Organization & Mass

On several occasions now, various CAST instructors emphasized that if we ever need to actually use the skills they're teaching us, then something has gone seriously wrong. Virtually all the material we're learning is last-resort, just-in-case sort of stuff. Students and instructors alike take it all very seriously, but we're not expecting to use it on a regular basis. Or ever.

In fact, the same is true for a lot of our deployed military personnel. Only a relatively small number are actually out there hunting and killing bad guys. Most of us are doing other stuff.

In an article I can't find at the moment, Gen Stan McChrystal made a similar point. He's quoted as saying that what the military brings to the table is "the ability to get stuff done in difficult places." This ability is rooten in two key military attributes: organization and mass.

In other words, the military has the ability to put a big group of organized, trained and equipped people into a location where it's hard to make things happen (for any number of reasons). Those people then, well, make things happen.

And that's a pretty good description of what I'll be doing in Kabul. I'll be part of the "organization and mass," helping get stuff done in a difficult place. Yes, I know how to shoot a gun, provide "casualty care under fire" and find my way from Point A to Point B using a map and compass. I even know those cool hand signals soldiers use to give silent commands when we're on patrol outside the wire. Plus, I'm immunized against anthrax.

But as my instructors keep pointing out, if I ever use any of those skills, it's a bad day. My real mission is to be part of the organization and mass in a difficult place, to help support stability, security and autonomy for Afghanistan.