Chuckman
Senior Member
Yesterday a friend came to visit and shoot the poo. He is with a 3rd Group ODA. He was in Niger last summer during the coup. This cross-threads into the recruitment/retention threads.
They were training a Nigerian unit. His ODA are trained in French and Arabic. No one in the Niger unit spoke either, and they all spoke one of four dialects of the local tribe. So their terp had to interpret everything, four times, in four different dialects. He said his ODA leadership had gone to company and batt regarding the uselessness of the languages, yet they are all having to go through a refresher for both languages prior to redeployment to Africa this fall. They were denied the extra time to train in other things they actually do over having to train in languages they already know. Furthermore, they could train and advise, but not accompany on missions. When the unit would get into trouble, they would react as a QRF and have to be there anyway. He said the Niger unit were begging them to accompany, they were told to not, but could send a drone to "watch."
The coup. They were remote, woke up and kitted up to do an op, the unit's Fox (intel guy) said to stand down, there was a coup going on. Half the military followed the old guy, half the new guy. They didn't know who their unit followed, and said guys were just walking out of the military: changing clothes and leaving.
They finally got orders to evac AMCITs, and "were going all over Niger looking for these people, most of whom never checked in with the embassy." The pro-coup forces were killing all known French (had stormed and burned the French embassy), and fairly indiscriminately killing white people. They were told to go low profile, and according to the RSO, that meant wearing civvies, but kitted up, all weapons stored in the back of their up-armored Land Cruisers, which weren't tinted. He said they would ride through riots in the streets, people would see white people, not know they weren't French, and start shooting the vehicles.
Got orders to evac the US embassy. The embassy would not allow them on embassy grounds, said that DS would "use diplomacy to talk their way out of violence." DS made them park in the street, where hostile crowds were encroaching, throwing things at them. Embassy staff had to walk through opened gates to get to the vehicles. Then, one of the under-ambassadors decided he was in charge and started giving the ODA team leader orders. He and the team leader "had it out", team leader told him he could "get his bag and walk the **** to the airport on his own," and ordered the convoy to drive away. They got about 30 feet when the guy flagged them down and told the team leader he would follow his orders.
He said the Marines MSG were good to deal with, they had responsibility for securing the ambo and the SCIF and sensitive/TSS stuff and did a good job.
After evac, they were told to hold tight as a QRF/CRF until there was a plan, but sat around a secured compound and did nothing until they were ordered to leave.
He said there is a ton of work to be had in Africa, but even in the countries that want us there, our military/administration is risk-averse so unwilling to let them do what they need to do. He said it is 180 degrees than from before Biden (admin), even Obama's admin let them work like they needed to work. Morale in SF is low, having reverted to a 'peacetime' mindset with a lot of leaders. They are also working harder: because of the lack of recruitment/retention, they have fewer people in the SF Q course and pipeline, so fewer people on an ODA (supposed to be 12). His is the only ODA in his company with two medics, all others have just 1, and a lot of medics are getting out because they are overworked. He said 2/3 of their training budget got pulled into the Ukraine aid package, so a lot of schools and training ops have been canceled or denied.
He has 12 years in, will do one more deployment and make a decision to get out altogether, or go to a SMU.
They were training a Nigerian unit. His ODA are trained in French and Arabic. No one in the Niger unit spoke either, and they all spoke one of four dialects of the local tribe. So their terp had to interpret everything, four times, in four different dialects. He said his ODA leadership had gone to company and batt regarding the uselessness of the languages, yet they are all having to go through a refresher for both languages prior to redeployment to Africa this fall. They were denied the extra time to train in other things they actually do over having to train in languages they already know. Furthermore, they could train and advise, but not accompany on missions. When the unit would get into trouble, they would react as a QRF and have to be there anyway. He said the Niger unit were begging them to accompany, they were told to not, but could send a drone to "watch."
The coup. They were remote, woke up and kitted up to do an op, the unit's Fox (intel guy) said to stand down, there was a coup going on. Half the military followed the old guy, half the new guy. They didn't know who their unit followed, and said guys were just walking out of the military: changing clothes and leaving.
They finally got orders to evac AMCITs, and "were going all over Niger looking for these people, most of whom never checked in with the embassy." The pro-coup forces were killing all known French (had stormed and burned the French embassy), and fairly indiscriminately killing white people. They were told to go low profile, and according to the RSO, that meant wearing civvies, but kitted up, all weapons stored in the back of their up-armored Land Cruisers, which weren't tinted. He said they would ride through riots in the streets, people would see white people, not know they weren't French, and start shooting the vehicles.
Got orders to evac the US embassy. The embassy would not allow them on embassy grounds, said that DS would "use diplomacy to talk their way out of violence." DS made them park in the street, where hostile crowds were encroaching, throwing things at them. Embassy staff had to walk through opened gates to get to the vehicles. Then, one of the under-ambassadors decided he was in charge and started giving the ODA team leader orders. He and the team leader "had it out", team leader told him he could "get his bag and walk the **** to the airport on his own," and ordered the convoy to drive away. They got about 30 feet when the guy flagged them down and told the team leader he would follow his orders.
He said the Marines MSG were good to deal with, they had responsibility for securing the ambo and the SCIF and sensitive/TSS stuff and did a good job.
After evac, they were told to hold tight as a QRF/CRF until there was a plan, but sat around a secured compound and did nothing until they were ordered to leave.
He said there is a ton of work to be had in Africa, but even in the countries that want us there, our military/administration is risk-averse so unwilling to let them do what they need to do. He said it is 180 degrees than from before Biden (admin), even Obama's admin let them work like they needed to work. Morale in SF is low, having reverted to a 'peacetime' mindset with a lot of leaders. They are also working harder: because of the lack of recruitment/retention, they have fewer people in the SF Q course and pipeline, so fewer people on an ODA (supposed to be 12). His is the only ODA in his company with two medics, all others have just 1, and a lot of medics are getting out because they are overworked. He said 2/3 of their training budget got pulled into the Ukraine aid package, so a lot of schools and training ops have been canceled or denied.
He has 12 years in, will do one more deployment and make a decision to get out altogether, or go to a SMU.
