Individual augmentee An Individual Augmentee is a United States military member assigned to a unit ( battalion or company ) as a TAD / TDY status . Individual Augmentees can be used to fill shortages or can be used when an individual with specialized knowledge or skill sets is required . As a result , Individual Augmentees can include members from an entirely different branch of service . The system has been used extensively in the current Iraq War , though with some criticism . Currently , there are approximately 12 , 000 Navy personnel filling Army jobs in the United States , Iraq , Afghanistan , Cuba and the Horn of Africa at any one time . Historical use . All branches of the military have existing regulations concerning assignment of personnel outside of their normal organization or branch of service . Examples include members of the Navy who are temporarily assigned to NASA for astronaut duty , or Navy Hospital Corpsmen who are assigned to Marine Corps units ( which do not furnish their own medical personnel ) . Upon completion of their duties , these members are returned to their home units . After the September 11 , 2001 attacks , and especially after the U . S . invasion of Iraq , Individual Augmentee assignments increased dramatically . Initially , most of these assignments included Navy or Air Force personnel assigned to Army units to fill specialized roles that the Army had either trouble filling or had limited expertise in . Some of these personnel were already combat trained by virtue of their existing skills , while others went into combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq with little or no combat training . As a result , a formal program soon developed that ensured a minimum level of training for all members deploying to combat zones . Current assignment and training model . The current Individual Augmentee system approved by the United States Department of Defense works on a combination of ordered and volunteer assignments mirroring manning requirements . The Army produces a document consisting of job requirements with the required skill sets as well as starting and ending dates . The job descriptions are converted to Navy equivalents and the personnel activities of these branches task local commanders with assigning the required personnel . Volunteers are used first , and local commands issue orders for the remaining jobs based on local instructions . For the Navy , excess shore billets are tapped first . As of June 5 , 2008 , United States Fleet Forces Command has responsibility of the Individual Augmentee training program . In January 2006 the McCrady Training Center at Fort Jackson , South Carolina , became the central training facility for Navy personnel assigned as Individual Augmentees . The center , operated by Task Force Marshall , is also a South Carolina Army National Guard facility , and the Individual Augmentee training program is modeled closely after the refresher training conducted for drilling reservist s . Prior to using this centralized facility personnel were trained in several other locations including Fort Lewis , Washington , Camp Shelby , Mississippi , Fort Bliss , Texas , and Fort Benning , Georgia . The McCrady facility is capable of processing up to 600 students at once with an annual budget of $ 16 . 7 million . Curriculum at McCrady includes basic combat skills . The three - week course is not designed to build Army infantry men since even for Army personnel a significant amount of training occurs not in Basic Combat Training but in the experience of years on the job . Instead , the program is designed to teach individuals assigned to Army units the basic skills required to stay alive should the worst scenario occur . In keeping with this , topics covered in the training include basic marksmanship ( Navy personnel must qualify on the same course of fire as Army personnel ) , combat first aid , land navigation , urban operations and an introduction to Army culture . Perhaps most important is training in convoy and counter - IED operations since these subjects are crucial to survival in Afghanistan and Iraq . It ' s important to note that the vast majority of Navy Individual Augmentees are assigned to combat support or combat service support roles , and only a small percentage of Individual Augmentees have seen combat . While some risk exposure in a war zone is inevitable , most joint commands in Iraq and Afghanistan have specific controls in place to limit the exposure of personnel who are not trained for such high risk operations . Even with the additional training and limited combat exposure of most Individual Augmentees , deaths have occurred . While the Navy has sustained 73 casualties in the combined efforts of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom , many of these individuals were Naval Combatants or Direct Support Enablers SEAL , EOD , Hospital Corpsmen , or Seabee whose roles were not typical of most Navy personnel . Controversy . While the Individual Augmentee program has been in existence long before the September 11 , 2001 attacks , the current use of the program has drawn controversy . One reason is that the program is being used to fill Army vacancies for the sole reason of making up for lower Army recruiting numbers . There has also been criticism in Congress about the program due to issues of oversight and financing , as well as mission readiness . Congress has expressed concern that the Navy , with a traditionally sea - centric role , may be spreading itself too thin ( some units have up to 40 % of personnel on IA duty ) and in the process may lose some of its core competency in traditional seagoing warfare . Members within the Navy have expressed concern about the increased focus of IA assignments , especially as to how they relate to promotions , advancement and awards , with some members interpreting new Navy instructions on the subject to mean that Individual Augmentees are to receive preferential treatment . Although Congress and the Department of Defense have increased the Army ' s troop strength authorization by 7 , 000 , the Army and Navy have both admitted that it may take as much as five years before Individual Augmentee requirements draw down to pre - Iraq War levels .