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Stryker Continue to Train Iraqi Counterparts

Feb-15-2010 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT , 4/2 SBCT

The News Tribune team is home, but they continue to publish new articles from their time in Iraq.

In dozens of interviews with soldiers of myriad rank and responsibility, American troops appear to view the Iraqi army as increasingly capable of doing independent operations. But the Iraqis are held back by several problems: a laissez-faire work ethic, fluid scheduling, inconsistency of skill level among units and, on a larger scale, the inability to train and supply themselves.

The 2009 security agreement between Washington, D.C., and Baghdad stipulates that all missions must include Iraqi security forces. American service members must remain outside cities and towns unless explicitly allowed in by the Iraqis.

Soldiers who have made repeated deployments to Iraq say their counterparts’ improvements in recent years have been vast – despite differing views about whether the Iraqi army could secure its country without U.S. support.


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