Army National Guard’s Newest Unit

The Army National Guard is in the process of establishing one of the Army’s six Security Force Assistance Brigades or SFABs. These new units are the brainchild of Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley. He sees the SFABs as a professional and permanent advisory unit that can provide training, advice, assistance, and enablers to partner nation military forces. This article will explore the mission of the SFAB, selection criteria for volunteers, the advisor training unit members undergo, locations of the units of the 54^th SFAB, and possible future missions of the unit.

The 54^th Security Force Assistance Brigade is the sixth SFAB to be established. The other five SFABs are active duty Army brigades. The 1^st SFAB is based at Fort Benning and just recently returned from a nine-month long deployment to Afghanistan. The 2^nd SFAB, based at Fort Bragg, is scheduled for an early 2019 deployment to Afghanistan. The 3^rd SFAB has been established at Fort Hood. The 4^th and 5^th SFAB will be based at Fort Carson, Colorado and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

The 54^th SFAB will be spread across several states. The brigade headquarters is located at Stout Field Armory in Indianapolis, Indiana. The locations of the SFAB’s battalions are listed below:

• 1^st Bn (Infantry), Columbus, Georgia
• 2^nd Bn (Infantry), Pinellas Park, Florida
• 3^rd Bn (Cavalry), Gainesville, Florida
• 4^th Bn (Field Artillery), Dallas, Texas
• 5^th Bn (Engineer), Columbus, Ohio
• 6^th Bn (Support), Rock Island, Illinois

The Security Force Assistance Brigades provide a specialized unit for advisory missions. The SFABs will allow the Army to free up conventional brigade combat teams from advisory and training missions; which will allow them to train for their warfighting missions. The 54^th SFAB has approximately 800 personnel in its force structure. The ranks are primarily E5 and above. Over 560 of the personnel slots are combat advisor positions.

The mission of the SFAB is to advise, assist, train, enable, and accompany conventional units of partner and allied nations. Currently the 1^st and 2^nd SFABs are allocated to CENTCOM; with deployments to Afghanistan. It is likely that the remainder of the SFABs will be destined for CENTCOM deployments in the near future. National Guard soldiers can volunteer for this unique unit but they must meet some SFAB selection criteria. The volunteers need to have a Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) authorized by the SFAB structure, should be fully deployable, be in good medical condition, have a score of 240 or higher on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), and have a secret clearance. Key leader positions may require an interview by the SFAB commander or command sergeant major.

Volunteers will attend a two-day assessment and selection process. This consists of a number of physical events such as the APFT, pull-ups, obstacle course, and 5-mile ruck march with 50 pounds. The candidates will undergo a leadership reaction course, take an MOS proficiency test, a warrior skills test, and write an ethical dilemma essay. In addition, during the two-day process there will be peer evaluations.

The personnel who volunteer for the SFAB will receive specialized training. Part of being an effective advisor is knowing the language and culture of the partner nation force – so an advisor will receive a significant amount of training in those areas. Some members of the unit will receive foreign weapons training so they are accustomed to the small arms, mortars, and artillery of partner nation forces. In addition to the specialized training members of the SFAB will also participate in unit collective training. Prior to a combat deployment the brigade will very likely attend a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk.

Photo caption: Members of 4th Bn 1st SFAB receive training at JRTC. Photo by SGT Arjenis Nunez, 1st SFAB, Jan 20, 2018.

Many soldiers of the SFAB will attend the Combat Advisors Training Course (CATC) at Fort Benning, Georgia. The CATC is the primary course of the Military Advisor Training Academy (MATA) at Fort Benning. The course is approximately one month long; although it may increase to six weeks in the future. Members of the 54^th SFAB started attending the CATC as early as the spring of 2018. The advisor course provides students to work together in small teams to solve challenging problems.

The current commander of the 54^th SFAB, Colonel Jeff Hackett, is a member of the Indiana Army National Guard. His previous position was as Indiana’s director of plans, training, and operations. Hackett has served as an infantry officer for more than two decades and has commanded at the platoon, company, and battalion level. He is a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, U.S. Army War College, Airborne course, and Ranger School.

Photo caption: CPT David Zak 1st SFAB Afghanistan, advising ANA officer about security in Logar province, Afghanistan. Photo by Lt. Aubrey Page, U.S. Navy, August 7, 2018.

