Successful Population Engagement from a Platoon Leader’s Perspective

The following thoughts, notes, recollections and advice are a culmination of five months’ work in Shah Wali Kot District, Afghanistan. Naturally, the author does not pretend he practiced or implemented each one of the following bullets flawlessly or every single time he went on patrol. However, these guidelines are just that, guidelines. Take them, mull them over, then try them and see how they work in your particular area of operations. Learning from others’ experiences helps flatten the learning curve. Transforming these ideas into action will help keep you and your platoon safe while defeating the enemy in your chunk of Afghanistan.

• Do your homework. Research the villages you are visiting prior to each patrol. If it is your first patrol to the area, know the basic human geography such as tribal breakdown, means of income, etc. Your patrol further develops this knowledge. Review the names and faces of people you plan on meeting. If you have already been to the village, the people will appreciate your effort to learn their names, and it shows you care about their well-being.

• Train your Soldiers. Depending on the size of the platoon, your Soldiers will interact with almost 10 times as many locals as you, especially during key-leader engagements when the platoon leader focuses on one or two of a village’s most influential people. If you are unsure of where to start your training plan, start with the next bullet.

• Learn the language. Simply being able to say, “Hi, how are you?” and basic phrases like “Thank you for the chai” builds rapport. It also helps in intelligence-gathering by ensuring local nationals understand what you are saying. Operations are also more efficient; Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment enrollment goes much quicker when Soldiers can complete the process without the assistance of an interpreter. Knowing simple questions like “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going?” helps make the HIIDES process feel less like an interrogation. It gives Soldiers a chance to get to know the people who live and work in the AO.

• Send messages with non-verbal cues. Watch how your target audience interacts with each other, with people they trust and with people they respect, then adopt those gestures. Hug people you have established relationships with (no, they won’t kiss you because they’ve learned something about our culture, too), don’t show the soles of your feet, remove your gloves when shaking hands and take off your glasses when talking with anyone you want to have trust you. Determine how much of your personal protective equipment to downgrade to reinforce your key points. Wearing your combat helmet during a KLE can show your awareness of insurgent presence or that the village’s inhabitants need to do more to keep the area safe.

• Beware of the children. Do not waste your time trying to win over their hearts with candy, pens or other trinkets. The kindness is a fleeting appeasement that creates an ongoing safety situation for Soldiers when the kids return your kindness with rocks or attempts to steal from you. Furthermore, the elders of the village do not expect you, as the “malikh” of your tribe of warriors, to spend time placating their children’s changing needs; you’ll lose respect if you do. Remember, you are there to talk about serious issues that need real solutions, and the children cannot assist you in that effort. Lastly, if you do plan to provide humanitarian aid for the children, distribute it through the elders instead of giving it to the children directly. This demonstrates your respect for their position in the village hierarchy. It removes you from having to determine who gets what and how much. Be polite to the kids but maintain your professional distance; it is better for them to respect your authority than to like you. Successful Population Engagement from a Platoon Leader’s Perspective by CPT Vincent Bernatis Counterinsurgency professional development: Generating laughs as well as a positive impact, a Soldier with 1st Platoon, Troop D, 5th Cavalry, practices his basic yet effective knowledge of Pashtu during a biometric enrollment. (Photo by SSG Michael J. Nicolaus) 17

• Even at their worst, local-national security forces can be your best assist. Do your best to remember that the Afghan National Security Force is not always going to be a perfect reflection of the standards, discipline and training of your platoon. However, their cultural understanding and ability to engage the populace from a different perspective has many operational and intelligence benefits. One of the greatest advantages occurs when you can incorporate Afghan National Police leadership into KLEs. They can refute outlandish assertions from village leadership and provide a better assessment of who is trustworthy, who is out for self-enrichment and who is generally willing to make their slice of Afghanistan a safer place. Every joint patrol is an opportunity for mutual learning. What they learn from us about security operations and fire and maneuver are evident in their knowledge of the physical and human terrain.

• If you give a mouse a cookie, it is probably going to ask for a glass of milk and a whole lot more. If you offer a well to the village, they are going to want two of them. It is always best to say “no” first and say “no” often. Afterwards, take time to sit down and determine whether whatever the locals happen to be asking for will really help you achieve any lasting or worthwhile impact. Consequently, most KLEs eventually turn into a business negotiation concerning potential projects for a particular village. Quid pro quo is the key to the discussion; if you are giving them something, make them meet you more than halfway. The money is not the issue, but their participation in legitimate government institutions is; make it a condition of the project and stick to your guns.

