tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post4187662489401840198..comments2024-03-03T05:11:57.603-05:00Comments on Wings Over Iraq: Regarding Fortresses (Redux)Starbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02013102906896853767noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post-21603681639708715342009-10-23T20:56:00.551-04:002009-10-23T20:56:00.551-04:00Thank you for the kind words.
There’s one thing t...Thank you for the kind words.<br /><br />There’s one thing that I forgot to mention and it’s probably the most important. If you’re going to site an outpost on bad ground a long way from support, you have to provide enough troops to not only defend it but do all the other stuff I mentioned. I’m not sure about Keating. First I read that it was a Troop, then that it was only a platoon, but Wanat was definitely a platoon. That’s not enough men. You can’t do everything you need to do with only 40 or so sets of boots. I don’t think I ever saw a firebase that had less than a (usually understrength) infantry company plus however many batteries were located there. Had there been even two full-strength platoons at Wanat it’s at least possible that the Taliban would have decided an attack wouldn’t have been worth the cost.<br /><br />El Goyito — We did a lot of things right, BUT <br /><br />(1) We had a LOT of clueless battalion, brigade and division officers (and commanders). For every Hal Moore or David Hackworth or Charlie Beckwith, there were 50 Korean War vintage officers who couldn’t wrap their minds around guerilla warfare tactics. They got a lot of guys killed. Division commanders were, if anything, worse. They came up through WWII and Korea. If the majors and colonels had a hard time, these men had an even more difficult time. It’s not that they were bad soldiers or bad officers or didn’t care about their men (though it often seemed that way to us boonie rats), for the most part they just didn’t have the right background and training. Their entire military lives had been spent in a battlespace that had a front line.<br /><br />(2) Our strategy sucked. I think it’s safe to say that the American brand of warfare has always relied on attrition as its main approach. Our strategy in Vietnam was a logical extension of this. Once we set boots on the ground, our entire strategy was that we would just keep killing them until they were all gone. It was “bring ‘em on” gone wild. That was OK in some areas (the area that the 101st ABN operated in, for example, was that way once you got away from the coastal areas — there just weren’t any civilians to speak of) but in the more populated areas, such as the delta, it was definitely counterproductive. As an Army vet, I hate to say this, but if we had listened to the Marines with their version of COIN, we would have done a LOT better.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14632097721434835823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post-28537639569693372552009-10-23T11:56:08.452-04:002009-10-23T11:56:08.452-04:00The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blo...The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post <a href="http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/10/from-front-10232009.html" rel="nofollow">From the Front: 10/23/2009 </a> News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.David Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18153191536633461987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post-12449692285882073172009-10-23T10:28:37.718-04:002009-10-23T10:28:37.718-04:00BTW, I found one of the best documentaries online....BTW, I found one of the best documentaries online. It's called "Vietnam Crucible" and is from 1968. I was amazed at the technology that the US was employing in 1968!<br /><br />http://www.vuze.com/details/OIS4QPHF5I3GETU42EKFLBP4OQNRXTSE.htmlEl Goyitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08794867770198842232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post-86925612422884593892009-10-23T10:06:47.449-04:002009-10-23T10:06:47.449-04:00Earlier this year I found a 4-DVD series in the ba...Earlier this year I found a 4-DVD series in the bargain DVD bin at WalMart called "Vietnam: America's Conflict" and has over 24 hours of documentary footage. In watching the various (albeit mostly US gov't produced) documentaries, it is amazing to me that we didn't triumph in Vietnam. Simply put, WE DID EVERYTHING RIGHT! I know there are complex factors which could explain our ultimate failure - mostly the ineptitude & stupidity of the South Vietnamese gov't - but it is interesting to watch these and see how deeply our commitment there actually was. <br /><br />All that being said, I agree with you that we need to hear more from the Nam vets in regard to Afghanistan. <br /><br />So if you happen to find yourself in WalMart - pick it up, it's $5 well-spent.El Goyitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08794867770198842232noreply@blogger.com