Until the shoot down of Extortion 17 in 2011 - an ambushed CH-47 Chinook carrying 38 people which included 25 U.S. special operations soldiers and a military working dog that resulted in the death of all on board - the failures of the 2005 combined/joint operation known as Red Wings resulted in the largest loss of life to Special Operation Forces (SOF) during the Afghanistan Campaign.
A plan originally devised by 3rd Marine Regiment, the initial purpose of the operation was to seek out and eliminate militia in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan, namely Ahmad Shah who was considered to be an Islamic fundamentalist and leader of a local militia in the region. With upcoming parliament elections, the end state of the operation was to rid the area of anti-Coalition Militants and their influence while stabilizing the region in order to ease the election process. During the shaping phase of the operation, a small reconnaissance team from the Navy SEALs was ambushed by Shah and his militia shortly after their infiltration on to Sawtalo Sar Mountain near Asadabad. Utilizing 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) comprised of Navy SOF was sent to their aide some time after initial calls for extraction, only to be engaged and shot down by the militia. This resulted in the death of all 16 QRF Soldiers on board the MH-47 – eight 160th aviators and eight Navy Seals. The aftermath of the compromise, firefight, acts of bravery, and eventual escape of one of the original reconnaissance team members led to the largest Combat Rescue operation in the campaign to that date. That combat rescue operation became known as Operation Red Wings II and spanned the course of three weeks while US Forces scoured the regio...
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...eam 10 would replace the initially planned Marine scout/sniper squad, and that SOF would command their independent objectives within the operation. Briefly during the operation, the plan called for the Marines to fall under Navy SOF while conducting a relief in place, which did not meet the unity of command principle. Essentially this meant there would be two commands that were not collocated directing units in a joint operations mission, trying to achieve a common goal. Not an optimal relationship, liaisons were sent by JOSTF to the battalion command post in Jalalabad, yet the authority of the liaisons was never identified to the Marine command. At the time of the mission, the US forces commander of all forces present in Afghanistan did not have complete authority or control over all units involved. Though unity of effort was present, unity of command was not.
Mission command is the commander's use of authority and direction to empower adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations. It helps subordinates exercise disciplined initiative when operating within their commander’s intent. To facilitate effective mission command, commanders must accomplish four consecutive stages of the operations process. They must thoroughly understand the problem, visualize a solution that achieves a desired end state, and then accurately describe this visualization in order to direct the organization. Commanders continually lead and assess their organizations and provide input and influence to their subordinates and staff.
The 160th SOAR (A) is the only Special Operations Aviation Regiment in the world. Things to be discussed will be the unit’s operational history that the soldiers have done. These soldiers are known as the Night Stalkers due to their proficiency in night time operations. They go through special training and use special helicopters and other special equipment to accomplish their mission during all weather operations during day or night.
...h planning and the swift execution while quickly adapting to changes, this operation would not have been a success. The integrity of the mission was maintained: seizing control of the country, disabling the PDF, capturing their leader Manuel Noriega, while damage to personal property and Panamanian deaths were kept to a minimum. This type of decisive leadership, operational surprise and joint effort proved that the Army can deliver a long-range, precision strike capability providing a great example of how Soldiers can plan and execute future missions.
Operation Anaconda was the first major joint combat operation against the war on terror that the US was committed to winning. This operation would test our military’s readiness for joint operations against a hardened and willing adversary. The primary mission was to kill/capture Taliban/Al Qaeda forces occupying towns and villages in the vicinity of Shahi Khot in order to gain control of the valley.1 The US needed the towns, villages, mountains, and more importantly, the intricate and hard to access caves cleared of enemy fighters. Units participating in the operation included elements of the 101st Airborne Division, 10th Mountain Division, Special Operations Forces (SOF), and Coalition forces from seven nations including Afghanistan.2 With so many different nations fighting along with our own branches of military, it would test our ability to conduct joint operations on multiple levels.
The Battle of Kamdesh was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents.
The 2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne Division found out in the summer of 2004 that they had to prepare for the war in the Middle East more particularly for Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in Command of the 2nd Division with a year to prepare over 3,400 men and woman he got right to work. Colonel Ebel started by choosing his staff and who he thought was fit to take charge and lead this ever more complicated war. It was a huge religious civil war taking place in Iraq at the time with the Sunnis at war against the Shi’ite and after the capture of Saddam insurgency started uprising immediately. This uprising along with the uprising of Muqtada al-Sadr a key leader that had lots of violent followers that soon grew into a form of a militia called Mahdi Army which became another huge problem for the U.S. because the line between a legitamite populist movement and a huge theocratic organized-crime and terror ring was a thin one. The 2nd Brigade Infantry Battalions consisted of 1-502nd (First Strike) and 2-502nd (Strike Force) and 2nd brigade as a whole is known as the “Black Hearts”. Ebel’s mission was to deny insurgent’s access to Baghdad through his AO and as intelligence increased to uproot and destroy insurgent safe havens, while also training the IA so they could ensure the stability of the region later on. Ebel chose Lt. Col. Kunk as commander of “First Strike” 1-502nd and Lt. Col. Haycock as commander of “Strike Force” 2-502nd. By Ebel’s personality evaluations of Kunk and Haycock he decided that Kunk would work in the area that involved him being more engaging where populist centers were and work with local officials and Haycock more in the fighting areas. Kunk was in command of 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company...