The advisor mission is not new to the Army National Guard. Early on in the Afghan conflict the Army National Guard provided the headquarters for the training mission of the newly formed Afghan security forces. Task Force Phoenix was responsible for the deployment of hundreds of Embedded Training Teams (ETTs) that worked alongside the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP). In Iraq many of the Military Transition Teams (MiTTs) came from units or individuals of the Army National Guard

The establishment of the Security Force Assistance Brigades should provide the Army with the ability to field professional advisor units to many areas of the world. The near future will likely see brigade level rotations into combat zones like Afghanistan and Iran similar to the just completed Afghan deployment of the 1^st SFAB and the scheduled deployment of the 2^nd SFAB. Once the requirement for advisors and trainers for Afghanistan and Iraq diminish it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine smaller units deploying to countries in Africa to conduct security force assistance missions. The 54^th may be one of the SFABs sending off twelve-man advisor teams for short (a few weeks) or long (several months) advise and assist missions overseas.

Afghan security is fleeting. The past two years the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) have taken some significant loses. Casualties are at an all-time high and the desertion rate is astronomical. The Taliban are enjoying tactical successes on the battlefield and embarrassing the government forces in many areas of the country. This short article provides a sampling of articles on a variety of topics about Afghanistan that have been published over the past several weeks.

Non-Functioning Government. One source of the insurgent support is a government that fails to govern or provide services at the local level (district and below). In addition, the inept, inefficient, and corrupt government and its security ministries continues to hamper the ability of the army and police to provide for its soldiers and police who are doing the fighting out in the field. Part of the problem is the long-reign of President Hamid Karzai. Read more in “Turning Afghanistan into a more modern state”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 2016.

No More Russian Choppers for Kabul? According to one news report the Pentagon has notified Congress that it will no longer provide Russian made helicopters to the Afghan Air Force (AAF). The Department of Defense will likely provide Afghanistan with helicopters manufactured by Sikorsky. The Blackhawks will be more complicated to maintain and are require more training to learn to fly. The Russian helicopters are cheaper, easier to maintain, and better suited for the harsh and mountainous terrain of Afghanistan. So while this shift from Russian to U.S. made helicopters satisfies the political agenda of conservatives, gives U.S. aviators who are training the Afghans a chopper they are comfortable with, and rewards the bank accounts of U.S. defense firms – it probably is not in the best interests of Afghan security. Read more in “Pentagon Plans to Stop Buying Russian Helicopters for Afghanistan”, Radio Free Europe, November 19, 2016.

Video – MAAS in Action at Bagram. The Mobile Aircraft Arresting System (MAAS) is used by the 455th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron to catch the arresting hook on fighter aircraft in case of a malfunction upon landing or take off. Watch a video of the MAAS in action in Afghanistan.
www.dvidshub.net/video/493759/keeping-pilots-and-aircraft-safe

Choosing Violence by Afghan Islamist Groups. A paper published by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) explores what causes nonviolent groups to turn into violent organizations – and what leads organized violent groups to shun violence. This paper explores the strategic choices Islamist groups in Afghanistan have made and make in using violence to contest government authority and threaten Afghan security. Read Islamist Groups in Afghanistan and the Strategic Choice of Violence, USIP, November 14, 2016.

ISIS Not Finished in Afghanistan. The Islamic State in Afghanistan had a good start about a year ago but since has fallen on hard times. It still remains as a force in the eastern part of Afghanistan (Nangarhar, Kunduz, etc.). Read more in “ISIS in Afghanistan: Their peak is over, but they are not finished”, The Guardian, November 18, 2016.

Afghans to be Repatriated by Germany. About 1/4 million refugees (migrants, benefit tourists, etc.) from Afghanistan have found their way to Germany. However, some 5% (about 12,000) of these Afghans will be repatriated to Afghanistan in the future. Their asylum applications have been rejected by Germany. Read more in “Germany to repatriate about 12,000 Afghans”, Deutsche Welle, November 17, 2016.

Afghan Local Police. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) is continuing its efforts to convince the United States to increase the funding of the Afghan Local Police or ALP from 30,000 to 40,000. The ALP was started as part of the Village Stability Operations (VSO) program in 2011.

CERP – Was It an Effective Program? The RAND Corporation has published a paper that explores the use of the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP) in Afghanistan. It explores the effectiveness of CERP in supporting tactical operations during the counterinsurgency campaign from 2010-2013. Read Investing in the Fight, RAND, November 2016.
www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1508.html