The 2nd Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFAB) have a critical mission to provide training, support and assistance to our foreign military partners and nations. Every year, SFAB advisors must validate their abilities to provide high-level assistance and training to foreign military partners and nations.
To accomplish this, the Exercise Control or EXCON sets up a fictional country, known as Amari, complete with a fictional military force, U.S. embassy and a scenario the teams are guided through as the exercise progresses. The Amari forces were role played by a handful of retired military civilians and SFAB advisors, each with experience engaging diplomatically and strategically with foreign allies.
U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph McAuliffe, the command sergeant major of 2nd Battalion, 2nd SFAB, served as one of the Observer Controllers (OC) during the exercise. “Having the opportunity to be a OCT is not only having the ability to impact the Team as they prepare for deployment to the African continent, but also walking away from the exercise a better Advisor myself, learning from the Teams mistakes and successes,” said McAuliffe. “But it also challenges you into being a better Advisor yourself.”
The scenario begins with a simulated Customs lane. For the first time for many, the SFAB Advisors regularly use civilian international airports to enter their assigned countries. This requires special attention and detail to pass through the pre-employment checks and baggage claim. Every piece of documentation must be present and thoroughly filled out accurately to ensure timely and smooth access into the country. Additionally, many advisors are pulled aside for further questioning to test their ability to remain calm and rely on liaisons to resolve any issues professionally.
This lane was a valuable lesson for many of the Advisors, as the exact paperwork and requirements needed vary from country to country. Many of the service members have never traveled through civilian international airports before, and the scenarios these teams at the VALEX run through are directly from lessons learned from real deployments in the past. This simulation is critical in setting up the SFAB’s teams with success during the future deployments to Africa and other regions around the world.
Once they are settled down in Amari, the team meets at the U.S. Embassy in Amari to introduce themselves to certain staff members and establish professional relationships. Deploying as an Advisor provides service members with the unique opportunity to engage Department of State employees and US Embassy personnel abroad. In Amari, the SFAB roleplayers included a U.S. Defense Attache to Amari,
At this point, the teams conducted a key leader engagement with the Amari leaders and soldiers. The team members must spend a deliberate amount of time building rapport with the partner force, as this is vital for the U.S. to accomplish their training and diplomatic objectives. The U.S. will never fight a war alone ever again and the SFABs will help bridge the military culture and knowledge gaps between us and our partners. As such, the Advisor teams must work to understand their partner forces’ mission to assess their needs and where the U.S. can contribute in their efforts.
“One of the biggest mistakes an Advisor can make is trying too hard to be too forceful or demanding with their objectives and goals,” McAuliffe observed. “Advisors have to learn quickly they are not there to tell these foreign partners what to do. This is their country, not ours.”
The roleplayers formed their own different Support Shops, including an S-1, S-2, S-3 and S-6. By engaging with a complete and diverse military, Advisors must be capable of providing input and a level of instruction and understanding with as many aspects of the partner force as possible.
As such, the teams were assessed on their ability to teach essential military concepts to a foreign force. One of the major focuses was the military decision making process, helping the Amari leadership, staff and forces think critically and carefully while planning operations. The SFAB’s deployments provide a unique opportunity for team members to teach basic military concepts to foreign audiences that do not speak English as their first language. The team must be able to quickly modify their teaching methods and techniques based on the communication needs of their training audience. Roleplayers
“It is important for us to observe Advisors executing platform instruction due to the Army not being school trained in how to teach, train or instruct,” explained McAuliffe. “Giving the training audiences the opportunity to practice
MAT 2121, led by U.S. Army Capt. Philip Cavanagh, demonstrated the proper PMCS procedures of their existing Humvees and Mark 19s. Advisors are in a unique position to enable the partner forces to better manage their own equipment and resources.
To raise the stakes of the exercise, halfway through, an additional roleplayer was introduced to the teams, a Visual Documentation Specialist. This begins the next phase of the VALEX: Pro Long Field Care. Before the team knows it, the Visual Documentation specialist comes down with an injury. The team must take care of his medical needs while maintaining the mission and workflow with the partner force. Since foreign countries do not always have the same level of access to medical care that Americans have, this prepares the Advisors to maintain high levels of medical readiness while supporting the partner force.
Once they have successfully navigated through tactical field care, they will begin planning missions with the partner force. For BAT 250, they were met with advising the Amaris through deploying in support of their border crisis. As Advisors, the team must identify ways the U.S. Army can properly support their foreign security partners through theater security operation missions.
By developing and enhancing the standard operating procedures and team processes that makes military elements successful, the 2nd SFAB makes not only themselves, but their foreign partners and allies a more capable fighting force going forward.
| Date Taken: | 03.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.03.2023 22:35 |
| Story ID: | 439704 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Valex Winter 2023: 2nd SFAB Trains to Advise, Assist and Lead, by SSG Jameson Harris, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
