Holy cow! Sailors bein' used to supplement American ground troops, eh? Methinks it actually sounds like somethin' that belongs in the "U.S. Military Issues" forum, but we'll put it here anyways and see what happens. Read it and see if there's anything y'all wanna discuss here, eh?

As part of military's ground force, Navy firms up support services

By LOUIS HANSEN, The Virginian-Pilot
October 22, 2006

VIRGINIA BEACH - The military calls them "IAs," shorthand for individual augmentees.

They're the 46,000 men and women who have been picked from Navy units to serve, often facing danger, with soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Once considered a short-term program, the Navy and defense experts acknowledge these sailors are now a permanent part of today's ground force.

The Navy this month created the Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center at Little Creek to track and assist those sailors uprooted from their ships and shore commands. About 150 people are assigned to the center and at bases in battle zones.

At any given time, about 8,500 Navy personnel are deployed for fill-in roles in the two wars. Their jobs include logistical support, civil affairs and military police. Deployments have grown, and now typically last 12 months.

The readiness center aims to ease the stresses on sailors, many stationed in combat areas without their shipmates to rely on.

"They don't have embedded unit support with them," said Capt. Jeffrey

McKenzie, the center's commander. "They're a unit of one."

Sailors at forward bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and other stations can meet with staff advisers. They will help sailors manage their career and advancement exams, and smooth out payroll problems and health-care issues, he added.

McKenzie said he begins every morning by answering e-mails from sailors in Baghdad who need help.

McKenzie said his new command can also help families - something as simple as contacting a sailor at a forward base. Augmentee families have a disadvantage: They lack the ready community support as when a 300-crew warship deploys for six months.

The Navy handles an average 1,000 IAs each month, he said. The new command can handle twice that number.

Early in the Iraq war, sailors sometimes received bare-bones combat training and makeshift equipment, McKenzie said. Combat skills training has since been bolstered and standardized at Fort Jackson, S.C.

Dan Goure, a senior researcher with the Lexington Institute, said the Navy should expect to fill its support role for a long time.

Army and Marine units have been overstretched, deploying three and four times since the Iraq war began.

The IAs will continue being used more widely, he said, because the military became smaller after the Cold War and conflicts have become longer, straining manpower.

"The global war on terrorism has shown us we can't do our business the old-fashioned way," said Goure, who studies military personnel issues for the Northern Virginia-based think tank.

The military needs active-duty and reserve troops from all branches to boost Army and Marine Corps missions, he said. "These are the new realities."

Capt. Ed Burdick, a personnel and manpower administrator for surface fleet headquarters in Norfolk, said the combat experience often creates better, battle-tested sailors for the Navy.

The migration of sailors to ground-combat roles have not diminished the fleet's readiness, he said, because less than 3 percent of any ship's crew has been selected for ground duty.

Sailors usually volunteer, although some are ordered.

Cmdr. Jim Lowther, a supply and financial officer for the surface fleet, requested a six-month tour in Iraq in 2005. He said he wanted to directly contribute to the war and gain experience.

He spent a week training at Fort Bliss, Texas, then joined a command in Iraq. "It was pretty quick," Lowther said.

Among other duties, he managed contracts for military and civilian construction in Iraq.

The deployment "makes you appreciate what you have here," he said during an interview at Norfolk Naval Station.

Capt. Robert Irelan left a staff job with the surface fleet for Baghdad, where he served as a liaison between the U.S. military and the Iraqi Navy. It was one of the most rewarding duties of his 22-year career, he said.

Irelan said a combat deployment can be much easier and safer aboard a warship patrolling the Persian Gulf.

But, he said, "it's not really my idea of war."

# Reach Louis Hansen at (757) 446-2322 or louis.hansen@pilotonline.com.

I was wondering why when some names/faces were shown on TV this past month of ground forces it had Navy by their name. It certainly redefines what I considered service in he Navy.

Flydangler, what does this mean to have Navy sailors function as ground troops? Have you ever head of such a thing? How does a sailor function without the support of a team or squad of fellow sailors? A team of one? What in the H3LL is going on here?

'Tis somethin' they've always done, more so in the past than now. Back when the U. S. Navy was established, and before that in the Royal Navy they made up the bulk of landin' parties, eh? In the past century our Marine Corps has grown enough to the point they're now the tip of the spear and completely in charge once on the beach. Just the same there's always sailors takin' part too. You betcha! Durin' my 30 years in the Navy a little over 20 of them years was spent in Marine Corps units.

Ever heard of Sea Bees, EOD, Shore Party, Cargo Handling and Port Groups, Medical Battalions, Battalion and Regimental Aid Stations, riverine forces, SEALS, and the like? Some or all of these're normally included in every Marine Expeditionary Unit afloat or deployed.

Then there're specific Navy enlisted ratings that also routinely serve in Marine units like Hospital Corpsmen, Dental Technicians, Religious Program Specialists, and occasionally others when servin' with Provost Marshall and Armed Forces Police units, eh? Of the Navy's commisioned officers members of the Medical Corps, Medical Service Corps, Nurse Corps, Dental Corps and Chaplain's Corps, as well as aviators and flight officers actin' as forward observers serve with Marine units.

There're also situations, like a combat aircrewman from a Navy search and resue unit that works individually on the ground lookin' for downed air crew and such. In addition sailors sometimes do the same with other service SAR units, like I did in 1972 with the Jolly Greens of the USAF 377th ARRS outa DaNang. Kinda just like the article says methinks. In this case they're a member of a unit from another service, normally Marine or Army.

In reality methinks 'tis just an expansion of what's always been.

Thank you, Flydangler for explaining this condition and for your insight.