The Army's much-hyped advise-and-assist brigade couldn't find enough soldiers to actually advise...

TSgt Joe C. PO3 Steven Sherrill CW3 Kevin Storm SSG (Join to see) SGM Steve Wettstein SMSgt Thor Merich MSG (Join to see) PO1 John Johnson MAJ Ken Landgren LTC Greg Henning PVT Mark Zehner MSG Tom Earley Alan K. SPC Mark Huddleston PO1 H Gene Lawrence SGT Elizabeth Scheck Sgt Deborah Cornatzer SSgt Boyd Herrst SPC Diana D. SFC George Smith

SFC Pete Kain LCDR (Join to see) SGT James Murphy Sgt (Join to see) SGT Mark Anderson SFC(P) Palmer Utley SSG Donald H "Don" Bates SGT Steve McFarland Maj Kim Patterson SPC Michael Oles SR

Having done the "advisor" bit...here's my take: no one likes being a "mutt". Any way we want to slice it, this mission's fallen back on conventional forces because of sheer numbers...and the constant strain on special operations forces. Perhaps the Army is trying to legitimatize it, give it it's own name and place...but somehow (to me at least), it always felt like being the kid with the weird braces that hollers at strange times, and gets placed in a room off the side during Thanksgiving dinner. In my humble opinion, things were made MUCH worse by the whole beret, insignia, and "Legion" debacle...imitation isn't always the sincerest form of flattery it would seem.

The Big Green will have to figure out how this fits into senior personnel's career progression, establish some longevity for the teams doing it (i.e. train together, deploy together, train again, deploy again...as a team), and ensure standards/product is high value enough to be an attractive component of (or alternative to) traditional combat arms career paths.