Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

William S. Lind • 111LORD DORN: It’s a trade-off we don’t mind making since our training regime isso realistic. With the experience our intelligence officers have as commanders andoperations officers in force-on-force, free-play exercises, we find they grow a certainsixth sense about what an enemy is likely to do. This is more valuable to us thanhaving an officer who knows various technical systems and processes but is unableto help his commander scope tactical risk. Of course, if an intelligence officer hasn’tbeen a maneuver unit commander and operations officer and has no experience inforce-on-force, free-play exercises, he would have nothing special to offer. It is onlynatural that such officers would gravitate to something technical, a niche they canclaim for their own. We see this phenomenon in other functional areas too, not justintelligence – you can find it in administration, logistics, communications – even inoperations where someone is too preoccupied with a particular weapons system orair platform.ME: Lord Dorn, I’d like to thank you for your time. This interview sheds light onsome very different ways of organizing a modern marine corps. Perhaps our own U.S.Marine Corps could learn something from it.LORD DORN: Perhaps they could.Following my interview with the Islandian Marine Corps Commandant, his Labradorled me to the office of the Islandian Marine DC(S) Air, Colonel Arn. I enteredhis small office to find him in a flight suit, feet up on his desk, reading Rommel’s“Infanterie Greift An!” The walls of his office were well-decorated with paintings andposters of infantry in combat. No aircraft models were in evidence.ME: Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Colonel Arn.COL. ARN: No problem. Have a seat. Want a beer?ME: Thank you; that would be welcome. A bit of alcohol stimulates the brain.I see flight suits are acceptable in the Islandian HQMC. I assume that’s your squadronpatch on your shoulder?COL. ARN: No. Like all Islandian aviators, I wear the patch of the infantry battalionthat is twinned with my squadron.ME: What do you mean twinned?