Why Are Foreign Soldiers Trained By U.S. Forces Going On To Commit Mass Rapes?

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (March 25, 2010) - Afghan National Civil Order Police/Afghan Gendarmerie Force Training Center graduates parade in formation honoring Mohammad Atta Noor, Governor of the Province of Balkh where 193 trainees graduated in the center's first enlisted graduation. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jeff Nevison)

Afghanistan’s Rape Crisis: Villagers Fear U.S.-Backed Militias -- Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau, Daily Beast

Afghans fear the very militias America has set up to protect them—and allegations of sexual violence abound. Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau report.

Jumadin, a 45-year-old farmer from the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, returned to his modest mud-brick home late one evening last January to find the front door shattered. He rushed inside, calling and searching for his 19-year-old daughter, Monizha, who had been home alone while Jumadin’s wife and three other children visited relatives in Pakistan. He was panic-stricken. The small house had been ransacked, and Monizha was nowhere inside. He finally found her just in time: she was outside in the animal shed, trying to hang herself.

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My Comment: The focus in the media is on the U.S. military's rape crisis among it's own troops .... but it appears that this problem is now spreading (if the above story is accurate) to foreign troops that are being trained by US forces abroad. And Afghanistan is not the only place where this is occurring ..... troops of the Congolese Army that were trained by a U.S. Special Forces team went on to commit mass rape and murder of women and children while fleeing rebel forces last year (according to a new United Nations report). And in Mali, the EU seeks to rebuild the Mali army after the U.S. faltered when the troops that they trained staged a coup that produced the mayhem that exists even today.

A Simulated Afghan Battlefield In The Mojave Desert (Photo Gallery)

It's Artificial Afghanistan: A Simulated Battlefield In The Mojave Desert -- The Atlantic

An hour northeast of Barstow, California, there's an army base the size of Rhode Island, complete with a fake Afghan town known as Ertebat Shar.

Fort Irwin is a U.S. army base nearly the size of Rhode Island, located in the Mojave Desert about an hour's drive northeast of Barstow, California. There you will find the National Training Center, or NTC, at which all U.S. troops, from all the services, spend a twenty-one day rotation before they deploy overseas.

Sprawling and often infernally hot in the summer months, the base offers free tours, open to the public, twice a month. We made the trip, cameras in hand and notebooks at the ready, to learn more about the simulated battlefields in which imaginary conflicts loop, day after day, without end.

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My Comment: I am not only surprised that this training field is open to the public two days a month .... but that visitors are actually making the trip to see for themselves what it is all about. Warning .... the battle scene pictures look very realistic.

A Look At US Troops In Pre-Deployment Training For Afghanistan

U.S. Army / Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod

See What It's Like For US Troops In Pre-Deployment Training For Afghanistan -- Business Insider

Military members know very well that if you aren't deployed to a war zone, you're likely training for one.

Soldiers deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan (and elsewhere) in year-long stints, while the other services typically go for six to seven months. But soon after troops return and celebrate their homecoming, they often have to get ready for next time.

It's all the nature of their constantly changing 'workplace' — some soldiers get off active duty while brand new ones check in, enemy tactics change, and new techniques need to be learned.

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My Comment: It looks intense.

U.S. Marines Training To Fight An Enemy Like North Korea

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Who says it's cold? The soldiers from the south-east Asian country and their fellow marines from Kaneho Bay, Hawaii, dive in the snow as if they were on a beach. Daily Mail

How Marines Train For An Enemy Like North Korea -- Popular Mechanics

The days when the Pentagon focused on fighting insurgents are gone. At a training ground way out in the California desert, U.S. Marines prepare for the threat of a more modern enemy: so-called "near peers" such as Iran and North Korea that can bring 20th-century weapons to bear. PM was on hand to see the Marines practice coming up against tanks, armored personnel carriers, and antiaircraft missiles.

Tanks, F/A-18s, artillery, armored vehicles, and MV-22 tiltrotor Ospreys: Just another day of live-fire training at the Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif. PM was there to observe—at close range—the climax of the second-ever Integrated Training Exercise (ITX), a training event meant to prepare 800 Marines for deployment.

Unlike earlier training exercises, the Marines' imaginary enemies at the ITX are not insurgent infantry with rocket propelled grenades and roadside bombs. Instead, late last year the training personnel here set up a scenario in which Marines oppose battle tanks, mechanized infantry, and antiaircraft missiles.

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WNU Editor: For some great pics on joint U.S. - South Korean winter military training .... go here. More pics here.

Women Marines Face A Tough Struggle With Infantry Course

A course to train for Marine Corps ground combat units that began on Thursday was the latest effort to incorporate women, but the two women (and 12 men) were eliminated. Christopher Gregory/The New York Times

Women (And Men) Face Big Hurdles In Training For Marine Infantry Units -- New York Times

QUANTICO, Va. — A group of Marine second lieutenants, all men, stood before the ropes on an obstacle course. They looked exhausted, though the day was far from done. One by one, they took their shots at scaling the line. One by one, most of them dropped short of the top. They were already three hours behind the front-runners in their class.

Behind them, two more Marines, both women, prepared to start the course. One, a former enlisted Marine who was shivering in the 40-degree breeze, tried repeatedly to surmount the first bar, but failed. The second, a recent Naval Academy graduate, did better, meticulously, sometimes ingeniously, working her way through many of the obstacles.

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My Comment: I give them kudos for at least trying.

