US Army not up to snuff?

[WillBrink]

Out of my lane, but an interesting read I thought. Any truth to it? Only one man doing the talkin' here, but seems qualified for the opinion and some times that's canary in the coal mine kinda thing:

"At the squad, platoon, and company level, the U.S. Army is not as good as its allies, reports an Army captain. “American units are not as prepared or ready for combat as their multinational partners are at company level and below,” writes Capt. J. Scott Metz. “Many of our allies, and likely some of our potential enemies, are now tactically better than we are at company level and below because we do not train enough at home station.”

In other words, they don’t learn the fundamentals of maneuver before going for higher training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC), the big U.S. Army training base in Hohenfels, Germany. He should know. Until recently, Capt. Metz was an observer/controller/trainer at the JMRC. He notes that he has worked with units from 11 nations."

Cont:

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/09/best-in-the-world-nope-in-fact-our-small-units-are-no-longer-as-well-trained-as-those-of-our-allies-reports-this-army-captain/

[Digital_Damage]

Out of my lane, but an interesting read I thought. Any truth to it? Only one man doing the talkin' here, but seems qualified for the opinion and some times that's canary in the coal mine kinda thing:

"At the squad, platoon, and company level, the U.S. Army is not as good as its allies, reports an Army captain. “American units are not as prepared or ready for combat as their multinational partners are at company level and below,” writes Capt. J. Scott Metz. “Many of our allies, and likely some of our potential enemies, are now tactically better than we are at company level and below because we do not train enough at home station.”

In other words, they don’t learn the fundamentals of maneuver before going for higher training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC), the big U.S. Army training base in Hohenfels, Germany. He should know. Until recently, Capt. Metz was an observer/controller/trainer at the JMRC. He notes that he has worked with units from 11 nations."

Cont:

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/09/best-in-the-world-nope-in-fact-our-small-units-are-no-longer-as-well-trained-as-those-of-our-allies-reports-this-army-captain/

Did not read it, but I'm guessing he use to be a trainer moved to some OCONUS position and now says that since he left we are no longer training as well.

I hear this from former trainers all the time, "I did things right and since I left everything is terrible". Which often turns out to be nonsense, preparedness levels have not changed that much in 15 years. Not saying they are the best, but he did not make the difference.

[Digital_Damage]

Looked him up and I could not have nailed the stereo type any better.

Former maneuver OCT then got booted to teach Foreign Language.

LOL!

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Can our allies train at or above a battalion level that often? Kind of being funny, but not really.

[CPM]

My former Drill Sergeant is currently a live fire observer at NTC and told me the exact same thing several weeks ago. He said as a PSG he spends more time finding computers for his joes to complete online training modules than he has time to take them to the field to maneuver.

[Averageman]

My former Drill Sergeant is currently a live fire observer at NTC and told me the exact same thing several weeks ago. He said as a PSG he spends more time finding computers for his joes to complete online training modules than he has time to take them to the field to maneuver.

THIS.

[Kain]

I think I was reading or watching something a while back that was discussing general battlefield coordination of US forces compared to most of our allies. The general point that was made was that a US Army Captain probably was better at micro managing a combined arms force than most commanders of our allies since our men are more used to dealing with in a single operation situations where the numbers involved would equal out to damn near what the entire alley would be fielding in combat. While I am not sure I'd take that at complete face value I would see truth in that. Which could mean that the smaller unit tactics might be more versed at, but that is because they are more used to dealing with smaller units opposed to larger operations that the US will generally deal with. It is a thought at least.

That said, what the author of the OP is claiming is that other nations are training small unit tactics more, which I am not sure how much truth there is to that. Then I would guess, granted guess, that it would have to do with lack of funding for training on more expensive equipment, complex gear, combined arms operations, live fire, ect, ect. The best squad level tactics and communications are worthless if a fat Major can sit on his ass off looking through some high end thermal optics with a radio while sucking on a powerade and calling in CAS on your ass before you ever close enough to engage because your air force sucks and cannot achieve air superiority because they didn't have the budget for the equipment. Situation like that, you just need basic function and enough knowledge and training not to call shit down on your own ass.

