TRAINED FOR WAR
IT’S not a combat mission, but only combat soldiers can do.
That’s the assessment by Lieutenant Colonel Giles Cornelia of the job faced by coalition forces in training and mentoring the Iraqi Security Forces as they continue their war- winning fight to suppress Islamic State ( Daesh) in the volatile region.
Lt- Colonel Cornelia is the Commanding Officer of the Task Group Taji Five’s ( TGT- 5) Training Task Unit ( TTU) and the Townsville- based 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment.
TGT- 5 deployed in May and June and assumed responsibility from TGT- 4 in Iraq on June 15 to continue the Australian Defence Force’s flagship training program. In that time, TTU’s four training companies have trained the Iraqi Army’s 53rd Brigade, which is back on the frontline fighting ISIS after graduation in late August, and are now in the stages of working with the 2nd Brigade.
“The training companies have had an incredibly busy period since then and we are now two- thirds of the deployment through,” he said.
“As a training unit of just over 200 people, we will have retrained two Iraqi Army Brigades, from individual skills to improve their ability to move, shoot, communicate and provide lifesaving first aid that’s required in action through to company level operations in a combined arms setting.”
Simultaneous to the training program, TGT- 5 is supporting the Iraqi Army’s noncommissioned officer academy with a 10week officer and junior leaders’ course, which most recently trained more than 350 personnel. it’s a job
“It’s been so pleasing to see the discipline, professionalism and dedication to the task and the will to win from our teams,” he said.
“Australians and New Zealanders are incredibly good at forming genuine relationships, being respectful and authentic in the way that we’ve interacted with our Iraqi colleagues and we’ve certainly been able to get the best out of the training opportunity by having mutual respect.”
Lt- Colonel Cornelia said many of the Iraqis were combat veterans and the coalition was able to learn from them while teaching them refined ways to increase combat effectiveness on the battlefield.
“There are particular tactics and techniques which they have employed, which isn’t necessarily the way we do things … so we compare and contrast,” he said,
“There is no room on today’s battlefield for rote learning responses once battle drills are complete.”
In early days of the Task Group Taji mission, Iraq’s operational needs meant forces came into training and were back out on the battlefield in just four weeks. But as the situation has evolved, the Iraqi Brigades trained through TGT- 5 undertake 12- week courses.
“We really have enough time now to make a significant contribution to the military effectiveness of those who we’ve trained,” he said.
A third tier to the training is giving the Iraqi soldiers specialist training for more advanced and experienced personnel.
Lt- Colonel Cornelia said the sense of confidence among the Iraqis after the retaking of Mosul from ISIS’s grip should not be underestimated.
“It is now quite obvious in that Daesh is losing and has lost much of the territory that the Iraqis lost in 2014.
“Our Anzac training missions is a warwinning activity in supporting and developing the forces who are taking the fight to the enemy.”