Preface

This report presents the verbatim responses of a sample of Marine Corps personnel who served in the Middle East as advisors to the Iraqi and Afghanistan Armed Forces.  The advisors were asked to respond to a series of questions involving their goals, their accomplishments, their difficulties, and their recommendations with regard to the future role of advisory or other cross-cultural missions.

This volume also includes "critical incident" narrations describing actual experiences in which an advisory operation succeeded or failed, with emphasis on the process that led to an outcome.  The results will provide Advisors in the field access to a quick resource of anecdotal solutions for use in consideration of a particular situation.

The purpose of this research project is to gain insight into the problems and effectiveness of advisory missions and to make recommendations based on the responses of experienced advisors for the development of training programs designed to enhance preparedness.  The results of the study will help to establish firm organizational goals for advisory programs and other cross-cultural military operations.

This report is offered as an ongoing study of contemporary Marine Advisors serving around the globe.  The survey is available at www.irism.com/usmc for direct input, and included in Appendix B for use by those who want to contribute their experiences and insights to other Marines with similar missions.