Military Transition Team training shifts to Riley

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By Michelle Tan
Times staff writer

The Army continues to refine the way it deploys the elite teams being sent to Iraq to embed with and train that country’s fledgling military and security forces.

Beginning in May, soldiers selected for the 10- to 15-member Military Transition Teams will train at Fort Riley, Kan., instead of Fort Hood, Texas. They will receive permanent change of station orders to Fort Riley instead of the current temporary change of station orders that pull noncommissioned officers and officers from their units for a year without replacing them, said Lt. Col. Martin Perryman of the Army G-3’s war plans staff.

The change gives soldiers more predictability and provides combatant commanders with a more consistent, dependable product, Perryman said.

Perryman was one of five Army officers who participated Wednesday in a media roundtable to discuss the progress and inner workings of these teams.

There are more than 200 teams in Iraq and about 75 in Afghanistan, said Lt. Col. Reginald Allen of the G-3 future operations section.

In Iraq, MiTT soldiers — ranging from staff sergeants to colonels — total about 2,000, and officials expect that number to increase, Allen said.

It’s difficult to accurately say how many MiTT soldiers will eventually serve in Iraq, but 5,000 is a fair estimate, Perryman said.

“It’s a multiyear-type commitment,” he said.

Other changes noted during the 75-minute roundtable include:

•Extending training in the United States for MiTT soldiers from 45 days to 60. These soldiers also receive about 10 days of training in Kuwait, 10 in Taji, Iraq, and 14 with the MiTT soldiers they’ll be replacing before joining their Iraqi counterparts.

• Attaching soldiers who PCS to Fort Riley to 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, which then will be responsible for receiving, organizing, equipping, training and recovering all MiTT soldiers. Currently, MiTT soldiers are deployed from their home units.

The job of MiTT soldiers is tough, but there are dividends, said Col. Jim Glenn, who served on a transition team in 2004.

“Everything we do is to help them get established,” he said.