B, and S reorganized at Vicenza, Italy and redesignated 1st U.S. Army Missile Command (Medium); (6) 1 Jan 1958, U.S. Army SETAF assigned to Commander in Chief, U.S. Army Europe. Primary mission (as of 31 Mar 1958): to provide ground delivered atomic Commanders 25 Oct 1955-26 Sep 1956 26 Sep 1956-1 Oct 1958 1 Oct 1958 support to Italian ground forces under Hq, Allied Land Forces Southern Europe. Subcommands (as of 31 Mar 1958): (1) 1st U.S. Army Missile Command (Medium); (2) U.S. Army Logistical Command, U.S. Army SETAF. .Maj. Gen. John H. Michaelis OTHER OVERSEA AGENCIES OF THE ARMY Among these may be mentioned military attaches, MAAG's, and military missions. THE ARMY ATTACHE SYSTEM. Every government, including our own, is interested in the armed forces of other nations and desires full and upto-date information about them. If the other nation is an actual or potential enemy or an actual or potential ally, the importance of such information is obvious. Even if this is not the case, a study of its armed forces may bring to light some weapon, mechanical device, or system of organization, training, or tactics that can profitably be imitated or adapted. In most periods of the world's history such data had to be obtained surreptitiously. Military personnel, operating sub rosa and often in disguise, were quite commonly attached to embassies for this purpose. However, a great many of the facts about a country's army, navy, and air force are public property anyhow; and many others are of such a nature that a trained and intelligent man can learn them by diligent observation, without resorting to espionage or "cloak and dagger" methods. In recent generations most governments have come to realize that, outside certain fields where secrecy is both practicable and important, it is simpler to acquiesce in the collection of military information by officially-recognized representatives of the armed services of other nations, called attaches, in exchange for a similar privilege extended to themselves. The first reported move of our government toward such overt collection of military data was in 1883, when the Secretary of War sent an Army officer to attend special maneuvers of the French cavalry. This resulted, in 1885, in the creation of an embryonic Division of Military Intelligence under The Adjutant General, which became the parent organization of the Army's attache system. In 1888 Congress authorized the "pay of a clerk attendant on the collection and classification of military information from abroad." Under authority of that legislation the first Army attache was detailed, on 11 March 1889, to the American Legations at London and Berlin. Later in the same year attaches were also sent to Paris, Vienna, and St. Petersburg; and as the advantages of the arrangement became manifest, more and more stations were added. The functions of Army attaches have changed little since the system was established. The attache is a trained observer and reporter of matters pertaining to the foreign defense establishment; and his task is to ascertain, and to report periodically to the Department of the Army, information of a military or technical nature that would be of interest to any Army agency. He must be constantly on the alert for new ideas that might be applied to our own Army. He studies the organization of the army of the nation to which he is accredited, the organization of its various branches and units; its training techniques, and their effectiveness; the equipment of the units and of the individual soldiers; the service of supply; the cost of maintenance of troops; the organization and training of reserves; the mobilization of manpower and industry; and so on. Beyond these matters of primary military concern, he must interest himself in other fields. For example, to estimate how effectively the soldiers of the army he is studying would fight against some other specific nation in a hypothetical war, he must study and analyze the political relations between the two countries, both today and in the past, and the reciprocal feelings and attitudes of their citizens. In fact, all of the many facets of industrial, social, cultural, and economic life come within his purview, insofar as they are related in any way to his field of interest. Since an attache's inquiries and studies are based on military considerations, they do not duplicate or conflict with those of the civilian members of the embassy or legation staff. By close cooperation and joint effort, their studies supplement each other. It is a not uncommon misconception that an Army attache serves as aide-decamp to the American ambassador (or minister) to whose embassy (or legation) he has been appointed. Although this was true to some extent in the early days of the attache system, it is no longer the case. The attache has a dual position in the diplomatic mission. He is under the local direction of the chief of mission, and is available to assist him in discharging certain responsibilities for which, as an Army officer, he is especially qualified. But also he represents the Department of the Army, and is the channel for liaison of various types between our Army and that of the country where he is stationed. The staff of an attache depends on the importance of the area with which he is dealing. He may have one or more assistant attaches. Today there are a total of 98 such assistants, serving at 43 of the 70 stations in the system. In addition, there are some 48 warrant officers, 178 enlisted men and 84 Army civilian employees distributed among the stations, all engaged in cryptographic, administrative, disbursing, and stenographic work. Alien civilians are hired locally for such positions as translator, receptionist, chauffeur, and janitor. Attaches must travel a great deal; must attend official receptions, ceremonies, reviews, manuevers, dinners, cocktail parties, and so on; must enter tain extensively; and must make innumerable calls on agencies with which they are required to keep contact. The cost of all this, in addition to normal living expenses, is considerable. Officers on attache duty are therefore reimbursed, within strictly defined limitations, for the extraordinary and unusual expenses incident to their assignment. At one time this was not done, with the natural result that the field from which the Army could pick its attaches was restricted to the relatively few officers who had a considerable personal income in addition to their pay. The disadvantages of such a limitation are obvious. The Navy and the Air Force also have their attaches. Under authority of the Department of Defense, each Service runs its own attache system. However, when attaches of two or all three Services are accredited to a particular country and located at its capital, they work closely together to prevent duplication of effort. Such facilities as communications, finance and fiscal services, motor pools, and the like are operated jointly to the greatest extent possible. MILITARY MISSIONS AND MILITARY ASSISTANCE. Our entrance into these fields dates from 1926, when we began establishing military