Infanteer said:
Yes - to a degree. They may like to say they are validating the Battlegroup, but the reality of it is that that Battlegroup is going. That battlegroup is the only one in the hopper, so the Army validation wouldn't go too far. Do you expect CLS to say to the CDS "Sir, the Battlegroup failed in Wainwright, TF 7-09 isn't going overseas...."
If there was a dramatic performance issue, I'd suspect there would be other issues Army wide that would trip the sensors before a MAPLE GUARDIAN exercise.
If a CO or his staff was on glue, I'd have a hard time seeing a "relief in place" (for lack of a better term). The Army seems loathe to fire people (although I've heard this has changed recently....).
First off, we have to keep a few things in mind about the political climate when CMTC was first conceived and contracted. First, the thinking of our political masters at the time was that with the collapse of the Soviet Union the world was going to be much a safe place so much so that we could cut about 1/3 of our military and still effectively do what was needed. :
CMTC was a way to keep training for the same type of missions we had been in the past, Mech BG Ops. Afghanistan came too far along in the process to really change the basic concept. They have been trying to adapt it (and WES) as much as possible but its harder to change the wheels on a moving bus. The next thing we have to remember was that there was supposed to be two HR BGs at any given time, one with a mission one on call. That meant 5 MG serials a year - 4 Reg and 1 Res. Which meant among other things that there would have been someone else to go if a BG "failed" a MG serial.
Now with this in mind I will say this, why would you want to keep an entire BG home? If they are at a MG serial they have been confirmed up to but not including BG so why fire all the soldiers under the CO and his staff when it is they who are the weak link? Make no mistake, countless BG and TF staff officers and at least one CO (PRT) have been fired based on their performance on MG serials. Do I fault anyone from not making public announcements that LCol X has been fired? No and infact, one could say there is a QR&O saying you can't. That being said, not too many Sr. Officers give up on key positions within a deploying organization to take a course or to take a lesser position back in Canada - so if you look closely you can fill in your own blanks if you are the type who enjoys others' misfortune/humiliation. So IMO the most efficient use of resources/personnel is to find another key player vice throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And before anyone cries team building etc. I would simply offer that if the CO took a bullet in month one of the tour, the 2I/C will probably not take the BG but they would quickly find a LCol in Canada in need of Comd time and send him over - so if he could do it with no work up, it certainly can be done before you leave Canada. (In the last month my bet would be the 2 I/C gets his 30 days of fame.
At CMTC the BG CO does not get debriefed like everyone else. There is still the formal AAR process but then when everyone else is asked to leave and the CO is left with the Comd CMTC, Bde Comd, Area Comd, LF Comd (as a minimum), he gets debriefed just like anyone else and those are some pretty high-profile pers, so regardless of what faxes or calls get made, the people who matter know what the popular opinion is (career going, career going, career stops). Too bad if that info doesn't permeate down to Pte Bloggins. As for individual CMTC events / attacks etc., yes the BGs have been made to do them over again and again until they get it right - just like phase training.