• Treat people (and their land) with dignity and respect. We often forget this simple idea. When done correctly, it saves lives. As the tactical situation permits, watch where you park your vehicles, tread lightly in farmers’ fields, minimize the amount of damage you cause and take responsibility for broken items, no matter how small. We once searched a house based on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance reports that witnessed individuals flee to the compound after allegedly emplacing an improvised explosive device. Finding nothing to support this claim during an extensive search, we provided the man and his family with some humanitarian aid and a message that insurgents would not give him the same courtesy if they were to search his house. Two weeks later, the man approached our patrol element and led us to an IED that, subsequently, was safe. Treating him and his family with dignity and respect throughout is what distinguishes us from the enemy; more importantly, it keeps Soldiers safe.

• Find new metrics for success. As a combat-arms platoon leader, it is natural to measure success in more classic terms of enemies killed or captured, caches discovered and IEDs found or cleared. While these are undoubtedly important, leaders in the “hold” and “build” phase of counterinsurgency operations will find very little of their time devoted directly to insurgent actions and have to adjust their goals accordingly. Numbers of villages with schools, percentages of projects not destroyed by insurgents and numbers of village leaders attending the district shura are all indicators to gauge how your platoon is affecting the battlespace. These successes are as Village elders working with Delta Troop, 5th Cavalry, on a cash-for-work project distribute shovels to their fellow villagers as children watch from a distance. (Photo by SSG Michael J. Nicolaus) 18

AO – area of operations FOB – forward operating base HIIDE – Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment IBCT – infantry brigade combat team IED – improvised explosive device KLE – key-leader engagement Acronym Quick-Scan important to brief to your Soldiers as any tactical defeat of the enemy. It is important for them to know that what they are doing is working and that it is working well.

• Speak softly and carry the biggest stick around. The Afghans need to believe that you have the capability and willpower to defeat the insurgents: patrolling, security operations and a frequent presence in more troubled areas will demonstrate that fact. Acknowledgement. CPT Bernatis modeled this article after David Kilcullen’s “Twenty Eight Articles: Fundamentals of Company-level Counterinsurgency.” While many of the points in Kilcullen’s work apply at varying lengths to the platoon-level fight, the thoughts presented in this article are specifically for platoon leaders, noncommissioned officers and Soldiers patrolling at the interface between doctrine and practice. CPT Vince Bernatis is deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, serving as a rule-of-law adviser with 2-18 Infantry, Forward Operating Base Kunduz, in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. His military career also includes scout platoon leader, D Troop, 5th Cavalry, 4-70 Armor, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, FOB Frontenac, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan; and tank platoon leader, C Company, 4-70 Armor, 170th IBCT, Baumholder, Germany. CPT Bernatis received a bachelor’s of science degree from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, in international relations and Spanish. His military schooling includes the Army Reconnaissance Course, Fort Knox, KY; Armor Officer Basic Leadership Course, Fort Knox; Basic Freefall Parachutist School, U. S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO; and Airborne School, Fort Benning, GA. MCoE Libraries …the places where Soldiers go for information 24/7 wherever they are in the world. When visiting Fort Benning, please stop in at any of our library locations:

‰ Donovan Research Library Bldg. 70 (Main Post) For 24/7 access, visit http://www.benning.army.mil/library/ 19 Recently released The U. S. Army Chief of Staff’s Professional Reading List, accessible at http://ar-mylive.dodlive.mil/index.php/2011/12/professional-reading-recommendations-from-the-chief/. faster than before. We must direct and align modernization readiness, and capability development processes and to ensure that the operating force has the doctrine, training, education and materiel needed to fight and win. The Armor School is committed to generating the best mounted force in the world and coupled with our current mounted leaders in the force we know we are and will continue to be in the future. Forge the Thunderbolt! Notes 1 TRADOC Pam 525-3-0, page i Commandant’s Hatch continued from page 4 AC – active component ARC – Army Reconnaissance Course ARNG – Army National Guard BCT – brigade combat team BRAC – base realignment and closure DOTmLP – doctrine, training, materiel, leadership RSLC – Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leader Course Acronym Quick-Scan