The Female Engagement Team at Operation Allies Welcome

Authors

Morgan Fleming

Files

Description

In 2021, 1^st Lieutenant Morgan Fleming Served with Task Force Bliss in Operation Allies Welcome at the Dona Ana Range Complex, New Mexico. The operation hosted thousands of Afghan refugees and provided housing and immigration assistance to these guests for just over six months. As part of the operation, Task Force Bliss created the first domestically operational Female Engagement Team (FET) in the U.S. Army. The FET, initially intended to gather soft data within the Afghan population, evolved in nature and scope over the duration of the operation. 1^st LT Fleming’s experiences on the FET provide a case study on the nuances of leading an all-female unit within an Armored Brigade Comat Team (ABCT), successes and failures in the operation at a tactical level, and with ideas for improvement to integration of the FET model for use in future operations as the U.S. Army transitions from Counterinsurgency (COIN) to Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO).

Publication Date

May, 2023

Publisher

U.S. Naval War College

City

Newport, Rhode Island

Keywords

WPS, Female Engagement Team (FET), Cultural Support Teams (CST) Operation Allies Welcom, all-female unit, U.S. Army

Recommended Citation

Fleming, Morgan, "The Female Engagement Team at Operation Allies Welcome" (2023). Women, Peace, and Security. 18.
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/wps/18