U.S. Soldiers to 'Go Native' on Operations

What an unfortunate title to this article. When people talk like that it illustrates a lack of understanding of the work that is done with indigenous forces (whether military, police, or paramilitary  - or resistance forces).  Good Soldiers do not "go native."  Growing a beard or other such actions do not indicate going native. Having cultural understanding and cultural respect does not mean going native.  The irony is that most do not want US forces to come in and act like them.  The most important thing is that Soldiers respect the culture even if they do not know it.  But "going native" undercuts the credibility of US units and it is unfortunate that the headline editor of US News wrote this headline and caused a distraction from the important points about what the Army is doing with the regionally aligned force (RAF). 

V/R
Dave

U.S. Soldiers to 'Go Native' on Operations

Army set to train regular units in language and culture of specific regions to help stop wars before they start

By PAUL D. SHINKMAN

April 12, 2013

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/04/12/us-soldiers-to-go-native-on-operations_print.html

The Army has adopted a new motto of sorts: "Projecting a credibility that prevents conflict."

The nautical flavor of the president's new foreign policy and an end to two ground wars in the Middle East has left many wondering what the Army will do with itself in the coming years.

America's premier land force faces the challenge of remaining relevant in a world where enemies no longer send tank columns to follow up on formal declarations of war. This identity crisis is further hampered by an excruciating budget season where all service branches have to accommodate sequestration cuts on top of ever tightening purse strings.

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So the Army has adopted a new motto of sorts: "Projecting a credibility that prevents conflict," to capitalize on the notion that nobody picks fights with the biggest guy at the bar.

Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel and the military services unveiled their fiscal year 2014 budget request on Wednesday. The Navy gets the largest piece of the pie with $156 billion to build ships and precision weapons and a shift of its focus to Asia.

The Army gets $130 billion. Its main adjustment is its war budget, or "overseas contingency operations fund," which in 2008 matched its base budget for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has not yet finalized the OCO for this year, but will likely be down to about a third of the base.

It has also adopted a new strategy, similar to one employed for decades by its Special Forces, of aligning troops to a specific region with which it can get familiar.

Soldiers assigned to these Regionally Aligned Forces overseas will now receive training in local languages, culture and geography, and learn more about indigenous military groups.

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"This budget envisions the capabilities that enable the global employment of Army forces in tailored, scalable and responsive packages to meet unique and independent requirements of the geographic combatant commanders," said Maj. Gen. Karen Dyson, the Army's budget director, on Wednesday.

The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command was instrumental in developing this new approach. Lt. Gen. Keither Walker, TRADOC deputy commander, said in February the Army has been pushing for this kind of training but until recently has been hampered by its presence in Afghanistan.

This is a similar tack to the U.S. Army Special Forces, whose primary mission has always been to infiltrate, embed with and train indigenous forces to help fight America's enemies. Seven Special Forces groups based in the U.S. each have a region of the world in which they are experts.

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/04/12/us-soldiers-to-go-native-on-operations_print.html