Comedy? Or Tragedy?

The MFT concept is flawed. Tremendously.

This isn't just me speaking, although I wish Thin Mints were back from Rest and Relaxation to comment in more depth with me, barring his unseen return in the midst of my rant however, I will be the only one highlighting the failures of the MFT.

So as my last post mentioned, we've been "in country" for half of our foreseen deployment. And in that time we've accomplished fairly little. This could be indicative of some Team 3 flaw, but considering my embedded position on the team, I'm inclined to disagree.

First and foremost, the individuals within this team have outshone their counterparts in all training events prior to deployment. That of course holds weight only back in Texas, but it's worth mentioning. Secondly, the level of camaraderie and "brotherhood" within Team 3 is phenomenal. We (before the antics of our company) were the only team (of 5) to regularly participate in social activities with one another. We also rose as a singular force against anyone threatening our dynamic, such as our now deposed leader, SFC Boston. He was filling the position which is currently held by Goblin King, but for reasons not worth mentioning the members of Team 3 gleefully told every ounce of truth regarding his detrimental leadership style. Long story short; we work amazingly together. Or we did anyway. With membership changes and betrayals of one kind or another, our work environment has changed for the worse. It isn't so bad that nothing is done, but there are definite hostilities between varying members of Team 3. Some of them impede instructions being completed, some of them enhance it.

In summation, the membership and interaction within of Team 3 cannot be a cause of the MFT breakdown. Another possibility is that location, as the saying goes, is everything. This I have to agree on and here's why.

In Joint Base Balad, the first month or so of our time in Iraq, we accomplished zero. Zero anything. I'm not even sure why we were in Balad, except because no one knew where else to put us at the time. It turns out that our sister unit had taken the moniker "MFT 3" and placed one of their own teams within it, thereby stealing a location in Somewhere from our company. This in part explains why before and even during deployment our team has had little clue as to where we were going, and if we would stay. With no need for us to stay in Balad, our unit found a post with no MFT on it in Kalsu, and so we went.

Once in Kalsu we realized that there was no purpose for us. The local units did not exit the base except to clear the local routes, and to repair broken walls on nearby outposts. Not really a mission we needed to get involved in, so the majority of our time spent "outside the wire" was on convoys to repair item A or pick up item B. A mission, to be sure, but not our mission. Not what we were sent to do.

It didn't help that the units we'd been saddled with had every element of the MFT (Signal Intelligence, and both Human Intelligence sides) but scattered around. We were for them a greatest hits CD. If they wanted all the songs on a single album, they could find it somewhere else. But we contained the best aspects, great for a road trip.

Sadly, that didn't work out. So we left and headed to Mosul, the only city in Iraq known to have constant resistance from insurgents. So bad, we were told, was the need for us that we'd be camping next to an existing MFT. They would claim the East side of the city, and we the West. Between the two, the West was much more active. We were excited.

In the (relatively) little time we've been in West Mosul, we have attempted to do our actual jobs. 68 and Jibba Jabba went off and did their SIGINT portion, Blue, Thin Mints, Sausage Fingers, Mr. Pringles, and The Scream have worked on TQ/TI portions, and I've managed to reaffirm that a CI Agent holds no purpose on an MFT. Skitzo and Goblin King of course have been in charge of us, as is their positions. Traitor however, is another story.

For reasons not worth getting into, she's alienated herself and started working for the security office which we work within. Her purpose might have been to befriend those in the office so that she might have at least one person to speak to on favorable terms, who knows. Regardless, she's been coming up with plans and schedules and ideas which further the goal of making herself look better at the expense of everyone else. This is done in two ways; first, by showing the security office members her "brilliant" ideas, and selling them on it so that when it's shot down by Team 3 we are made to look like arrogant fools. Second, those plans which succeed end up with us being forced to do more BS work. Nothing she's produced has made a positive effect on our team, which should say something considering we're the ones being forced to complete these dismal tasks.