Now, if we go off of general fitness levels of our men, well that would probably be a bit of a different discussion.

[soulezoo]

This is true for all services for nearly all fields

This was in response to Averageman and CPM above

[Averageman]

If we did away with computers, meaningless reports, power point presentations and on line classes for a month we would quickly see what is necessary and what is busy work.
The more information you require to be sent forward from the squad to Regimental level the more time it takes away from squad and platoon level training. That this isn't obvious to everyone above the level of 0-2 speaks volumes as to how far they have removed themselves from where the "rubber meets the Road."

[chuckman]

This is true for all services for nearly all fields

Yes. yes, yes, yes.

The military is undermanned and underfunded. A lot of training we used to take for granted doesn't get done any longer. But you know what doesn't get kicked out of the training plan? PME, the mandatory lectures and powerpoints on human trafficking and why you shouldn't drink and drive, and all-hands safety stand-downs, etc. Those things they make time for.

Three-quarters of aircraft cannot fly because there are not enough pilots, enough spare parts, or enough budgeted fuel. Most of our fleet is old, and what's in port can't turn to sea within requirements.

[Averageman]

Last year the Marine Corps was relegated to stripping parts off a museum piece aircraft to keep one of their running. We did however have money for a lot of freebies for folks who are H2O thieves.

Something interesting that I am observing with a younger generation;
These guys aren't as "hands-on" savvy with anything mechanical as guys who grew up in the 1960's and 70's and that is killing them on operational readiness. The young 19 Year Old Privates don't have a lot of legacy experience to train them as so much of this work has been farmed out to contractors for 15 + years.

[Big A]

Last year the Marine Corps was relegated to stripping parts off a museum piece aircraft to keep one of their running. We did however have money for a lot of freebies for folks who are H2O thieves.

Something interesting that I am observing with a younger generation;
These guys aren't as "hands-on" savvy with anything mechanical as guys who grew up in the 1960's and 70's and that is killing them on operational readiness. The young 19 Year Old Privates don't have a lot of legacy experience to train them as so much of this work has been farmed out to contractors for 15 + years.

That's ok, the F-35 will fix it...

[C-grunt]

I have some friends that are still in the Army and still putting metal to meat. These are guys I knew as brand new cherry Privates that came to my unit who are know Squad Leaders and Platoon Sergeants. Ive talked to them about this shit I hear and read and there definitely is some truth to it. There is way too many mandatory power point bullshit trainings. However, like always, they know that real training doesn't come from upper ranks. It comes from the NCOs in the line companies. A unit with good NCOs will be proficient in small unit tactics. A unit with lazy NCOs won't be. You dont need a budget to take your Joes to the woodline to practice maneuver. You dont need a budget to practice CQB in the barracks.

I have a good friend in Afghanistan right now doing work. I guarantee you he would put his squad up against any squad on the planet. Why? Because I know him and I know his men are well trained because of who he is.

[Moose-Knuckle]

The late Col. David Hackworth drew similar conclusions in varies published articles.

[Wake27]

I have some friends that are still in the Army and still putting metal to meat. These are guys I knew as brand new cherry Privates that came to my unit who are know Squad Leaders and Platoon Sergeants. Ive talked to them about this shit I hear and read and there definitely is some truth to it. There is way too many mandatory power point bullshit trainings. However, like always, they know that real training doesn't come from upper ranks. It comes from the NCOs in the line companies. A unit with good NCOs will be proficient in small unit tactics. A unit with lazy NCOs won't be. You dont need a budget to take your Joes to the woodline to practice maneuver. You dont need a budget to practice CQB in the barracks.

Completely agreed. There is another element here too, war (especially in a foreign country) is much more than just squad level OPS. I'm sure there are countries with units and teams just as proficient, and maybe even more so as us on the conventional side. But, I'm willing to bet that there is no other country out there that can do some of the higher echelon and bigger picture stuff like us, even with our many downfalls. The biggest issues that we face are all political, IMO.