Individual augmentee
Encyclopedia
An Individual Augmentee is a United States
military
member assigned to a unit ( battalion
or company
) as a TAD/TDY status. Individual Augmentees can be used to fill shortages or can be used when an individual with specialized knowledge or skill sets
is required. As a result, Individual Augmentees can include members from an entirely different branch of service. The system has been used extensively in the current Iraq War, though with some criticism. Currently, there are approximately 12,000 Navy
and Air Force
personnel filling Army jobs in the United States, Iraq
, Afghanistan
, Cuba
and the Horn of Africa
at any one time.
for astronaut
duty, or Navy Hospital Corpsmen who are assigned to Marine Corps
units (which do not furnish their own medical personnel
). Upon completion of their duties, these members are returned to their home units.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks
, and especially after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Individual Augmentee assignments increased dramatically. Initially, most of these assignments included Navy or Air Force personnel assigned to Army units to fill specialized roles that the Army had either trouble filling or had limited expertise in. Some of these personnel were already combat
trained by virtue of their existing skills, while others went into combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq with little or no combat training. As a result, a formal program soon developed that ensured a minimum level of training for all members deploying to combat zones.
works on a combination of ordered and volunteer assignments mirroring manning requirements. The Army produces a document consisting of job requirements with the required skill sets as well as starting and ending dates. The job descriptions are converted to Navy or Air Force equivalents and the personnel activities of these branches task local commanders with assigning the required personnel. Volunteers are used first, and local commands issue orders for the remaining jobs based on local instructions. For the Navy, excess shore billets are tapped first.
As of June 5th, 2008, United States Fleet Forces Command
has responsibility of the Individual Augmentee training program.
In January 2006 the McCrady Training Center at Fort Jackson, South Carolina
, became the central training facility for Navy and Air Force personnel assigned as Individual Augmentees. The center, operated by Task Force Marshall, is also a South Carolina Army National Guard
facility, and the Individual Augmentee training program is modeled closely after the refresher training conducted for drilling reservists
.
Prior to using this centralized facility personnel were trained in several other locations including Fort Lewis, Washington, Camp Shelby, Mississippi, Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Benning, Georgia. The McCrady facility is capable of processing up to 600 students at once with an annual budget of $16.7 million.
Curriculum
at McCrady includes basic combat skills. The three week course is not designed to build Army infantrymen
since even for Army personnel a significant amount of training occurs not in Basic Combat Training but in the experience of years on the job. Instead, the program is designed to teach individuals assigned to Army units the basic skills required to stay alive should the worst scenario occur. In keeping with this, topics covered in the training include basic marksmanship (Navy and Air Force personnel must qualify on the same course of fire as Army personnel), combat first aid
, land navigation
, urban operations
and an introduction to Army culture. Perhaps most important is training in convoy
and counter-IED
operations since these subjects are crucial to survival in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It's important to note that the vast majority of Navy and Air Force Individual Augmentees are assigned to combat support
or combat service support
roles, and only a small percentage of Individual Augmentees have seen combat. While some risk
exposure in a war zone is inevitable, most joint commands in Iraq and Afghanistan have specific controls in place to limit the exposure of personnel who are not trained for such high risk operations.
Even with the additional training and limited combat exposure of most Individual Augmentees, deaths have occurred. While the Navy has sustained 73 casualties in the combined efforts of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, many of these individuals were Naval Combatants or Direct Support Enablers SEAL
, EOD, Hospital Corpsmen, or Seabee
whose roles were not typical of most Navy personnel.
One reason is the perception that the program is being used to fill Army vacancies for the sole reason of making up for lower Army recruiting numbers. The second reason is the argument that regardless of what training takes place at the McCrady Training Center, sailors and airmen are placed in harm's way because they do not have the full training of Army personnel.
There has also been criticism in Congress
about the program due to issues of oversight
and financing, as well as mission readiness. Congress has expressed concern that the Navy, with a traditionally sea-centric role, may be spreading itself too thin (some units have up to 40% of personnel on IA duty) and in the process may lose some of its core competency in traditional seagoing warfare.
Members within the Navy have expressed concern about the increased focus of IA assignments, especially as to how they relate to promotions, advancement
and awards, with some members interpreting new Navy instructions on the subject to mean that Individual Augmentees are to receive preferential treatment.
Although Congress and the Department of Defense have increased the Army's troop strength authorization by 7,000, the Army and Navy have both admitted that it may take as much as five years before Individual Augmentee requirements draw down to pre-Iraq War levels.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
member assigned to a unit ( battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
or company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
) as a TAD/TDY status. Individual Augmentees can be used to fill shortages or can be used when an individual with specialized knowledge or skill sets
Military Occupational Specialty
A United States military occupation code, or a Military Occupational Specialty code , is a nine character code used in the United States Army and United States Marines to identify a specific job. In the U.S. Air Force, a system of Air Force Specialty Codes is used...
is required. As a result, Individual Augmentees can include members from an entirely different branch of service. The system has been used extensively in the current Iraq War, though with some criticism. Currently, there are approximately 12,000 Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
personnel filling Army jobs in the United States, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and the Horn of Africa
Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa
Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa is a joint task force of United States Africa Command . It originated under Operation Enduring Freedom-Horn of Africa as part of the United States response to the September 11, 2001 attacks...
at any one time.
Historical use
All branches of the military have existing regulations concerning assignment of personnel outside of their normal organization or branch of service. Examples include members of the Navy or Air Force who are temporarily assigned to NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
for astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
duty, or Navy Hospital Corpsmen who are assigned to Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
units (which do not furnish their own medical personnel
Medic
Medic is a general term for a person involved in medicine, especially emergency or first-response medicine, such as an emergency medical technician, paramedic, or a military member trained in battlefield medicine. Also the term is used toward a Nurse in pre-hospital care and/or emergency...