missions in various Latin-American countries. Their purpose was to foster friendly relations, and also to assist in preventing any such country from falling within the sphere of influence of any nonAmerican Power. In 1942, after our entrance into World War II, two missions were set up in Iran. In 1948 we started a program of aid to Greece against the Communist menace, providing both military equipment and training assistance. With the continued increase in such military aid, a new kind of agency was created for its effective administration, known as the Military Advisory Assistance Group (MAAG). The first two MAAG's were established, in Greece and Turkey, in 1949. In 1945 Congress authorized the Mutual Defense Assistance Program, intended to promote the security of the United States and the individual and collective self-defense of friendly nations. Included in the program is the provision of military equipment and training needed to develop or maintain effective military-type units, in countries which are important to our own security but are unable to create or support such units without our help. This part of the program is administered by the Department of the Army under the Department of Defense. In each such country there is a basic organization, the “U. S. Country Team,” functioning under our Ambassador or Minister. When military assistance is a part of the program, it is administered by the type of unit (MAAG) which had been created for a similar purpose before the passage of the 1954 act. A MAAG is usually a joint organization of Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel. It advises the foreign government as to the determination of military needs, the use and care of equipment furnished by us, and the conduct of military training. Programs in the various countries differ in emphasis, scope, and magnitude; there are variations in the kind of aid given, and in the degree of self-sufficiency of the nations being aided. The makeup and activities of MAAG's vary accordingly. Basically they consist of a chief (usually a gen eral officer or flag officer) with a small joint staff and sections provided by the Services having programs in the country concerned. The chief of a MAAG is specially selected, and is then nominated to the Department of Defense by the military department concerned. In addition to the above, there are cases where our military assistance to a nation is chiefly limited to training its armed forces. Such activity is administered by U. S. Military Missions. A mission is provided at the request of the host nation and its duties are clearly outlined in a bilateral agreement between the two governments. In general, missions are small and pertain to only one of the Armed Services. They are advisory in character. For economy of forces, the scope of certain military missions has been expanded to handle some of the work ordinarily done by MAAG's. Most of the missions in Latin-American countries have been designated as MAAG's and perform MAAG functions. During 1957 about 6,000 Army personnel were employed on MAAG's or military missions in foreign countries. LOCATIONS. Below are listed the nations or oversea areas in which American MAAG's, military missions, and military attaches are located, and also those where there are sizable American forces. Military forces are composed of elements termed commands. A command is composed of a commander, a staff, and subordinate units. In the Army, as in any large civilian corporation, the executive head or commander has two categories of persons to whom he gives orders: first, the commanders of the subordinate units of his command; and second, his personal assistants who advise him in matters relating to their specialties, and to whom he delegates certain parts of his executive and administrative duties. This latter group is called the staff. The staff assists and advises the commander. It relieves him of details by furnishing basic information and technical advice to assist him in arriving at sound decisions; by developing his basic decision into adequate plans, translating the plans into orders, and transmitting the orders to subordinate leaders; by insuring compliance with these orders through constructive inspection and observation for the commander; by keeping the commander informed of everything he ought to know; by anticipating future needs and drafting tentative plans to meet them; and by supplementing the commander's efforts to secure unity of action throughout the command. Staffs exist in some form in all commands from battalion or battle group upward. However, the lowest command level at which a fully developed general staff is normally found is the division. DIVISION STAFF. The division staff is divided into three levels: the chief of staff, the general or coordinating staff (G-staff), and the special or functional staff. Chief of Staff, Division. This level is represented by an individual, or by a group headed by the Chief of Staff. It is the coordinating and directing head of the staff, and its main connecting link with the commander. The Chief of Staff is also the principal assistant and adviser to the commander, and normally is the senior staff officer in the headquarters. This level is a means of freeing the commander, to a large degree, from minor details, so that he may devote his time to the overall leadership and command requirements of his position. General Staff, Division. The general or coordinating staff (G-staff) is normally organized into four or five general functional sections, and is the commander's agency for harmonizing the plans, duties and operations of all elements of the command, including subordinate units and the special staff. It coordinates all activities to insure the most efficient employment of the force as a whole. The heads of the general staff sections are called assistant chiefs of staff. Their tasks are to assist the chief of staff in planning and coordinating activities pertaining to one or another of the four, or five, principal functional areas of the commander's responsibilities: personnel, intelligence, operations and training, logistics, and (sometimes) civil affairs/military government. More specifically, the matters with which they deal are as follows Also commands appropriate unit. "Organized when G3 can no longer effectively perform these duties. Figure 2. Staff Organization, Infantry Division. Personnel Officer (A.C. of S. G1): maintenance of unit strength; maintenance of morale; discipline, law and order; the handling of personnel as individuals; the internal organization of the headquarters and its administrative functioning. Intelligence Officer (A.C. of S. G2): military intellegence and counterintelligence. His primary task is to keep the commander, and all interested agencies and staff sections, fully informed of the enemy's situation and capabilities, and of the weather and terrain. In addition, he has certain operational functions with respect to specialized intelligence agencies. The Operations and Training Officer (A.C. of S. G3): organization, training and tactical operations. |