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.
Works Cited
Ballard, John R. (2006) Fighting For Fallujah: A New Dawn for Iraq.
Daugherty, Josh (2009) The Daily Thoughts of a Fallujah Marine
Foulk, Vincent L. (2006) Battle of Fallujah: Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq.
Hickman, Kennedy (2009) Iraq War: Second Battle of Fallujah. About.com Military History. Retrieved from http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/conflictiniraq/p/fallujah.htm/
Mansour, Ahmed (2009) Inside Fallujah: The War on the Ground.
O’Donnell, Patrick (2006) We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah.
Wikipedia (2013) Second Battle of Fallujah. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fallujah
From there it jumps backwards to before the deployment. It goes back to Colonel Todd Ebel taking over 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. He was tasked with taking over a particularly rough area of Iraq, to do so he sent the 502nd or as they were known, the Black Hearts. They were identified by the black patch that each would where on the side of their helmets. There initial task was to replace the guard unit that was currently in the area of operations and to continue the mission from there, this would prove to be very challenging. He divided up his work by giving Lieutenant Colonel Tom Kunk the eastern more urban area of the “triangle of death”. LTC Kunk is described as a straightforward and engaging leader. He was harsh and did not get along very well with his subordinate leaders constantly putting them down and butting heads with them.
The Hammelburg Raid (also known as Task Force Baum) has been one of the most controversial operations of World War II, and it cast a shadow over General George S. Patton’s otherwise illustrious career. While in command of the 3rd Army, Gen. Patton ordered the controversial and secret operation. The operation took place on March 26-28, 1945 with the official purpose of taking a small task force 60 miles behind enemy lines to liberate the prisoner of war camp OFLAG XIII-B near Hammelburg, Germany. But unofficially, its purpose was to free Patton's son-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel John Waters, who was taken prisoner at Kasserine Pass, Tunisia, in 1943. Initially, the operation was successful. They reached the camp and released the prisoners, but they were ambushed on the way back and taken prisoner. It resulted in nine dead, 32 wounded, and 16 missing in action. I will be discussing some of the principles of Mission Command and their effects on the outcome of the Task Force Baum.
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 purpose of this paper is to discuss the Battle of Iwo Jima or Operation Detachment, the events that caused the battle and the after effects it had on the United States. The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the most major battles of WWII of 1945. Although, during WWII many battles were fought this was one of the most important because, American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island including its three airfields, to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. It was the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of War World II. The battles itself was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the Mount Suribachi by five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield Hospital Corpsman.
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.
U.S. Military Commanders promised an overwhelming response. On the morning of Sunday, the 4th of April, 2004, platoons of Marines began to position themselves around the city. The following day the fighting began and quickly intensified. This day was the start of what is known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. It was an operation set to take back control of Fallujah from the insurgents (McCarthy, 2004).
Krieger, David. "The War on Iraq as Illegal and Illegitimate by David Krieger." The War on Iraq
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.
Morin, Jean H., and Richard Howard Gimblett. Operation Friction: 1990 - 1991 ; the Canadian Forces in the Persian Gulf. Toronto [u.a.: Dundurn, 1997. Print. (Secondary Book)
...ace, then they were really shocked by the images they saw. This forced President Clinton to do something. He made the Army change their policies. He made it clear that the U.S. soldiers shouldn’t go to places and help unless they are absolutely sure that they need to go into the country. That battle was back in 1993 and the U.S. didn’t get involved in warfare again until the September 11th attacks in New York. That forced President Bush to send troops into Afghanistan and Iraq.
The war between Iraq and Iran initiated in 1980 and it lasted eight years (3). The invasion of Kuwait started on the second of August 1990. There are reasons and consequences for this invasion that I am going to talk about in this essay
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...
The battle initially started as a mission of justice against enemy insurgents for the deaths of a few American contractors. Emotions ran high with the top leaders as well as with Americans as they cried out for action against the enemy insurgents. But as the fog of war finally cleared from the city of Fallujah, the only thing left was a bloody nose on the face of America and lessons learned for her leaders.
Operation Anaconda was an offensive operation conducted by Coalition Forces during the first invasion of Afghanistan. It was the last major operation to take place during the campaign (). While the operation was successful, there were many arduous battles that had to be fought in order to secure victory. One of these battles in particular stands out due to the sheer number of difficulties and setbacks that occurred during the engagement. This battle has become known as the Battle of Roberts Ridge. For the purpose of this Battle Analysis the Battle of Roberts Ridge will be analyzed with regards to the characteristics of an offense, in particular Surprise, Tempo, and Audacity.
Even though the war was technically over around 2008 the last American troops only left in December of 2011 (Operation Iraqi).