‘On the job training’

We learned this week that two Army combat brigades, which were supposed to have been trained for the war in Iraq at the Army’s premier training range in California, don’t have time anymore. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., had been “outfitted to simulate conditions in Iraq for units that are heading there on yearlong tours,” but Bush’s escalation policy demands quicker deployments.

As a result, one brigade from Washington state and another from Georgia — neither of which is similar to Iraq in any way — will be deployed sooner than expected and without the benefit of training in the heat and sand.

“The preferred method is to have them come here,” a spokesman at the National Training Center, said in a telephone interview Monday. The main things that cannot be replicated in a home station exercise are the vast spaces of the National Training Center, which is located in the Mojave Desert, and the weather and other environmental conditions that so closely resemble much of Iraq, said John Wagstaffe.
“Your weapon won’t jam from sand at Fort Stewart,” he said.

[Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)] said she does not doubt the ability of soldiers to adapt. “However, I am deeply troubled by the president’s escalation plan and am committed to questioning the new demands it places on service members.”