“In Strange Company” author Ronald Tiso, Jr. highlights the role played by allied partners in Iraq. Iraq is often thought of as “America’s longest war”, but troops from dozens of other countries made up the coalition forces.
Colonel Tiso served as a war planner at US Central Command, and as Senior Military Advisor of the Arab Peninsula Shield Force and the Polish-led multinational division. He was also Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the Coalition military assistance Training Team tasked with developing the new Iraqi Army.
Col. Tiso documents the challenges of planning the Iraqi campaign and coordinating multi-national forces. “In Strange Company” provides a unique perspective of the way that war was prosecuted.
One of the greatest issues faced by the coalition forces were varying degrees of serviceable equipment and differing rules of engagement as dictated by each nation’s politics. This often led to heated conflicts with commanders who considered their troops as peacekeeping forces.
However, Col. Tiso says that the multi-national forces he directly coordinated with were often “pound for pound some of the best soldiers I ever served with.” He reserved particularly high praise for the Poles and Ukrainians. He described the Ukrainians as “true Spartans”.
The “de-Bathification” program created severe problems. Coalition forces were prohibited from engaging any former Iraqi officer above the rank of Major. Iraqi soldiers who found themselves unemployed naturally sought out other methods of earning a living including smuggling and joining the insurgency.
Colonel Tiso is very frustrated that the number of forces deployed to manage the situation after the initial victory was only a third of what the plans called for. He firmly believes that if the elements of the initial plan had been followed, American forces could have been pulled out of Iraq much sooner.
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