Military Review English Edition September-October 2014 | Page 28

Members of the Jordan Armed
Forces ( JAF) march outside at
the Noncommissioned Officer
Academy, 21 September 2009.
The JAF is working to strengthen their noncommissioned
officer corps and make it the
backbone of their forces.
(Cpl. Jordan Johnson, 13th Public Affairs
Detachment)

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Setting aside speculation as to
the causes, this article focuses on
describing steps the U.S. Army
took from 2010 to 2013 to help its
Jordanian partners build a functioning and empowered NCO
corps. It describes each step taken
and the thought process behind it.
The authors hope these observations will be useful to others supporting partners who face similar

cultural and organizational hurdles
in professionalizing and modernizing their armed forces.

Tasting Real Combat
Combat was the impetus to
change in the JAF. The son of one
of Jordan’s first sergeants major
trained by the British, Jordanian
Lt. Gen. Mashal al Zaben, chairman of the Jordanian Joint Chiefs
September-October 2014  MILITARY REVIEW