Mission Command In Operation Desert Storm

The purpose of this paper is to identify the uses and application of mission command within Operation Anaconda. Operation Anaconda took place in the Shahikot Valley of eastern Afghanistan in early March of 2002. The ground commander selected to lead the operation was Major General (MG) Hagenbeck of the 10th Mountain Division, and for the purpose of this operation, Coalition and Joint Task Force (CJTF) Mountain. Due to the limited number of troops under his command currently available in Afghanistan, MG Hagenbeck was given command in addition to one of his own organic battalions, the 3rd Brigade, 101st Air Assault Division, some Special Operations Force (SOF) units, and Coalition Forces. This paper will identify MG Hagenbeck’s, his staff’s, and higher command’s use of the mission command principles during this operation. The principles of mission command are accept prudent risk, use mission orders, exercise disciplined initiative, provide a clear commander’s intent, create shared understanding, and lastly, build cohesive teams through mutual trust (Mission Command, 2014).

Lieutenant General (LtGen) Richard F. Natonski, United States Marine Corps, commanded the 1st Marine Division (1 MAR DIV), to include a Brigade and specialized units from the US Army and Iraqi Forces in support of Operation Phantom Fury to gain command and control of Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004. He described the situation to subordinate units and directed them continuously on the ground while simultaneously assessing the mission accomplished. An excellent execution of mission command and the operations process resulted in the restoration of local government in Fallujah.

During 2003, General Petraeus and his soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division had no clue of the astounding role they were about to embark on. General Petraeus found the city of Mosul in complete destruction, and knew it would take a cohesive effort through mutual trust and teamwork to restore the city. The city of Mosul did not only need a complete make over, but also a regime that shared a mutual understanding as Petraeus. Lastly, with the city rebuilding changes would bring hostility and risk to the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. General David Petraeus was successful in Mosul, because he applied the mission command control principles of building cohesive teams, creating shared understanding, and accepting prudent risk.

The Gulf War is often remembered as an easy victory by most Americans. Perceived as an intense military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory, and often referred to as a battle between good and evil. In reality, the U.S. military had a host of troubles in the conflicts of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Sheild which became known as the Gulf War of 1990-91, many of troubles were caused by the unnecessary deaths of allied troops, and the Iraqi civilians alike. Other catastrophes were avoided purely by luck or incompetence of the Iraqi Military. What new military strategies, procedures and technologies are now in place as a result of lessons learned. Hopefully to ensure that some of the worst mistakes that were made evident by the Gulf War will not be repeated in a subsequent war in Iraq or elsewhere. The intense reality of the actual battle fought by the United States and its allies against Iraq, left many a U.S. military spokesmen were scoffing at the Iraqi forces as “the fourth-largest army in the world.” And “the second-largest army in Iraq” by the world at the end of the Gulf War,

5 Operation Desert storm was a war between the U.S and Iraq. To those of us who are too young to remember this conflict is one that my grandfather tells me constantly that the price of freedom is never free. Armed forces of the united states and 100 other countries joined in a massive coalition of power to defeat a country called iraq led by a tyrant and dictator Saddam hussein into invading and occupying Kuwait. Naval and air forces and army and marine ground forces of America joined with countries such as Saudi Arabia , france ,Germany ,England ,Italy and other Arab countries joined into one effort to invade Kuwait and liberate that country from tyrannical rule. Where is and always will be the last option because of the deaths of thousands of people both friendly and enemy of soldier and civilian. By this conflict that started in January 1991 and is famously called the hundred hour

“Mission command is the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations” (ADRP 6-0) What does a commander do when all communications with higher command is severed? Combatant commanders cannot cease to operate simply because communications are interrupted. In Ghost Fleet, the Chinese completely disrupt all communications for the American fleet. In beginning of the novel, this cripples the fleet. Lack of orders paralyzes the much-needed response to the invasion and attacks.

After consulting with U. S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney in early August 1990, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia invited American troops onto Saudi soil. He had seen Kuwait's destiny; therefore, he wanted protection. It was also the interest of the USA to stop any further advantage of the Iraqi army. The deployment was called "Operation Desert Shield." These troops were armed with light, defensive weaponry.

