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Training lag for Task Force ODIN
February 25th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Karen Walker
Training for operators of Task Force ODIN, the U.S. Army’s crack anti-IED aviation unit in Iraq, lags behind its technological capabilities, an Army chief warned.
Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, deputy commanding general of the Army Capabilities Integration Center and of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, said there was a chasm between getting new equipment into the field in Iraq and Afghanistan and getting the training in place that supports it.
“Training and leadership development is not being done at the collective training stage and before we get it in combat,” Vane said.
He cited the reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting and acquisition unit Task Force ODIN – which stands for observe, detect, identify and neutralize – as an example.
“There have been a number of systems where training has lagged behind and probably one of the biggest challenges is Task Force ODIN,” he said. Units are being trained one at a time as they deploy.
“It would probably be better to have that training in the institution rather than pay for it three or four times over,” Vane said.