Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Jacob Lew today stressed that U.S. mission in Afghanistan focuses more on civilian-military cooperation.
In his remarks on the Town Hall with students staff and trainers at Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations, Mr. Lew thanked the team at Muscatatuck and General Tooley for arranging the visit.
“I want to thank for being here in this training program. This is an important step in your preparation for a very important mission. It’s a mission where you’re going to be right there on the front line, working day to day in situations that have all the reality of what you see here and more so. And I’m delighted that we’ve been able to work with the Defense Department to put together a training program that introduces you to what it will look and feel like to engage when you’re at PRTs and forward-operating bases.” -Mr. Lew
He said those are hard missions. Those are time-critical. He cited there’s a danger involved.
“And I thank each and every one of you for your service. You come from a host of departments.” -Mr. Lew
He cited that the key to the whole mission is that it’s a civilian-military cooperation. He said every place where they go, every mission they undertake is worked out together and it’s a team effort.
“This training is different from training that’s been done in the past because it reflects that team effort. Ruth Whiteside, who runs our Foreign Service Institute to train diplomats, can speak to the history of how different it is for us to be doing it here in this way, working together.” -Mr. Lew
He stressed it’s really hard work. He pointed out that the soldiers are going to be dealing with bureaucratic challenges, political challenges, security challenges, and people who may not always be motivated the way they would want them to be motivated.
“I have confidence that each of you can make a difference in the work you do, and I hope the training here has helped prepare you to go out and be as effective as we know you can be.” -Mr. Lew