President George H. W. Bush approached Congress, asking for the authority to send United States troops to Iraq, to liberate the people of Kuwait from Iraqi control. The United States then launched an air war against Iraq in mid-January 1991. Despite the media telling American citizens that the United States took an involved role in the conflict in the Middle East to free Kuwait and end Saddam Hussein’s oppressive dictatorship, depicting him as another Hitler, this was false. President George H. W. Bush approached Congress for permission to send troops solely to make up for the United States defeat in the Vietnam War and prove that the United States was a world superpower. The United States’ actions consisted of primarily bombing Iraqi cities such as Baghdad. Many were killed during these raids, including children. Towards the end of the war, approximately six weeks after it began, the United States attacked Iraq using both a ground assault and air raids. As with the air raids, the ground troops encountered hardily any resistance. After the war, the United States left Saddam Hussein in power, which goes against what the media originally said the reason for United States military action was. President George H. W. Bush commented at the end of Operation Desert Storm that the United States victory in brought redemption to the United States after the defeat in

Although there is more to it, the success of the initial of invasion was excellent news, however General Omar Bradley was not please with the slow progress allied troop were making inland. Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery of the British Army was the commander of all ground troops involved in the Normandy invasion, attributed the slow progress of the allied push inland to the significant loss of the Mulberry Harbor, weather, and a fierce German resistance force further inland. After several long weeks of minimal advances inland General Bradley devised Operation Cobra, this was an offensive operation aimed at breaking through German lines in order to advance allied forces towards Paris. The intention was to split the allied forces in two groups, the British, Polish and Canadians were to launch Operation Goodwood while the Americans pushed west in Operation Cobra. The simoutannious movement of allied forces demanded that the Germans choose which front to focus

In August 1990, the CPT Joe D'Antona, started the command of B / 2-7 ADA in Dhahran air base, marking the beginning to the participation of the ADA in Operation Desert Storm (USC Army ROTC, nd). During the Operation Desert Storm, various changes were made to the Patriot system, including the development and updating of the system, alignment and construction of five hundred new missiles. ADA, had an active participation in Desert Storm, defending the activities of the divisions and defense of critical assets in Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The first, Army's Avenger Battery deployed during Desert Storm was 4-5 ADA / 1st Cavalry Division, being also one of the first units to lose a soldier under hostile

The United States military is becoming more diverse. This includes its own ranks. Not only is there joint operations within the U.S. military’s own units and branches, but now it is a globalized world. The military must learn to work with other foreign forces and other government agencies. With this leaders must be able to work with all these entities. One way to do this is the use of Mission Command.

The views of this slowly began to change throughout different American conflicts. For instance, during the gulf war, Operation Desert Storm became the most widely and most swiftly reported war in history due to the “CNN effect”, which refers to the widely available round-the-clock broadcasts of the Cable News Network. (Belknap) General Powell instructed National Defense University students, “Once you’ve got all the forces moving and everything’s being taken care of by the commanders, and turn your attention to television, because you can win the battle but lose the war if you don’t handle the story right” (Belknap). Both the media and the military began to share a dedication to American freedoms, and neither wanted a news story to be the cause of a single American soldier’s death. This marked a turning point in military-media relations and a turning point for Americans’ view of that relationship. Despite this progress, another lawsuit challenged press restrictions during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. In the case titled Nation Magazine v. Dept. of Defense, several news organizations confronted a

Exterior Lines of Operation (LOO) best characterizes General Schwarzkopf’s Operational Approach for Desert Storm. The Coalition operations converge on the enemy and XVIII Airborne Corps along with VII Corps used the envelopment firstly to cut lines of communication of the enemy and to destroy it in the Kuwait Theatre of Operation. In addition, the Coalition showed itself as a modern army with high-speed armor capabilities and total control of the air. It kept distance from the enemy since units remained outside of enemy artillery and multiple rocket systems range until the Ground Offensive Campaign began.

The first battle in Fallujah during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) is known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. This battle is regarded as one of the biggest single defeats that the United States Military has suffered throughout all its campaigns during OIF. The United States and international media outlets exploited this defeat, which in turn, bolstered Al Qaeda recruiting in Fallujah. This offensive failure and retreat was backed by a huge public outcry for troop withdrawal and successful exploitation of recruiting propaganda by the insurgents.

As seen through today’s prism of operational art and design, the U.S. military’s campaign planning for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) was not successful. This failure resulted from flaws in the planning process itself, and the conclusions that flowed from that process. The lack of adequate advance planning for Phase IV stability or transition operations proved especially problematic. This contributed directly to rising levels of violence in Iraq, and indirectly to increased public scrutiny of the war at home. Throughout 2006, the U.S. public, pundits and military planners debated the way forward in Iraq. The plan that emerged from this period, known as the surge, successfully overcame the deficiencies in the initial planning and execution