The battle I will be discussing is the battle of Tora Bora. The engagement took place in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan from December 12, 2001 to December 17, 2001. The units involved were from the CIA, numerous Special Forces groups, Pakistani soldiers and local anti-Taliban fighters. The mission given to the forces was to kill Osama bin Laden from the caves, leave the body with the Taliban and disrupt the Al Qaeda organization by removing their leader. The intent was to infiltrate the cave system, remove bin Laden and return home.
(site) In many ways the Allied Navy’s execution Movement and Maneuver provides a model of join function inconsistency during Operation Husky. First, Task Force 88 a Joint amphibious task force designed to conduct amphibious operations to outflank the German defensive positions provides an excellent foreshadow of modern joint doctrine and proved useful to Patton’s drive to Messina. (site) Stands in contrast with perhaps the greatest joint failure of the campaign. True to the nature of Husky, the Navy refused to operate in the restricted waters of the Strait of Messina. This greatly aided the Axis retreat form
On 21 November 1970, a joint Army/ Air force task force attempted to rescue POW’s from the Son Tay prison camp 23 miles west of Hanoi. The task force, comprised of 56 Special Forces soldiers and 13 Aircraft plus crews was commanded by BG Leroy Manor, LTC Leroy Snydor, and COL Arthur “Bull” Simons as deputy commander and ground force commander. Although no POW’s were rescued, the mission is considered a success due to the cooperation of the involved agencies and branches in the planning and execution of the raid.
According to Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-0, mission command philosophy is, “the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable discipline initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations.” Commanders execute mission command throughout all phases of the operations process. ADP 5-0 states that, “Commanders drive the operations process.” The six steps that allow Commanders to drive the operations process are: understand, visualize, describe, direct, lead, and assess. I will discuss four of these steps used by COL Freeman’s analyze his ability to properly execute mission command in this Battle.
The War in Afghanistan was a part of the Cold War, which was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces and Mujahedeen, which were composed of two alliances– the Peshawar Seven and the Tehran Eight. The United States, along with the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and other countries supported the Peshawar Seven insurgents by training them and giving them weapon and money. The eight alliances were supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Afghanistan and the Soviets signed an alliance treaty in 5th, December, 1978. To respond to the treaty, United States President Jimmy Carter signed the first order for secret financial aid to the rivals of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. The primary Soviet positioning of the Army in Afghanistan began on the 24th of December, 1979, under Soviet general Leonid Brezhnev and the last troop removal started on the 15th of May, 1988, and was completed by February 15 of the following year, 1989, under Mikhail Gorbachev. Due to the perpetual nature of the War, the War in Afghanistan has been known to as the Russia’s Vietnam War or the Bear Trap. The death of the U.S. Ambassador led to a major deprivation in Afghanistan–United States relations.
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Joint Warfare Armed with numerous studies, and intensive public hearings, Congress mandated far-reaching changes in DOD organization and responsibilities under the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. This landmark legislation significantly expanded the authority and responsibility of the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Included in this expanded authority and responsibility was the requirement for the chairman to develop a doctrine for the joint employment of armed forces. As operations Urgent Fury, Just Cause, and Desert Storm have vividly demonstrated, the realities of armed conflict in today's world make the integration of individual service capabilities a matter of success or failure, life or death. Furthermore, the operation Desert One demonstrated the need for a strengthened Joint Warfare Doctrine and the consequent change in Joint Warfare Employment.
I have organized this paper into five distinct sections; mission, task organization, capabilities, limitations, and finally the conclusion. After the reading and comprehension of this paper, you should have gained a basic understanding of the Special Forces (SF) Chemical Reconnaissance Detachments (CRD). The following paper is mixed with Unclassified (UCI) and For Official Use Only (FOUO) information. FOUO is annotated at the beginning of all For Official Use Only information, the rest of the paper is UCI. If you wish to share this information paper with others, please at a minimum; confirm identity of the person prior to providing (FM 380-5, 2000). For further handling instructions please refer to FM 380-5, or contact me, I will gladly answer all questions.
There was also confusion over unity of command. Admiral McDonald, commander of LANTCOM, made two errors in command and control. He did not assign one his subordinate commanders to act as the overall director of ground forces no matter what the service and he did not select the commander of XVIII Airborne Corps as the leader of Army forces. The lack of a single commander meant that coordination between the Marines and the Army was minimal. The lack of a designated ground force commander and the omission of XVIII airborne Corps muddied the commander’s intent. The services would have been ...
Based on a true story, the movie ‘Lone Survivor’ features four Navy SEALs that set out on a mission to Afghanistan with orders to capture and kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. The Navy SEALS are detected by villagers and the mission was compromised. Ultimately, the mission had been discovered and the men found themselves surrounded by dozens of Taliban soldiers. One of the Navy SEAL soldiers managed to dispatch to base and retrieve assistance but the Taliban shoot down the helicopter. During battle, three of the Navy SEAL soldiers were killed leaving one still alive.