That being said, Mosul has provided us the opportunity to complete our jobs. As individuals. Not as a team though, which is the purpose of an MFT.

This is mostly in part due to the attitudes and decisions of our maneuver elements, such as "Widow Maker" had been, and the mortar platoon is now ("Lightning"). "Widow Maker", to my glee and their woe, was removed from working with us in the regard of Time Sensitive Targeting (i.e., on call). I was ecstatic about this because their vehicles made my legs feel they were breaking during every mission. They were dismayed at the change because this is what they were intended to do. Their bosses decided that they were more valuable escorting the Army bomb squad around though, so they are doing that.

"Lightning" is defunct because over half of their members have been re-assigned to some other duty, and when escorting us around on missions they didn't have the sheer numbers to make a dent should they take fire. Because of this, we have started to be sectioned off and handed out to various organizations. Our SIGINT elements (to include myself now that I've gone to a class in Baghdad) will go, one at a time, with the "Viper" group out on missions. We might take a Human Intelligence Collector and an Interpreter with us, if we have the room. Essentially we are now part-timers in a full time slot. We have to show up and do analytical work so that we can propose target acquisitions to the unit here. They in turn, point out that we've been provided (by them) inadequate elements to accomplish these tasks, so the fruits of our labor are handed out to whomever is nearby. They, when it pleases them, allow one or two or three of us to join them on a mission. But we aren't even close to running that show. Instead we take orders from whoever is in charge at the time, and work to augment their aspects. In this, the MFT has failed.

Even when we had been working with "Widow Maker" we had failed to a large degree. A major portion of our ability comes in being able to call out what needs to be done and having those around us listen. No unit thus far has given us time of day when it looks like we'll be making demands. Especially when those demands are of direct relevance to our jobs and capabilities which the maneuver element knows nothing of. For instance, if someone is coming to fix my plumbing, I don't tell them that they can start in the closet and let me know how it's coming. This was an issue with both escorts we've had, and one that requires duration of training and familiarization to get past. This had never been given to us, but even so we at least should be able to adapt and overcome. We weren't. Not by any fault of our own, but because we were never really wanted, not as a whole anyway.

Most elements want only our Signal Intelligence aspects. They don't need Human Intelligence Collectors (each post has a detainee holding area with Human Intelligence Collectors in it) and they certainly don't want a CI Agent. Signal Intelligence aspects are rare though, so they're in high demand. The unit here made movements to acquire only Signal Intel (SIGINT), and failed, so they accepted the entire MFT. But they don't even heed the instructions we give them to help out. Instead they attempt to complete our tasks with their training. Frustrating doesn't begin to define it.

This has become more of a rant than I intended, but I think I laid out some useful points. The MFT is a failure and needs to be re-thought. We as an army need to understand this and change the process. In the hills of Afghanistan an MFT might not be a bad idea, except for the limited use of SIGINT in an undeveloped area, but that is neither here not there. In Iraq, where there are and were many conglomerates of intelligence, a further mish-mash of them is useless. Divvy us up and let us work piecemeal or send us home. Without a regimented training schedule (or lacking that, a top leader [Skitzo in this case] with knowledge, confidence, and a refusal to back down) the MFT and it's on ground support unit (i.e. "Lightning") can never mesh well enough to be proficient. A basic level of understanding can be sufficient to accomplish a given objective, but a stronger foundation of trust and cooperation is needed. Last, location truly is everything. You cannot put a team whose basic need is for targets, in an area with zero targeting. I understand this. A child could understand this. Hopefully I've explained enough so that anyone reading this can understand also.

I'm not bitter or angry about being on an MFT, and especially not Team 3. I am jaded at how we've been treated, both from our command and outside of it. To say it isn't fair is childish. But we have been pushed hundreds of miles around Iraq due to poor planning on someone's end. We've been traded off between varying elements to see who can stomach using us. We've been ignored and undermined by many, to include some on our own team (Traitor). Our interests and opinions have never been opined because we were never looked at as having a say. And we are only halfway done with this satire.

It just isn't fair.