Editorial: ‘Surge’ leaves training behind

Thursday, March 1, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

Immediately after President Bush announced in early January that he was ordering five brigades to Baghdad as part of a surge in U.S. forces in response to Iraq's civil war, a brigade from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division was on its way.

The brigade did not engage in a final exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in Southern California, as is customary for Iraq-bound units. But this was understandable, as this brigade's mission is to respond to orders on short notice.

The next two brigades ordered to Baghdad, however, spent their final predeployment weeks at the National Training Center. This is an 1,100-square-mile area that, since 2004, has been primarily dedicated to training troops destined for Iraq.

But the Army, feeling the pressure to respond quickly to Bush's order, has decided to bypass the Fort Irwin training for the final two brigades.

We believe this decision is a serious mistake. The training center, located in the Mojave Desert, gives the troops a chance to acclimate to the weather and topography of Iraq. It allows them to understand how their weapons and vehicles will perform in sandstorms and roadless terrain.

The training center has 12 mock Iraqi towns set up and more than 2,000 U.S. soldiers, and Iraqi-American actors are there to play the roles of average citizens and insurgents. The training is based on realistic scenarios drawn from the Army's four years of experience in Iraq. Everything from fighting techniques to cultural sensitivity is taught.

Sending troops to Iraq straight from their home bases and expecting them to instantly adapt there - is that part of "The New Way Forward" that Bush proclaimed in January in announcing his surge? It sounds to us like a new way toward more failures.