MARINES SUFFER FROM POOR SUPPORT AND PLANNING
MORE LIVES LOST
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
When confronted with a real problem, not one solved with tea bags or whining, it may be time for real finger pointing. We lost troops this week because of poor intelligence and lack of support. Deja vu Vietnam all over again.
With the endless hours of TV telling us about the air campaign in Vietnam, those fighting on the ground might as well be serving with Alexander or Napoleon as far as air power goes.
The same thing goes for intelligence. At least General Lee had Jeb Stuart’s cavalry, maybe not at Gettysburg, but to keep him informed every now and then. Marines operated on rumors, promises and the words of locals who, as an intelligence resource, wouldn’t even be accepted by Dick Cheney, much less a trained commander. All those lessons to learn from, all those class rings and all the same mistakes in a war nearly a decade old.
When a dozen Marine trainers and 80 experienced but "untrained "Afghan fighters walked into a massive ambush, a cascade of failures from command inexperience to poor allocation of resources to policies put in place by our previous administration to succor druglord allies showed we were helpless, even more than the Soviets whose humiliation we seem to be following with every breath.
The insurgents we were fighting were in full uniform, well armed including medium and heavy weapons and had more than substantial logistical support. They are building an army and openly operating against us though we spend billions on UAVs, sensors, satellites and other intelligence gathering methodologies, all of which have been miserable failures in Afghanistan.
Questions as to whether units organized units from neighboring countries have joined the Taliban insurgents are probably adequately answered by both the readiness and appearance of enemy forces in this engagement.
The Bush era illusion of a quick win against aging Soviet armor on flat terrain in Iraq applied in Afghanistan has left our current administration with nothing to build on and they are building nothing themselves but a record of failure. We don’t know whether to call this war pointless or ourselves clueless or both.
Without being an armchair general, we have enough of those in the Pentagon, we can make a few points:
1. Any planning using combined forces will always be an intel disaster with ambushes to be anticipated. What were you thinking? Think "Custer" at Little Big Horn.
2. At this date, artillery is haphazard support at best, but preclearing grids for fire support for, both the direct area of proposed operations and all adjacent areas as a ruse to confuse, are necessary. As soon as you discuss artillery, you telegraph the nature of any operation. In this case, we did nothing. Thus, everyone was safe but us.
3. UAVs with SAR and night optics should be on station 24 hours before any operation along with sensors on any infiltration routes and full communications jamming. The tech has long been in place and time to stop lying about it, thank you very much.
4. 80 minutes for air support should cost everyone involved their career. Support needed to be 5 minutes away and reinforcements 20. These are rules, not guidelines. More careers need to be redirected toward military acquisition, food service management or public relations.
The planning involved was haphazard and amateurish from the beginning and the Marine Corps needs to grow up and start playing with the big boys. I have participated in more of these classic bonehead operations than I can count. I would have liked to have seen an end to this kind of stupidity.
The Corps is supposed to be about tradition. Stupid is not a tradition worth holding onto.
Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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