Are We Training Our soldiers to Fail? Is There a Better Way of Training?

Question

This is they way soldiers are taught
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5188599301918606321

1 We train the soldiers to dominate the situation, that treating people with any respect will get them killed.

2 We teach them to act instantly to any threat as soon as it is so much as imagined, and to act instantly without thought, as anything else will get them killed.

3 We teach them that even a less than one percent chance of danger will be the one time that gets them killed.

4 We don't teach them that that guarantees that the other 99+% of the time they will have killed an innocent civilian.

5 In order to allow the soldier to kill instantly, without hesitation, we instill deep bigotry, that all potential targets are less than human, unworthy of consideration.

6 We tell the soldier that if they think a shot comes from an apartment complex, even if there is only one shooter, everyone in the complex knows and approves, so taking out the complex is justified, even if you were wrong

6 We tell the soldier that if they think a shot comes from an apartment complex, even if there is only one shooter, everyone in the complex knows and approves, so taking out the complex is justified, even if you were wrong about there being a shooter there (see # 2 & 3)

Then we send them over to win the hearts and minds of these people, making sure we are only killing folk who hate us.

If there are any signs that this is not working,send 50,000 more troops and tell them to ratchet all that up a few notches.

If you don't like the "We" part of this, copy it and send it to your Congresscritter and tell him you want to opt out.

No "best answer" for thoughtless one liners

Apparently some folk think that making people hate you is the best way to win friends and influence people. If you watch the video you will see the troops are as much the victims of the administration as all the Iraqis that did not oppose us.
More here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL-yi1gtplo
and why
http://patternsthatconnect.blogspot.com/2006/03/rightwing-authoritarianism-and.html

Answer 1

1. Yes we do train to dominate the battlefield, however, that does not mean they train us to not respect the local people. I can't count the hours that we have spent learning about the Iraqi people and their customs. We also do our best to abide by their customs while associating with them and treat them all with respect. We are well aware that in order to bring peace to this area, we need to win over the Iraqi people, and we fight that battle everyday.

2. We are trained to react instantly, but the actual reaction will very due to the situation. We use what is called "Escalation of Force." If the threat is minor, we deal with it as appropriate. If the threat is dangerous or fatal, we will use the force neccessary to mitigate that threat.

3. We teach awareness is key, that if you don't keep situational awareness at all times, someone will get hurt or killed due to your negligence.

4. Your logic is flawed. There is no "guarantee" that if we react to a threat that an innocent person will get hurt.

5. There is some truth to that, but not quite what you are saying. Its not that we train to see the enemy as "less than human", its that we train to see them as "not human" and they are just another target. The idea of "Less than Human" would be appropriate to how the Nazi's trained. We are trained to see a target, or a threat, and eliminate it - no emotion or superiority feelings are involved.

6. We are taught the Rules of Engagement (ROE). We are trained quite extensively on who and how we can engage. We use situational examples many times for this training to force the soldiers to think about what they are doing, and to understand why. As for your example, there are way too many situational factors to consider before you condemn someone. In general though, if there are innocent civilians in the immediate area, we will not engage.

In short, we are not trained to fail. Our techniques and training methods are constantly evolving to adjust to the current world situation. Just because someone gets hurt or killed, or an innocent gets killed, does not mean we are poorly trained. That is the nature of war. People will die.

You need to keep something in mind. The US Military exists for one reason and one reason only. To defeat any enemy of the United States of America. If that means we need to kill people to defeat them, then so be it. We can not afford to train soldiers to anything less than that. To do so invites a great disaster.

War is ugly, war is horrible, war is violent. We soldiers exist to do that which the average person should never have to witness or be part of. We do this and train for this so that our family and friends can live the life that they wish to live in relative peace. We do this, so that you don't have to.

And we do this on one expectation... that the people of America support us, and only put us into a war when it is only of the most vital of reasons.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

You have it completely backwards.

The troops are trained to succeed. This means they should kill whatever threat they encounter.

It is the restrictive rules of engagement that is the problem. Loosen the rules so they can unleash death upon our enemies. And don't worry about collateral damage. Hey, sh*t happens!

Answer 4

Ask the Vietnamese PLA

Answer 5

I think the left is trying to teach the US to fail!

Answer 6

Another CIVLIAN who thinks he knows everything. TYPICAL know nothing showing what he DOESN'T know.
If you haven't been there, SHUT UP!
(USN/in-country Viet Nam Vet/retired)

Answer 7

Where the hell did you get your bullshit information? Did you make it up or did someone else?