Niger Syndrome goes mainstream: Abbey Gate attack shows commanders are failing to assess risks
By Henry Black
Mar 7, 03:58 PM
Pallbearers carry a U.S. service member killed in action during the evacuation out of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 26, 2021. (1st Lt. Mark Andries/Marine Corps)
I once observed retired Marine Maj. Gen. Lawrence Livingston say: “I will use every god d*#! round I have to save the life of one Marine.”
During 1990-1991, I served under Livingston, then a colonel, both before and during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, when he commanded the 6th Marine Regiment. I loved Livingston. He was brutally honest, guided by integrity, tactically proficient and used every asset at his disposal to maximize the safety and success of his Marines.
He epitomized the opposite of what I call the Niger Syndrome — essentially, commanders ordering military forces to execute a mission, but failing to properly assess mission risk and therefore failing to allocate adequate risk mitigation measures. The underlying factor creating the Niger Syndrome is a failure by the commander to view and therefore care for the members of the unit as brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.
The Niger Syndrome was a fundamental cause for the deaths of four members of Army ODA 3212 and five Nigerien partner soldiers on Oct. 4, 2017, during an ambush near Tongo Tongo, Niger. My youngest son, Bryan, was one of the four.
In the years since, the lives of those who loved Bryan have settled into a rhythm in which, while grateful for the grace and goodness of God, we yet live with the ache of loss. Often, that ache is unnoticed, but every now and then that ache pushes through the scars, and we again feel that intense, indescribable grief.
https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/2022/03/07/niger-syndrome-goes-mainstream-abbey-gate-attack-shows-commanders-are-failing-to-assess-risks/
