Has anyone had the opportunity to observe or participate in military training of other countries? If so, how does it compare to the U.S. ?

2019-05-25T10:41:19-04:00

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2019 11:02 AM

2019-05-25T11:02:54-04:00

I've worked with Germans, Hondurans, Canadians, British and Australians. In some areas, they were better, in other areas we were better. But in the end, we all got the mission done.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2019 11:16 AM

2019-05-25T11:16:17-04:00

I’ve done German, French (SOF), Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Canadian, and ANA. To say which one is better than the other depends on the standards used. If I were going to go by the American standard, I would say we are better. But other countries require different standards from their militaries so using our standards as a guide really might not be fair. I will say the most memorable experience was the Kuwaiti field exercise where I watched them execute an American gunnery table for their tanks. It took a whole day to get three tanks through. And in the tower, the officers had a massive buffet of food and drink and just chilled out eating and drinking the whole day. They would pause to approve over the radio when a tank crew requested permission to proceed, but overall, they just had a grand old time. Then after the three tanks were through, they drove us out into the desert where the General was hanging out in a huge tent with another buffet. Then we proceeded to eat and drink into the late evening. Definitely an interesting way to conduct gunnery.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made May 25 at 2019 12:02 PM

2019-05-25T12:02:38-04:00

Many countries. The significant variable is the type and quantity of Pixie Dust utilized. Training is supposed to identify the gaps, but if the gap costs resources to close, another dash of Pixie Dust is applied so everyone can hit the kegger on time. One thing though. We have a fairly strong aversion to not being in charge, especially when the host country is a couple of generations or so behind in gear and tactics. It's easy to gripe about this stuff, but the better way is to get the gap data and have the school houses take a look vs. keeping everyone milling around while inadequate brass does the cluster grab.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2019 1:26 PM

2019-05-25T13:26:25-04:00

I've done Operation Co ra Gold in Thailand twice. We jumped, did STX lanes, and live fires both with and without them. It was fun to drop all the technological bullshit that Uncle Sam wants us to carry and just do battle drills the way God intended. It was also fun to slow down the tempo and have a few beers and hang out with our Thai counter parts.
Fun fact- if you are a SSG (Army) the Thai privates prov aly wont talk to you because their Master Sergeant looks like our SSG. Their Master Sergeants beat the brakes off anyone that pisses them off.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made May 25 at 2019 2:17 PM

2019-05-25T14:17:19-04:00

NATO. Which looks a lot like what we do. All the countries have their own personality that they bring into it. NATO exercises almost always go 12 hours a day or so, except for the night before end ex and the last day of the exercise. They usually plug the night before so the visiting troops can go out and knock some back, perhaps see the local area they're in. The last day is almost always distinguished visitor day where senior officer says from parent HQs not "in the exercise" can come and see the troops, and all systems and processes are up and rolling. They usually have to drag the exercise out a little. ENDEX is always set in stone so that Nation should can pack up and be ready to leave on the evening flights or early the next morning so that they can stop the TDY pay. I served with personnel from the twenty eight NATO nations including Germany, Poland, Canada, UK, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and Austria. My office mates were Poles, Germans, French, and Dutch. All great guys who I miss.

Loved training with the Brits. They ALWAYS established a Field "Mess" (Bar) for Officers, NCOs, and Enlisted personnel. They put tons of work into every aspect of the exercise so they are not ever embarrassed. Their command post exercises are the most intricate and have incredible depth in political plot lines as it is an active dimension of the exercise for them and the Combined Joint Task Force Commander to wade through along with the POLAD, either a diplomat or retired hand picked diplomat.

The French have an interesting locale to train in (like 17th century forts). Exercise is vanilla.

The Germans look a lot like we do, emphasis is on the plan and planning. As legend has it, the German Military did a hard look at themseleves following WWII. They deduced that their previous war efforts went sideways when they split from their plans for dubious reasons. This did a couple things. Of which it put their Chief of Staff positions in formations in a relative position of power rivaling that of the commander.

I served in combat with a Polish Airborne Task Force. They were interesting. Their take on IED Route Clearance was novel. They clear A Route, not THE Route....through farm fields, people's yards, the MSR, off the MSR. They got it done and we were thankful. They don't have UCMJ as we know it and everything they do is second guessed by civilian prosecutors. Two Poles were tried and convicted for basically manslaughter due to some targeting mistakes inatroops in contact situation. Seemed like BS to me, but I got a slice of the story. The Commanders authority is limited, which seems unfair to me.

I served in ISAF HQ with NATO and a total of forty nine nation coalition. I worked with Irish NCOs in current operations. They were highly professional and very proficient. Not to mention down right personable and hilarious with dry wit and well tuned humor. One of the Irish NCOs and Irolled a single vehicle mission to Kabul International Airport and Currency Evacuation Point to go pick up our boss...NATO makesyou fly commercial on TDY. We had a half hour cultural exchange at the beginning where he should be everything about his issued rifle and my side arm and Carbine in case it all went bad.

My NATO HQ unit deployed as a unit to ISAF, so we had an elaborate network of guys across all the staff areas. If you needed something, you knew who would respond and you could get it done. It almost transcended nationality.

Response by MSG Danny Mathers made May 26 at 2019 2:06 PM

2019-05-26T14:06:12-04:00

I have trained with the best with the exception of a few. Overall no one is better than Big Army when it comes training, quality of leadership and opportunities. The Europeans have a class system in their armies which even SNCOs are not allowed to socialize with officers. I encounter this with the SAS, ASAS & NZSAS. The German were the exception. I went through one NATO, HAHO School ran by the German. I earned their jump wings and earned. It was cold as hell in the middle of July above 18,000 feet. Highest was 29,500 AGL.