). Upon completion of their duties, these members are returned to their home units.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, and especially after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Individual Augmentee assignments increased dramatically. Initially, most of these assignments included Navy or Air Force personnel assigned to Army units to fill specialized roles that the Army had either trouble filling or had limited expertise in. Some of these personnel were already combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
trained by virtue of their existing skills, while others went into combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq with little or no combat training. As a result, a formal program soon developed that ensured a minimum level of training for all members deploying to combat zones.
Current assignment and training model
The current Individual Augmentee system approved by the United States Department of DefenseUnited States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
works on a combination of ordered and volunteer assignments mirroring manning requirements. The Army produces a document consisting of job requirements with the required skill sets as well as starting and ending dates. The job descriptions are converted to Navy or Air Force equivalents and the personnel activities of these branches task local commanders with assigning the required personnel. Volunteers are used first, and local commands issue orders for the remaining jobs based on local instructions. For the Navy, excess shore billets are tapped first.
As of June 5th, 2008, United States Fleet Forces Command
United States Fleet Forces Command
The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...
has responsibility of the Individual Augmentee training program.
In January 2006 the McCrady Training Center at Fort Jackson, South Carolina
Fort Jackson, South Carolina
Fort Jackson is a United States Army installation, which TRADOC operates on for Basic Combat Training , and is located in Columbia, South Carolina. This installation is named for Andrew Jackson, a United States Army General and 7th President of the United States.-Overview:Fort Jackson was created...
, became the central training facility for Navy and Air Force personnel assigned as Individual Augmentees. The center, operated by Task Force Marshall, is also a South Carolina Army National Guard
South Carolina Army National Guard
The South Carolina Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization...
facility, and the Individual Augmentee training program is modeled closely after the refresher training conducted for drilling reservists
Reservist
A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is usually a former active-duty member of the armed...
.
Prior to using this centralized facility personnel were trained in several other locations including Fort Lewis, Washington, Camp Shelby, Mississippi, Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Benning, Georgia. The McCrady facility is capable of processing up to 600 students at once with an annual budget of $16.7 million.
Curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
at McCrady includes basic combat skills. The three week course is not designed to build Army infantrymen
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
since even for Army personnel a significant amount of training occurs not in Basic Combat Training but in the experience of years on the job. Instead, the program is designed to teach individuals assigned to Army units the basic skills required to stay alive should the worst scenario occur. In keeping with this, topics covered in the training include basic marksmanship (Navy and Air Force personnel must qualify on the same course of fire as Army personnel), combat first aid
First aid
First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...
, land navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
, urban operations
Urban warfare
Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat is very different from combat in the open at both the operational and tactical level...
and an introduction to Army culture. Perhaps most important is training in convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
and counter-IED
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
operations since these subjects are crucial to survival in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It's important to note that the vast majority of Navy and Air Force Individual Augmentees are assigned to combat support
Combat support
In the United States Army, the term combat support refers to units that provide fire support and operational assistance to combat elements. Combat support units provide specialized support functions to combat units in the areas of chemical warfare, combat engineering, intelligence, security, and...
or combat service support
Combat service support
Combat service support is a subset of military logistics. Combat service support is more limited in depth than logistics, as it primarily addresses those factors directly influencing combat operations.-United States Army:...
roles, and only a small percentage of Individual Augmentees have seen combat. While some risk
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
exposure in a war zone is inevitable, most joint commands in Iraq and Afghanistan have specific controls in place to limit the exposure of personnel who are not trained for such high risk operations.
Even with the additional training and limited combat exposure of most Individual Augmentees, deaths have occurred. While the Navy has sustained 73 casualties in the combined efforts of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, many of these individuals were Naval Combatants or Direct Support Enablers SEAL
United States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...
, EOD, Hospital Corpsmen, or Seabee
Seabee
Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, of the United States Navy...
whose roles were not typical of most Navy personnel.
Controversy
While the Individual Augmentee program has been in existence long before the September 11, 2001 attacks, the current use of the program has drawn controversy.One reason is the perception that the program is being used to fill Army vacancies for the sole reason of making up for lower Army recruiting numbers. The second reason is the argument that regardless of what training takes place at the McCrady Training Center, sailors and airmen are placed in harm's way because they do not have the full training of Army personnel.
There has also been criticism in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
about the program due to issues of oversight
Oversight
Oversight may refer to:*Oversight , a French Thoroughbred racehorse*Regulation – rulemaking*Separation of powers - the concept of separate branches of government or agencies exercising authority over one another...
and financing, as well as mission readiness. Congress has expressed concern that the Navy, with a traditionally sea-centric role, may be spreading itself too thin (some units have up to 40% of personnel on IA duty) and in the process may lose some of its core competency in traditional seagoing warfare.
Members within the Navy have expressed concern about the increased focus of IA assignments, especially as to how they relate to promotions, advancement
Promotion (rank)
A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. Promotion may be an employee's reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal...
and awards, with some members interpreting new Navy instructions on the subject to mean that Individual Augmentees are to receive preferential treatment.
Although Congress and the Department of Defense have increased the Army's troop strength authorization by 7,000, the Army and Navy have both admitted that it may take as much as five years before Individual Augmentee requirements draw down to pre-Iraq War levels.
External links
- SURFOR Sailor Talks About Serving as Individual Augmentee By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexis R. Brown, Navy Region Southwest Public Affairs
- Task Force Marshall
- The Augmentee Blog - Best Gouge for Deploying IAs