My perspective is that of a stability operations policy wonk and pre-deployment training leader.  I’ve been working and thinking about conflict and stability since the early 1990s when I was at OSD and as a Director on the NSC Staff.  Bosnia and Kosovo were the conflicts du jour and though these are worlds apart from Afghanistan, many of the challenges, shortcomings, and frustrations we face today were just as plainly visible then.

About five years ago, I started working extensively with the military on Iraq and Afghanistan pre-deployment training.  My company provides the field experts, curriculum, and training to the military on what is essentially “smart power” — the interagency/PRT/whole of government tools in the Iraq and Afghan tool kit.  We also support the training of PRT civilians.  My company has extensive field experience in Afghanistan although I do not.  With another trip under my belt, I can pretend to be as smart as my trainers!

Let’s see if I can remember what I learned on my last visit, in Spring 2009.   That trip focused on meetings in Kabul and RC-East in the last days of GEN McKiernan’s command of ISAF.   The first Obama strategy review was still underway. (more…)

Can you hear that grinding noise? That’s the sound of an overused, overextended military breaking down.  We seem to spend a lot of our time deliberately avoiding our gaze from obvious trouble signs. But for those who care to observe reality the warning signs are plentiful.

Consider just a few news reports in the past week.

New York Times
September 30, 2010

Four Suicides In A Week Take A Toll On Fort Hood

By James C. McKinley Jr.

HOUSTON — Four veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan died this week from what appeared to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds atFort Hood in central Texas, raising the toll of soldiers who died here at their own hands to a record level and alarming Army commanders.

So far this year, Army officials have confirmed that 14 soldiers at Fort Hood have committed suicide. Six others are believed to have taken their own lives but a final determination has yet to be made. The highest number of suicides at Fort Hood occurred in 2008, when 14 soldiers killed themselves, said Christopher Haug, a military spokesman.

About 46,000 to 50,000 active officers and soldiers work at the base at any given time, making this year’s suicide rate about four times the national average, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at 11.5 deaths per 100,000 people. (more…)