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bobdina
09-03-2009, 12:50 PM
Afghan Swap: More Grunts, Fewer Clerks
September 02, 2009
Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Afghan Swap: More Grunts, Fewer Clerks

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials are planning to add as many as 14,000 combat troops to the American force in Afghanistan by sending home support staff and under-utilized Soldiers and replacing them with infantry units, Defense officials said.

The plan represents a key step in a drive to beef up U.S.-led forces as the Obama administration presses to counter Taliban gains and demonstrate progress amid crumbling public support for the war effort.

Forces that could be swapped out include units assigned to non-combat duty, such as guards or look-outs, or those on clerical and support squads.

"It makes sense to get rid of the clerks and replace them with trigger-pullers," said one Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been announced.

The changes will not offset the potential need for additional troops in the future, but could reduce the size of any request from Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and allied commander, officials said.

The plan reflects the view that after eight years of war, much of the military bureaucracy that has built up no longer serves a useful purpose. Services performed by Soldiers that are no longer considered crucial could be outsourced to contractors or eliminated, officials said.

However, the change is likely to increase the number of private contractors in the war zone, a source of controversy in Iraq and a growing issue in Afghanistan.

The move comes as McChrystal this week submitted a broad assessment of the Afghan war effort, calling the situation there "serious." Details of the assessment remain secret, but officials said it did not contain a request for more troops. Such a request could be submitted in coming weeks.

The planned changes in the U.S. troop mix are part of what military officials call a "force optimization" review, a critical mid-step between the assessment and a request for additional troops, designed to ensure the existing force is operating as efficiently as possible.

Defense officials said they did not know how many positions and jobs might be eliminated until the review was completed. But two officials estimated the total could be between 6,000 and 14,000 troops.

The review will scour the U.S. roster for situations where several people perform the same job or for service members who are considered less then fully utilized - working just a six-hour shift, for example.

Some people "are doing jobs that are just not essential to the fight," said a Defense official.

Army Col. Wayne M. Shanks, a spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan said that some people may no longer be needed and can be "streamlined."

"We have asked all commands to take a hard look to reduce redundancy, eliminate any excess and generally look for efficiencies in all our structures," Shanks said.

Shanks declined to outline any specific groups of Soldiers or Marines that were no longer needed, but said the command would not "compromise the welfare of the troops."

Raising the overall number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has been contentious. President Barack Obama has ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to bring the U.S. force to about 68,000. There also are about 38,000 non-U.S. NATO troops in the country.

Top Obama administration officials have sent mixed signals about whether they would approve more troops.

Complicating the decision to approve more troops is declining public support for the Afghanistan war. According to a new CNN poll, 57 percent of Americans oppose the war, up from 46 percent at the end of last year.

But advisers to the military command believe McChrystal needs a larger force to carry out his counterinsurgency strategy - potentially as many as 20,000 additional Soldiers. Culling unneeded units would allow McChrystal to increase U.S. combat power without running afoul of political sensitivities at home.

The Defense official said the effort was not designed by McChrystal primarily to reduce the size of any potential troop increases, but to ensure that everyone being sent was in a "mission critical" job.

"If he is asking for more, he certainly wants to ensure we are maximizing the use of everyone that is here now," said the official.

Most of the dozens of combat outposts and outlying bases in Afghanistan have Soldiers or Marines assigned to gates or guard towers. But the Pentagon official said those troops could be moved into more valuable duty.

"They just stare out from the tower. So let's bring in contractors," the Pentagon official said. "Now you can have a thousand more troops in the field," the official said.

Any needed job left vacant could be filled by hiring local Afghans or using military contractors, officials said.

Critics have charged that the military has relied too heavily on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, handing over too many critical responsibilities to outsiders.

A Congressional Research Service report completed last month found there were more contractors than military personnel serving in Afghanistan. The report was based on figures gathered in March, before additional troops ordered by Obama began arriving.

Although a majority of outside hires are local Afghans, the CRS reported that the percentage of contractors in Afghanistan was the highest recorded by the Defense Department in U.S. history.

Contractors serving in some capacities, notably security guards working in Iraq, have been accused of excessive violence and wrongdoing.

In Afghanistan, a government watchdog group said Tuesday that many of the 450 private guards employed by a subsidiary of U.S.-based Wackenhut Services Inc. have engaged in lewd and drunken behavior in a "Lord of the Flies" environment. The workers guard the U.S. Embassy in Kabul under a $189 million contract.

State Department officials said they are investigating.

Army officials said the way to solve the problem of underutilized Soldiers is to reassign them to relevant jobs. In Iraq for example, many cooks have been retrained to serve as security guards for commanders.

"You can always find a job for someone who is underemployed," the Army officer said.