Prior to the VII Corps ground offensive, the 1st Calvary Division “conducted aggressive feints, demonstrations, and artillery raids in the direction of the Iraqi defense nearest the Wadi Al-Batin. ” In addition, simulated convoys, logistic sites, reconnaissance, command posts, and training operations all showed a buildup of corps forces and reinforced the deception that the main attack would be launched directly north into Western Kuwait.
The whole MILDEC program was a success. Saddam stayed focused to the east and to the coast. At least 8 divisions stayed oriented on the Kuwaiti coast and 4 divisions were positioned to block Wadi Al-Batin, all their attention fixed in the wrong direction. All of the efforts to develop a success MILDEC would have been for not if Saddam had gain critical information or indications of US positions, capabilities or, most important, intent. Operations Security, or OPSEC, had to be incorporated in order to deny the adversary this information.
Operations Security (OPSEC)
By discovering the enemy’s disposition and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy must be divided.
- Sun Tzu
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The purpose of OPSEC is to reduce the vulnerability of US forces from adversary exploitation of critical information or indicators. The process is a systematic method used to identify, control, and protect critical information and subsequently analyze friendly actions associated with military operations. This includes analyzing the enemy collection means, or sensors, which can observe friendly activities and forward on to senior leadership. Most times this information is not overt like finding top secret plans but rather “it is little indicators, puzzle pieces, that when combined with other indicators, loudly shout ‘Here I am!’ to the enemy.
The second failure experienced during the operation was that AFRICOM did not have a clear-cut end goal. Without a defined endstate for operations in Libya, AFRICOM was uncertain as to what resources it needed for operations. As Clausewitz wrote, “No one starts a war-or rather no one in his senses ought to do so-without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it. The former is its political purpose; the latter is its operational objective.” Even though he stated this back in the 1800’s, Clausewitz’s point is still appropriate. I believe we were clear in our minds when the crisis started what our intentions were. Because the on-going situation was changing at such a rapid pace there was no time to define a clear-cut end goal. This rapid shift in missions
The following paper gives insights on various issues; Firstly, why the First World War started, its effects and lastly how and why America got involved in the First World War
The first world war was one of the most brutal and remorseless events in history; ‘the global conflict that defined a century’. Over nine million soldiers and a large amount of innocent civilians lost their lives. Empires crumbled, revolution engulfed Russia and America rose to become a dominant world power. Huge armies deployed new weapons of devastating effect from rifles and pistols to torpedoes and flame throwers. These weapons were used not only in the trenches but by tanks too. This was an advantage to those who were able to access such machinery as they could easily launch bullets and missiles at nearby enemy bases. The downfall of the tank was the fact it was unable to cross the trenches. Tanks were not the only pieces of equipment that could access this machinery but U boats and planes too. The British carried ‘bolt action rifles’ in which fired 15 rounds per minute at a minimum range of 1,400 metres away. This allowed the British to take out foes at a far greater range. By using machinery in which rules out the need for getting up close to the enemy was a great advantage during world war one. Soldiers ran from trench to trench attacking with all that they had. This resulted in a massacre as the soldiers running toward the trenches were shot down. Machinery such as machine guns and heavy artillery were the weapons used in the trenches. In modern day society, machine guns are the main weapons used by soldiers. This wasn’t the case around the 1914s. They took four
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,
World War I (WWI) had many main events from 1914 – 1918. It was known as the Great War and the war to end all wars. It also introduced us to many new technology to including Barbed wire, machine guns, artillery, poison gas, airships, aircraft 's, new naval vessels and tanks. All these wartime machines and equipment resulted in unprecedented carnage and destruction, with more than 9 million soldiers killed by the end of the war. This First World War or the Great War, was a global war centered in Europe. This global conflict pitted 2 groups against each other “The Allied Powers” and “The Central Powers”. The Allied Powers was made up of Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and The United States. Important people that were known for the Allied Powers were Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister (UK), Woodrow Wilson (U.S. President), Aristide Briand, Prime Minister (France), and Prime Minister (France). The Central Powers was made up of Germany, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. Important people that were known for the Central Powers were Prince Max Von Baden, Chancellor (Germany), Heinrich Von Clam-Martinic, and Prime Minister (Austria).
