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Operation Al-Fajr Character Analysis

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SECOND BATTLE OF FALLUJAH(PHANTOM FURY)
LIEUTANANT GENERAL RICHARD F. NATONSKI

Major ………………………..
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Signals Captains Career Course, Class 18-005
April 19, 2018 Major General John Mattis said to the US army troops “This is our test – our Guadalcanal, our Chosin Reservoir, our Hue City.” 1 when he spoke to inform them that the 1st Marine Division was to perform and direct one of the most significant and rough battles both strategically and purposefully in the record of marine unit. Lieutenant General Richard F. Natonski’s strategic sharpness and character of command gained in the long years of experience and everything was tested during the second battle of Fallujah. This battle also known as Operation Al-Fajr and Operation Phantom …show more content…

Effective commanders build cohesive teams in an environment of mutual trust.”2 and falls as main responsibility of the leader. A great leader must inspire all of his troops from the senior commanders to the last subordinate or the last soldier, and that is the art of leadership. It is quite hard to build that kind of bound of trust between commander and the commanded and that is a successful formula to the victory of the battles. Military operations of any character require a wide-ranging cooperation for triumphant result, which is not probable if they do not have a high level of trust between each other despite the rank. LGNatonski was that kind of commander that wanted to be with his troops more than being in the headquarters. That way he would know what they were feeling be close to them support them with words while being in a difficult environment away from their families and making proud the whole US. “I’d rather see my commanders in person and talk to them face to face rather than talk to them on the radio. I wanted to see how the troops were doing and the stress they were under. The only way you can do that is by being there.” 3LGNatonski by acting this way showed how much he trusted his staff to execute the mission and also built the reciprocate trust among them. Troops get motivated when they see their commander fighting side by side with …show more content…

Opportunities come with risks.9 Accepting this risk is often the key to the success and especially when we are talking about fighting insurgents. To accept the risk means that you as commander have to make a detailed analysis of the situation taking in consideration all probable results and selecting at the end the course of action that meets best the desired result. The responsibility for what a unit does is always falls on the commander. As Gabbard said “In the military, I learned that ‘leadership’ means raising your hand and volunteering for the tough, important assignments.” Often commanders do not take the risk because they fear the failure and want to stay in the safe zone, but there is no victory without sacrifice. Personally, I think that one of the most difficult problems he had to think about was the possible destruction of the supply lines. What LG Natonski did was instructing the creation of a resupply point, which would be able to give them supplies for 15 days. He also made the decision to request a supply for 8,000 beers to celebrate the Marine Corps 229th birthday, which were distributed after the campaign, had stopped. This may sound as a crazy decision in a time like that but the moral and welfare of his troops in a

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