Strategic U.S. Bombers Fly Practice Nuclear Strikes In Korea

A B-52 Stratofortress flies a mission over the Pacific Ocean. The Air Force has consolidated the ICBM force and the long-range, nuclear-capable bomber force under a single major command. Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald / Air Force

Practice Run -- Washington Free Beacon

Strategic U.S. bombers fly practice nuclear strikes in Korea

United States B-52 bombers carried out simulated nuclear bombing raids on North Korea as part of ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises, Pentagon officials said on Monday.

Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters that B-52 bombers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted a training mission over South Korea March 8 during war games known as Exercise Foal Eagle.

“It’s not any secret that we are in the midst of sending a very strong signal that we have a firm commitment to the alliance with our South Korean allies,” Little said.

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My Comment: Doing practice bombing runs is nothing new for the U.S. Air Force.... but what I am curious about is what are their specific targets. North Korea does not strike me as a target rich environment for a nuclear strike (with the exception of Pyongyang and maybe a few command and control centers).

On Halloween, The U.S. Military Trains For The Zombie Apocalypse

No Prank: On Halloween, US Military Forces Train For Zombie Apocalypse -- Christian Science Monitor

The scenario is part of a counterterrorism summit held this week. A zombie invasion would have characteristics similar to other catastrophic events and would be 'a federal incident,' a summit organizer says.


Why is the US military preparing for a zombie apocalypse?

That’s the latest training exercise that US Marines and Navy special-operations forces will be taking part in on an island off the coast of San Diego – starting on Wednesday, aka Halloween.

“This is a very real exercise. This is not some type of big costume party,” Brad Barker, president of the Halo Corp. security company, told the Associated Press.

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WNU Editor: Had a fun Halloween .... no zombies spotted.

So Much For Getting Ready For The Next Big War

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft releases flares during a training mission over North Carolina, Dec. 17, 2010. The aircraft is part of the 335th Fighter Squadron. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Michael B. Keller

Busy With Afghanistan, the U.S. Military Has No Time to Train for Big Wars -- Daivid Wood, Politics Daily

We have learned through painful experience that the wars we fight are seldom the wars we planned. -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Feb. 1, 2010

Just after a cold, rainy dawn, a U.S. Army battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Charles B. Smith took up positions along a low Korean ridgeline with orders to stop the enemy tank columns racing toward them. The Americans were lightly armed draftees assigned to peacetime occupation duties in Japan. They'd never trained for major combat. But they wore the uniform of the most powerful nation on earth.

They expected a short skirmish: When the enemy saw who they were dealing with, the soldiers told themselves, they'd turn tail and flee. But the North Koreans who came lunging at them were not deterred that July morning in 1950. The GIs held out valiantly but finally shattered, stumbling into a retreat so hasty that they left their dead and wounded behind.

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My Comment: I figure that even if U.S. forces suddenly leave leave Afghanistan and Iraq, huge budget deficits and equipment shortfalls will continue to hamper any meaningful training program for years to come .... and probably even longer.

Preparing Our Soldiers For Combat In Afghanistan

TOP RESERVE SOLDIER - U.S. Army Spc. Joshua McDowell listens to instructions before the event to test warrior tasks and battle drills at the annual U.S. Army's Best Warrior Competition on Fort Lee, Va., Oct. 21, 2010. The competition is the premier event to determine the top noncommisioned officer and junior enlisted soldier in the Army. McDowell is the Army Reserve Soldier of the Year. U.S. Army photo by Timothy L. Hale

Graphic Novel As An Afghanistan War Primer -- L.A. Times

The military is distributing about 5,000 copies of the book, which is meant to prepare Navy medical corpsmen for deployment.

To help prepare Navy medical corpsmen for the stress and danger of Afghanistan deployments, the Navy has turned to a modern form of popular culture: the graphic novel.

Although graphic novels fill several shelves at most large bookstores, their use by the military is relatively new and represents a break from the usual training material that is heavy on the didactic and light on anything that could be labeled as entertainment.

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My Comment: Reading a book is no replacement for the actual experience of being in battle .... but it is a small (and necessary) start to sensitize the soldier to what they are getting into.

Using Simulators To Train For War

The Improvised Explosive Device Battle Drill simulator after being hit by a simulated I.E.D. attack during an exercise at Fort Eustis, Va. Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

Simulators Prepare Soldiers For Explosions Of War -- New York Times

FORT EUSTIS, Va. — A Humvee bumps along a dirt road fringed by mountains, their snowy peaks glinting in the sun. Rifle shots crackle from a rocky bluff, signaling a Taliban ambush. Suddenly an explosion rocks the vehicle, tossing it from side to side before it bounces to an uneasy stop, smoke billowing into the cab.

This is a roadside bombing, Hollywood style. But this is no film set. The Humvee is part of an elaborate simulator that prepares soldiers for one of the most hazardous jobs in Afghanistan today — driving.

Training to defend against the Taliban’s most lethal weapon, the improvised explosive device, or I.E.D., can feel a bit like taking a ride at Disney World these days. Or watching a 3-D movie. Or playing an interactive computer game.

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My Comment: This type of training is something that would not have even been thought of 10 years ago.

Marines Prepare For War In An Afghan Village In North Carolina

The "Afghan Village" was conceived to challenge Marines. A series of underground tunnels permits sniper fire from unexpected places.

From FOX News:

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Afghan guards armed with AK-47s keep watch just outside as a village elder sits in a room with no electricity and tells a U.S. Marine:

“The Taliban are recruiting young unemployed men to plant IEDs and fight the American military.”

Cpl. Adam King sits down, sips some tea and listens attentively. What he says and what he hears could save the lives of his Marines.

This is the scene in Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina, where the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines — known as the 2/8 — have built a simulated Afghan village to prepare American troops for what they will face half a world away.

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My Comment: Training .... training .... training .... this is what makes the U.S. military the tops in the world.