McNair Paper Number 44, Chapter 7, October 1995

Foreign military training is designed to improve the professional qualities and performance of international students who, in turn, often become instructors within their parent organizations. There usually are language difficulties and a considerable disparity in professional experience among U.S. and foreign students at the commencement of a course. By graduation, however, these gaps either have been bridged or ways to work around language, doctrinal, or other differences have emerged. This experience, not unlike solving practical problems in a foreign area of operation, has reinforced the ability of the U.S. armed forces to engage successfully in multilateral operations with participants from other countries. Several other benefits come to the fore.

Sharing U.S. Professional Education and Standards

The agreement to provide IMET-funded training to a foreign country stipulates that graduates be utilized in the national military education and training system for at least two years upon return home (three for highly technical training). This helps the United States to justify the expense of the grant program by ensuring that the learning experience is passed on quickly to others. By and large, parent military institutions honor this arrangement, with most officers being assigned as instructors upon their return or shortly thereafter. Graduates often return again several years later to positions of prominence and influence in their national military education and training system. In the Portuguese Armed Forces in 1994, for example, former recipients of IMET-funded education held the top positions at the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, the Institute of Advanced Military Studies, and the NATO Defense College. At the same time in Lebanon, graduates of U.S. military schools commanded the Military Academy, the Command and Staff College, the Army's Training Institution, and the Air Force School. Officers in such important positions frequently have attended two or three service programs in the United States.

Military school systems worldwide tend to be conservative and tradition bound, often unwilling to move quickly to adopt new ideas unless under pressure to do so. Change takes place slowly, but over 80 percent of the responses to INSS's research survey indicate that at some point in their careers graduate-officers have been instrumental in the professional development of their armed forces along U.S. operational, tactical, and management lines. Many respondents mentioned the Persian Gulf War as proof of U.S. influence. "One reason we had so much cooperation from our Middle Eastern counterparts," wrote one IMSO chief, "was because most of the high ranking [officers] had attended military training in the U.S. and understood how to work with us."(Note 40) Many former students personally played key roles in the coalition the United States formed while others were instrumental in developing and training the forces which ultimately operated together under the U.N. flag.

The study team found other examples of former foreign students in the United States influencing military thinking within their services. A case in point involves three Argentine graduates of the U.S. Navy's Command Course who prepared their country's naval strategy based on their study of the U.S. Navy's counterpart document, . . . From the Sea. In Greece, a recent graduate of the U.S. Army War College returned to head the Tactics Department at the Greek War College. While in the position, he was instrumental in reorienting tactics instruction along U.S.-NATO lines. The improved curriculum for the Costa Rican National Police Academy was developed by several graduates of U.S. military schools. On an operational level, the U.S. Coast Guard has had considerable success in using IMET programs to assist counterparts in the Caribbean Basin, Estonia, and across the Pacific to establish and realize Western standards for cooperative law enforcement at sea. At the national level too, in countries such as Portugal, Greece and Turkey, students funded by IMET have risen to positions of influence in their Services, and often the ministry of defense, and refashioned organizations, doctrine, management systems, and, on occasion, decision making processes after the U.S. defense model.(Note 42) There have been numerous other instances of foreign military schools modifying their curricula (including instruction on human rights and rules of engagement), adopting course materials, and adapting teaching techniques based on contacts with DOD institutions.

Often junior officers and those who have attended multiple schools in the United States are profoundly influenced by issues of professional proficiency and personal values. One instance was found in a daily situation report from a multinational training exercise organized by U.S. Southern Command in November 1994:

Among the outstanding exercise participants is Captain R. from El Salvador. Captain R. is only 35 years old, yet his career includes fifteen years experience . . . Captain R. has attended the U.S. Army Infantry Officer Basic and Infantry Officer Advance Courses as well as short courses in Washington, DC, sponsored by [the] Department of State. The questions and points [he] brought to the exercise,[which stressed rules of engagement and respect for human rights] . . . are indicative of a clear understanding of the problems associated with peace operations. Captain R. has been recognized as a leader in the [Task Force] staff . . . [He] is a success story in the making and represents everything the IMET program is intended to do.(Note 43)

Most respondents to INSS's survey who are assigned overseas mentioned the striking difference between former international student officers and contemporaries who remained home. In Bolivia, for example, the U.S. mission rates the units commanded by graduates of the School of the Americas as the best trained in the country: "These units think and act differently, allowing qualified NCO's to teach courses, [which in Latin America is] a rare practice."(Note 44) A theory that seems validated is that professionalism can breed professionalism.

As a Force Multiplier

From a U.S. perspective, foreign officers attending U.S. military schools, particularly staff colleges, gain valuable insights into our operational and tactical mind set and procedural approaches. They also learn first hand the capabilities and limitations of a wide array of U.S. military equipment. Students work side-by-side with American counterparts in numerous classroom and field exercises, building mutual trust, effective communication in English, an understanding of interoperability, and familiarity with our military doctrine. Such combined experience has facilitated coalition operations in various parts of the world. In Turkey, during Operations Desert Shield and Provide Comfort, for example, the planning and execution of complex operations at the national level, as well as combined special forces activities along the border with Iraq, were facilitated by many Turkish officers having been assigned in the United States as international military students.(Note 45) A second example is the composite battalion from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) serving with U.S. forces in Haiti. The technical competence of the Eastern Caribbean soldiers, which has been praised officially by U.S. Atlantic Command, can be directly attributed to exposure of its officers to U.S. tactical, logistical and leadership training.(Note 46)

Interoperability in U.N. Peace Operations

In a number of countries, officers assigned to international staffs or as liaison officers to them, or often as attachés are invariably graduates of U.S. military training programs. They tend to have a working fluency with English, have maintained U.S. contacts, and share common professional education. These qualifications are now in demand for a variety of U.N. peace operations. The assignment of a recent Polish graduate of the U.S. Army War College to be the Chief of Staff of UNPROFOR's Sector North in Croatia is typical. The headquarters provides command and control to Danish, Jordanian, Ukrainian, and Polish battalions. The lingua franca is English. Its staff and operational procedures within the headquarters are from the United States or its close procedural relative, NATO standard agreements.(Note 47)

Professional military education in the United States, including language instruction, provides a shared experience for officers from many of the countries contributing forces to U.N. peace operations. With this experience as a base for standardizing operating procedures and establishing standards of conduct, many U.N. commanders begin to build unit cohesion and improve the performance of their multinational force. Governments recognize that their capacities to assist in peace operations depend on an ability to interoperate with the United States; increasingly, they seek training in U.S. schools to enhance the capabilities of their forces.

Benefitting from the Expertise of Others

The INSS team found that instructors from several U.S. senior service and staff colleges maintained that U.S. students benefitted significantly from contact with colleagues from other countries. The latter's presence brings provocative non-U.S. perspectives, and varied professional expertise into U.S. military classrooms. They provide an invaluable counterweight to blind acceptance of U.S. military doctrine and cultural biases on national security issues. These students frequently frame a discussion or a solution to an operational problem in ways which U.S. participants have not considered and offer unique insights into other alternative courses of action which may not be readily apparent. As a result, U.S. officers are forced to think through and defend their views, with benefit to all. Because it finds the contributions of its international students so valuable, the National Defense University is expanding the number of foreign officers in its colleges. "In this day of coalition warfare, we need this exposure," argued one faculty member.(Note 48) The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) policy on military education underscores the importance of maintaining international student programs which "contribute to professional broadening of attending U.S. officers."(Note 49)