A conversation with Scott Osterling: One of Harvard’s Young Military Veterans
by Sabrina Roshan on December 17, 2009 in Culture
Photo courtesy of Taylor Chapman, MPP '11
Scott Osterling, MPA/MBA ’10, walks through the HKS forum just like the rest of us – water bottle, backpack, and cell phone in tow, just trying to get to class on time. What few know is that he is a product of some of the US military’s most elite Special Operations Forces. Osterling, a US Military Academy graduate, was part of the 75th Ranger Regiment and was commissioned as a Green Beret, commanding detachment A-573 in combat in Iraq. Following 10 years of decorated service, he left the commando beard and inconspicuous gear for the halls of Harvard. In light of the recent Veteran’s Day holiday and this critical time in the Obama administration’s decision on the Afghanistan strategy, Osterling sat down to talk to The Citizen about his service to the country and his thoughts on where the US is headed in its foreign policy.
1. At such a young age, what made you decide to attend the US Military Academy?
Part of it was the idealist in me and part of it was the practical side of me. I was interested in the military from a pretty young age and in high school, I had a teacher in the National Guard who was deployed to Iraq for the Gulf War. It was a patriotic time that played an influential part in my decision. More practically, I was a swimmer in high school and was recruited by the West Point swim coach.
2. During your 10 years in the military, what do you think of as your greatest accomplishment?
Being a part of a team that led to the capture of what some media outlets referred to as the “most dangerous man in the insurgency.” He was one of the biggest foreign financiers of the insurgency. He was certainly a key factor in bringing outside money into what was then a very powerful Sunni - Al Qaeda partnership in Central and Western Iraq. The capture required several local contacts, unmanned aerial vehicles, civilian vehicles, and several other surveillance methods.
3. How did you or your fellow servicemen and women deal with situations in which you were in the theatre fighting a war that may not have aligned with your policy perspective?
I can only speak for myself and the guys that I served with. I think the attitude that’s most pervasive is that if the administration that is putting young Americans in harm’s way is supporting the military with the right equipment and there is enough public support for the soldiers – even if the support is not for the mission but for the soldiers, you feel like you are doing something good. You may disagree with the decision to go to Iraq. You can still feel proud on an individual level that you are making life better for the Iraqi people. I think that for most soldiers, that’s the case.
Both the Obama administration and the latter part of the Bush Administration have proceeded with the right amount of caution in terms of winding down the US presence there. I think it’s certainly time to start bringing US forces home. I think that to President Obama’s credit, he has done it at the right pace while making it clear to the Iraqi government that their security is now their responsibility.
4. What was your greatest challenge during your 10 years of service?
Understanding that when you’re in the military that you really work for your soldiers. The idea that you can’t really ever have an off day, you can’t say “well, this challenge is too hard,” or “this job is something I really don’t want to do.” Every day, people expect you to make decisions that affect their lives and expect you to make the right ones. Very rarely are there easy decisions to make out there.
5. What is your greatest memory from the field?
When I was a platoon leader in the Rangers, we conducted a night parachute jump onto an airfield. One of my soldiers had a total malfunction of his parachute -it didn’t open when he exited the aircraft. He struggled to deploy his reserve parachute, finally getting open just a second or two before he hit the tarmac. He broke his back and his ankle, unbeknownst to me. I was already safely on the ground and waiting with the rest of my platoon to move. The soldier properly bagged up his parachute and crawled into the assembly area where my platoon was meeting after making the jump. The injured soldier was a team leader, in charge of 3 other soldiers and he was checking on them, just as he was supposed to do. He only told us after he had completed his checks that his parachute had failed and that he was seriously injured. “Why the hell didn’t you stay where you were and call for some help?” I asked. He told me that he had to get back to make sure that his soldiers were okay.
It was an absolute privilege to serve with men like these and even more of an honor to be trusted as their leader.
6. How do you feel about the Obama Administration’s progress on Iraq and Afghanistan so far?
Thus far, he gets an incomplete. The Obama Administration benefited greatly from a much improved security situation in Iraq that was in place when he took office. As I mentioned previously, he is withdrawing troops at the right pace in Iraq.
On Afghanistan, I think he did the right thing by sending 15,000 additional troops to stabilize the situation last spring. With a new commander on the ground, the President has taken the time to perform a thorough reassessment of the situation. Despite some on the right wanting to increase troops immediately and some on the left wanting immediate withdrawal, President Obama has chosen a judicious course. The fighting is very much seasonal and as it gets colder this winter, the fighting will subside until springtime. This window will also give the Obama administration some time to work with the Karzai government to increase its legitimacy.
7. What are factors that are not being considered in the rhetoric on Afghanistan policy?
It’s just starting to come into focus now: what the future of the Karzai government is going to be. If he’s not seen as the legitimate leader of Afghanistan by both the Afghan people and the world, we can’t win a counterinsurgency campaign as it requires a legitimate government.
8. What are the factors that are not being considered in the rhetoric on Iraq policy?
I think the one big unanswered question in Iraq is what the future of Kirkuk is. The oil field around Kirkuk and how the Kurds and Sunnis in particular look to split the revenue from them has the potential to be incredibly violent.
They really haven’t addressed the issue yet but it’s going to have a significant impact on the future security situation in Iraq. The Kurds consider Kirkuk to be very much a Kurdish city. Saddam moved the Kurds out and forced Sunnis into the city and altered its demographics. There are a lot of Kurds who have unresolved property claims in Kirkuk. Both the Kurdish leaders, Talabani and Barzani, want that to be resolved in a way that allows Kirkuk to essentially become Kurdish again.
9. What is your policy prescription on Iraq and Afghanistan?
Kirkuk is the major future flash point in Iraq. In addition, we must make sure that our force level in Iraq is commensurate with the threat.
Afghanistan is much, much harder because the resources required to replicate the same type of strategy that we did with the surge just aren’t there. We’re talking about something on the order of 200,000 American soldiers, which is not going to happen. It also assumes a level and size of competence that the Afghan national army is not at. I think a counterinsurgency strategy can only effective in keeping the situation from getting any worse. Our key relationship in the region is with Pakistan; working with our Pakistani allies to reduce the power and influence of the Pakistani Taliban and the leadership of al Qaeda that is taking refuge in the tribal areas is our most important challenge. We don’t want Afghanistan to become the failed state it was from 1996 to 2001, where the Taliban was in control, and al Qaeda was permitted freedom of maneuver within the country. I think we can prevent that from happening without the commitment of resources and national will that it is going to take to fight a full on counterinsurgency campaign if we can work with Pakistani allies.
10. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I am going to keep asking myself that question every five years to make sure I’m doing what I want to do. I believe very strongly in service to country. I certainly hope to be, in some capacity, whether it’s military or something else - giving back to a country that has given me so many opportunities; the opportunity to go to the military academy for free, the opportunity to lead the finest men in the country, and the chance to go to an institution like Harvard. I am interested in elected politics eventually. I would like to continue to serve in the Reserves or National Guard after I graduate. I haven’t completely shut the door on serving in some capacity.
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