As we have seen throughout the entire history of warfare, ancient world terrorism, political intrigue and elitist terrorism of the middle ages, and into modern terrorism, intelligence is of vital importance on both sides. Armed forces have always used intelligence of some form be it sneaking up a hill and scouting what is on the other side to the use of modern platforms such as
Taking the field in 2003, the U.S Army, the most dominate fighting force in the world seized the initiative in Iraq. This paper outlines the staging of one command, the 101st Airborne Division, their commander Major General Petraeus, and the challenges of shifting rolls from combat to nation building and the effective transfer of power. Additionally, this paper will detail the Mission Command philosophy, specifically the describe action with the four step process of commander’s intent, planning guidance, critical information and friendly information as pertains to developing the commander’s intent during the initial occupation of Mosul, Iraq. While little was known about the current
Immediately America begins searching for deadly weapons of the Iraqi army, easy to do, due to the little opposition on the ground and nearly none in the air. America’s problems early on was not the Iraqi army, it was actually the harsh weather conditions such as sand storms that slowed America ground troops. Despite the weather conditions America would still continue to attack the Iraqi army by the air, gaining power of oil plants and territory. Still very far from Baghdad, America forces engage in combat with not only the Iraqi military, but the Iraqi people resisting against them. Making this 315 mile trip even that much harder.
Intelligence is the knowledge that provides security for our country; experience comes from our analysts and ability is derived from our freedoms. Over many decades all of this has been accomplished without the use of advanced technology, mainly through highly trained operatives who have infiltrated and obtained information from both foreign and homeland enemies. The current advancements have provided options that ensure the safety and efficiency of intelligence operations, surveillance being a
In the early morning hours of the 19th of March 2003 the leviathan force better known as the United States military began an occupation to topple the brutal Saddam Hussein regime. The conflict later known as the Iraq War and dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States, brought together four separate nations to overturn Saddam Hussein and the Ba’athist government. The war introduced tactics and strategies of urban warfare, the likes of which have never used by the U.S. military before; and despite President George W. Bush declaration on the 1st of May 2003 abroad the USS Abraham Lincoln, the war was anything but “mission accomplished.” Operation Iraqi Freedom consisted of twenty-one major battles throughout its rough ten-year occupation. Operation Phantom Fury, or better known as the Second Battle of Fallujah, was one of those strategic key battles. Then Major General Richard F. Natonski led the 1st Marine Division through Operation Phantom Fury. I will introduce a brief history of LTG Natonski, the strategic location of the City of Fallujah, and an in-depth critical analysis of the mission command throughout the deadliest battle in the Iraq War.
The VII Corps participated in a main attack together with the XVIII Airborne Corps and a French and a British division sweeping around Iraqi defenses, striking deep into Iraq, cutting lines of communications (LOC), and destroying enemy forces of Kuwait.
Does anybody recall Operation Desert Storm when the United States attacked the nation of Iraq? It was a quick and steadfastly triumph directed by the United States Military and their partners. US use of insight from utilization of SIGINT, HUMINT, SIGNINT, and Symbolism airplane perception empowered them to wreck the Iraqi's powers. Having this influence of operational insight played a huge element in the death of the Iraqi powers to in the end considering rout.
World War 2 happened in 1941-1945. It was a war against Germany and Japan against Russia, Europe, and Asia. We were brought in it at the attack at Pearl Harbor. The attack was from the Japan attacking us and we got involved in the war. When we got involved in the war we joined up with Russia, and Europe and the other countries that was joined with them.
What is OPSEC? It’s a process of protecting little pieces of information that might grouped together to give the bigger picture. It is also protecting critical information deemed mission essential for military commanders. It is simply denying your adversary the information that they might need to harm you or the mission. The AR that covers OPSEC is AR 530-1 and goes over purposes, responsibilities, policy, procedures, training requirements, OPSEC review, assessment, survey, contract and subcontract requirements and special access programs. The reasons why we have OPSEC is because any vital information that the enemy can get their hands on can give them an advantage on the battle field or
The operational environment is the framework the military uses to define a how we will create a concept to defeat an enemy. To help paint the picture of the operational environment the Army uses the acronym PMESSII-PT. PMESSII-PT stands for Politics, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Environment, and Time . I do not believe there are one or two areas that can be focused on and have a successful outcome in combat. GEN David Petraeus stated, “there are no purely military solutions in Afghanistan.”1