Motivational Speaker

[dean_acheson]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0a3_1233765334

After that, I'm ready to chew on some leather.

[UnderseaLcpl]

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Finally, a language I understand!

[Kapt Z]

If this is the way we treat our Iraqi 'friends' I'm amazed we have any at all.

We blow up their country, and then hurl insults at the few who, at enormous risk to themselves and their families, even show up to put on a uniform and try to help us. Brilliant!

Boy, sometimes we can be real dumbasses.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by Kapt Z

If this is the way we treat our Iraqi 'friends' I'm amazed we have any at all.

We blow up their country, and then hurl insults at the few who, at enormous risk to themselves and their families, even show up to put on a uniform and try to help us. Brilliant!

Boy, sometimes we can be real dumbasses.

You don't understand the situation. I'm guessing that this incident took place sometime in mid 2007 at the earliest, as evidenced by the fact that the soldiers are wearing shoulder-SAPIs. When I left Iraq in early 2006, the situation was much the same.

Many Iraqi policeman, and some soldiers, are sorely lacking in what is required of them. They are often unmotivated, unskilled, unorganized and undisciplined. Many are cowards, and the few that are brave are almost combat-ineffective because they are undisciplined and are difficult to train. As if that weren't bad enough, some of them are insurgents themselves. They sign up, get halfway through their basic training (sometimes all the way), and then disappear with their weapons and gear and a lot of intel.

All this is notwithstanding the fact that many american servicemembers are treated like this every day. If I had been standing in that formation and that guy had been saying something different, but with all the cuss words, I would have felt right at home. It's part of the job. You have a duty to do and you are expected to do it. There is a mission to be accomplished. All other concerns are secondary.

[Kapt Z]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

You don't understand the situation. I'm guessing that this incident took place sometime in mid 2007 at the earliest, as evidenced by the fact that the soldiers are wearing shoulder-SAPIs. When I left Iraq in early 2006, the situation was much the same.

Many Iraqi policeman, and some soldiers, are sorely lacking in what is required of them. They are often unmotivated, unskilled, unorganized and undisciplined. Many are cowards, and the few that are brave are almost combat-ineffective because they are undisciplined and are difficult to train. As if that weren't bad enough, some of them are insurgents themselves. They sign up, get halfway through their basic training (sometimes all the way), and then disappear with their weapons and gear and a lot of intel.

All this is notwithstanding the fact that many american servicemembers are treated like this every day. If I had been standing in that formation and that guy had been saying something different, but with all the cuss words, I would have felt right at home. It's part of the job. You have a duty to do and you are expected to do it. There is a mission to be accomplished. All other concerns are secondary.

Oh, I agree with much of what you say. I think the job of the US instructor is almost if not completely impossible. I would expect that his way of motivating the recruits works when the recruits are ALSO Americans, perhaps not so much when they are another nationality. You can almost hear them saying among themselves... "Do you believe this guy? What a dumbass."

As I have said in one form or another in these forums-

The Iraqi's will only clean up their country when they are motivated to do so. We will never be able to do that for them. What they come up with in the end may or may not be to our liking. We'll just have to see on that score. If I was that soldier I would be spewing alot of that frustration at the US Gov't not some Iraqi enlistee. He's the effect, not the cause.

[UnderseaLcpl]

I'm game. How do we motivate them?

You probably won't expect me to symphatize with that American giving the 'pep talk' but I kinda do. That's just how the leaders speak in the military. It isn't always courteous but that's not the point. To me he doesn't sound angry as much as desperate, the Americans are really getting desperate there.

To label the Iraqis "lazy", "undiciplined", etc. is a bit off the line though. They are what you train them to be. Some turn out to be insurgents? Then they don't have enough reason to abandon the insurgent cause. You have to give them that incentive and you have a new friend. And to tell them to run off into a fire fight with the insurgents? Whoa there Lash La Rue, how about some planning first?

Although I don't think that much can be done differently in Iraq anymore, too much has already gone wrong there, too many bridges not only burned but blown to smithereens. Now it's just about the "era of consequences" as Churchill said. The Americans are pulling off the streets and leaving behind a big pile of bodies and a country in turmoil.

[Kapt Z]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

I'm game. How do we motivate them?

It's an enormous risk, but leave.

The 'real' power struggle won't start until we do. Be that 16 months or 16 years.