The Battle of Fallujah forever changed the methods in which the American military conducts combat operations. The American military was not expecting to engage in such a bloody and intense battle like Fallujah. Fallujah changed the way the military conducted its tactical operations, its intelligence operations, and its Information Operations (IO). There are also a number of other factors that were changed to due this intense urban conflict. The Battle of Fallujah was started by one singular incident, which will now be expanded upon.
Insurgents ambushed and killed four American private security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, on March 31, 2004. These men were from the Blackwater Security Firm. They were providing security for truck convoys carrying food throughout Fallujah. These men were not simply killed, but there corpses were set on fire, dismembered, beaten, and dragged through the streets of Fallujah. The insurgents hung two of the burnt corpses from a bridge over the Euphrates River while local citizens celebrated and rejoiced in the streets. Associated Press reporters on scene took pictures and showed the world the appalling event that had occurred.
These actions angered the U.S. government and on April 4, 2004, Operation Vigilant Resolve commenced. This battle had U.S. Marines attempt to expel insurgents, from Fallujah city, that were responsible for the murder of the Blackwater workers. The Marines were not fully prepared for the difficult urban combat this battle would entail. The horrid actions of the insurgents sent the U.S. into a frenzy, which in turn, did not allow them to prepare a proper battle strategy. The strategy for Fallujah city was simple, conventional Army tactics that would shock and awe the enemy into s...
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... western approaches to the city and secured the Jurf Kas Sukr Bridge. These initial attacks, however, was a diversion intended to distract and confuse the insurgents holding the city.
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The actions taken by Moore and his command group from Company Commanders to NCO’s, saved the lives of numerous American soldiers. This battle shows the leadership and unit discipline were needed to survive and be combat effective in adverse situations. Throughout the battle you see numerous Army Values and Warrior Ethos being used. “I will never leave a fallen comrade”, was the etho used the most, to reach the separated platoon. The battle also shows that not all tactical orders are effective, but as leader you must never second guess yourself.
September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden decided to “wake the sleeping giant.” The US immediately sent SOF units and CIA officers to recon the area and meet with the Northern Alliance. The primary battle leading up to this operation was Tora Bora, which was absent of conventional forces. Up until this point, the war on terror was predominantly a Special Operations fight along with Air Force for overhead support.3 SOF and the Northern Alliance had already displaced Taliban forces out of many towns and villages in northern Afghanistan to gain control of key terrain. Key towns in northern Afghanistan including Taloqan, Konduz, Herat, and Mazar-e Sharif took only three weeks to clear.4 The SOF units were making huge impacts across the country calling in air strikes. At the same time the SOF units were diligently...
No matter how well intentioned the invasion of Iraq may have been, it was an act of violence and deception that has left many American men dead for no clear reason.
The Battle of Kamdesh was fought in Afghanistan during the Afghan War. It is an occurrence in the ongoing NATO campaign of the Operation Enduring Freedom since the year 2001. It was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban insurgents, assisted by local Nuristan militias, attacked Kamdesh, which is an American combat outpost, located deep in the Nuristan tribal Areas. They carried out a well-coordinated attack on the outpost, leading to a breach and an overrun of the post. This paper, seeks to analyze why, when, how, and what were the resulting impact of the battle.
In the early morning of 19 February 1945, United States Marines assigned to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Division led the initial assault on the Japanese controlled island of Iwo Jima, with the objective of capturing and securing the island. This was the beginning of one of the fiercest and bloodiest; and more decisively, the most strategically important battles fought during World War II. After the dust had settled, and the smoke had cleared, the causalities and losses were astounding. 6,821 U.S. Marines along with 18,844 members of the Imperial Japanese Army had paid the ultimate sacrifice. A decisive US victory on the island of Iwo Jima later played a pivotal role in the overarching defeat of the Japanese Empire and its Armed Forces (Morison, 1945).
The Battle of Tora Bora was a successful operation that taught the United States a lot about operations in Afghanistan, dealing with Osama bin Laden and his followers and how we needed to change the way we fought as an American force. The lessoned that we learned from this operation have taught us to train our troops differently because we are fighting a new asymmetric enemy. As a country and military force, we have transformed to become a better and more complex force and continue to maintain our proficiency in being a powerful nation with the best military in the world.
Corporal Jones posted his description of the events on his blog which included that the operation took place on Pakistani territory, a detailed description of the entry route his unit used to travel into Pakistan, and he mentioned his commanding officer’s violation of military protocol, which may have led to the ambush and deaths of his fellow marines.
What Happened in Nam? The soldiers' tale: bearing witness to modern war. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: A. Lane, in the year 1997. 177. - 222. - 177. - 222. Print.
On March 16, 1968, in the Quang Ngai region of Vietnam, specifically My Lai, the United States military was involved in an appalling slaughter of approximately 500 Vietnamese civilians. There are numerous arguments as to why this incident even had the capacity to occur. Although some of the arguments seem valid, can one really make excuses for the slaughter of innocent people? The company that was responsible for the My Lai incident was the Charlie Company, and throughout the company, there were many different accounts of what happened that reprehensible day. Therefore, there are a few contradictions about what had occurred, such as what the commanding officers' exact instructions for the soldiers were.
On March 18, 2003, Coalition forces would launch the initial attacks on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. A full invasion of the country followed, and Hussein was overthrown from power. While the end of Hussein’s oppressive reign was considered a victory for many of the Iraqi people, the Sunnis of the Ba’ath Party refused to accept his demise. Although the Sunnis were in the minority, the city of Fallujah would remain home to many of the Ba’ath Party supporters. On March 31, 2004, almost a year to date from the end of Hussein’s reign, four American Blackwater contactors working in Fallujah were attacked, brutally beaten, burned and dismembered by a group of Iraqi insurgents. Two of the bodies were hung from a bridge for all of the citizens of Fallujah to see, and a mob style celebration took place in the city. The highly publicized incident would be the igniter for the First Battle of Fallujah, known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. On May 1, 2004, the battle would end with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the city and control being turned over to the newly formed Fallujah Brigade. The mission as a whole was a failure, and the shortcomings of Operation Vigilant Resolve were ultimately a demonstration of the underestimation of the power, size, efficiency, organization and control that the Insurgent Forces had in Iraq as well as the lack of a consistent strategic plan from the American forces.
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