information paper
INFORMATION PAPER ILE Phase II Class 119 20 January 2014
SUBJECT: Advise and Assist Brigades/Modular Brigades Augmented for Security Force Assistance
1. Purpose: To provide an overview and information on the Advise and Assist Brigades/Modular Brigades Augmented for Security Force Assistance.
2. Facts:
a. Advise and Assist Brigades/Modular Brigades Augmented for Security Force Assistance (AABs/MBs-SFA) refer to brigades selected to conduct security force assistance. They are also called BCT-stability (BCT-S) or SFA brigades (SFABs). This is not a new formation, but a variant of the standard BCT augmented with additional forces, personnel or capabilities such as engineers, military police, and civil affairs experts to enable it to focus on SFA. The concept of AABs/MBs-SFA reflects a shift in how the army approaches SFA.
b. Army doctrine defines SFA as the unified action taken to generate, employ, and sustain local, host-nation, or regional security forces in support of a legitimate authority. 1 The training and assistance of foreign military forces used to be the mission of Army Special Operations Forces (SOF). The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan highlighted the need for large-scale training and assistance to Iraqi and Afghan conventional forces beyond the capacity of SOF. Therefore, the modular BCT has been modified to take on the task.
c. The 4th BCT of the 1st armored division formed the first AAB and deployed to Iraq in the spring of 2009 to provide proof of principle for the advisory brigade concept. Seven AABs were in Iraq during Operation New Dawn (OND) when the mission was changed from combat to SFA, and helped to enhance the quality and capacity of host nation security forces. There are currently 47,000 US troops in Afghanistan focusing mainly on training, advising and mentoring Afghan National Security Forces, preparing and setting the stage for the exit of coalition forces in 2014. Most recently,
SUBJECT: Advise and Assist Brigades/Modular Brigades Augmented for Security Force Assistance
1. Purpose: To provide an overview and information on the Advise and Assist Brigades/Modular Brigades Augmented for Security Force Assistance.
2. Facts:
a. Advise and Assist Brigades/Modular Brigades Augmented for Security Force Assistance (AABs/MBs-SFA) refer to brigades selected to conduct security force assistance. They are also called BCT-stability (BCT-S) or SFA brigades (SFABs). This is not a new formation, but a variant of the standard BCT augmented with additional forces, personnel or capabilities such as engineers, military police, and civil affairs experts to enable it to focus on SFA. The concept of AABs/MBs-SFA reflects a shift in how the army approaches SFA.
b. Army doctrine defines SFA as the unified action taken to generate, employ, and sustain local, host-nation, or regional security forces in support of a legitimate authority. 1 The training and assistance of foreign military forces used to be the mission of Army Special Operations Forces (SOF). The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan highlighted the need for large-scale training and assistance to Iraqi and Afghan conventional forces beyond the capacity of SOF. Therefore, the modular BCT has been modified to take on the task.
c. The 4th BCT of the 1st armored division formed the first AAB and deployed to Iraq in the spring of 2009 to provide proof of principle for the advisory brigade concept. Seven AABs were in Iraq during Operation New Dawn (OND) when the mission was changed from combat to SFA, and helped to enhance the quality and capacity of host nation security forces. There are currently 47,000 US troops in Afghanistan focusing mainly on training, advising and mentoring Afghan National Security Forces, preparing and setting the stage for the exit of coalition forces in 2014. Most recently,