pay/hostile fire pay, retroactive to June 7, 2017.
The other services should pay attention.
The daggers flew this weekend when a disparaging military rant by a California high school teacher went viral.
A technical sergeant from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada came under fire recently after she shared a racially-charged, expletive-laced rant to Facebook.
Ukrainian leaders urging of calm comes as the Pentagon heightens readiness for 8,500 troops.
North Korea last Thursday issued a veiled threat to resume the testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland.
The Indiana National Guard’s Camp Atterbury training base has helped resettle about 7,200 Afghan refugees in the U.S. since September.
The U.S. has provided some ground support to Kurdish forces.
Members of the 1st Samoan Battalion defended their homelands.
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YWAUYZXCSVDIFJVOQX3EEVFCYA.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/JMHCZTTPKZDC5EO6QC4KJEF32U.png)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/QNOJW27V4RGL5K4UO2QNDTIHNI.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/FUQD4B5NKRAOXHJZ3MWE2FAP3U.png)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/3PRU2MXTAJFJRFCSTM6BOQMNOA.png)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/2WPFYSAWQBDGVAUVN6VLHO2G64.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/YWI4Y65L2FHN3KRJVYU4XTQLL4.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/DMDSZNYZWBGPVH5S7YQ23GOT6Y.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/FKJ5QOSPCRFKBFYF5NJAXOCOZU.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/HJYPT2LLJRHTPAKZ6HCZI3DYY4.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/L5BCBKJWXJEEHINADMPLNUTX64.jpeg)