Subject: Agree or disagree...something to think about

23 June 2010

A Fired General – Rules of Engagement – And Winning The War

by Marine Thomas D. Segel

Harlingen, Texas. It is official, After personal comments about the civilian leadership had been voiced by General Stanley McChrystal and his Aides, he is gone and General David Petraeus will assume command in Afghanistan. 

This does not mean our military personnel on the ground in that war zone will develop any greater fondness for the civilian establishment there.  As was the case in Vietnam, most of our troops will view the civilians who command them with suspicion.  But, those same military personnel will be showing much more caution when speaking about their leaders in front of the media.

The unanswered question is;  Why do our men and women in uniform feel  so contumacious toward their civilian leadership?  Much of the anxiety may well be due to irrational rules of engagement that are forced on combat troops be the key civilians who view everything from a political spectrum. 

The Good Lord knows my combat strategy is really limited to what I could observe through the sights of my rifle in those long ago days of my youth.  My last combat command decisions were made more than 45 years ago when I was ordered to have my Marines defend the parameter of a Seabee base under attack by the Viet Cong.  With those two items as qualifiers, I can still state without reservation that no war was ever won on defense.  It is also a truth that no military unit can function at peak efficiency when it is saddled with unrealistic rules of engagement.

I for one, see shadows of Vietnam in just about everything we are doing in Afghanistan.  We are trying to prop up a very corrupt and unpopular government, drive out an enemy force that is a historical occupant of the territory under dispute, hold on to terrain without the troop strength to occupy the territory for any extended period and do all of these things while operating under a convoluted rules of engagement policy that few can either understand or defend.

Back in the early days of Vietnam, when it was just an “operation” and not a “war’, I remember how we would draw perimeter defense duty to protect our base in DaNang.  Even then, we had those crazy rules of engagement.  For example, all of us along the perimeter manned our posts without ammunition in our weapons.  Under the rules of that time, all ammunition was kept in a locked bunker.  There was an ammunition officer who had the only key.  Our instructions were, if we received enemy fire, the ammunition officer would unlock the bunker, issue the ammo and we would then engage the enemy.

Anyone with half a brain thought this was an insane approach to perimeter defense.  What if the first person hit or blown up was the ammunition officer?  What were we supposed to do if that happened?  Needless to say, there was not a person on the line who did not have a hidden stash of ammo on his person.

Troops who were stationed in Saigon at that time went to their duty assignments every day wearing helmets and carrying their assigned weapons and ammunition.  They were all cautioned that there was a war being fought and they must always be ready for battle.  However, they were also allowed to wander the city at night, frequent eating establishments, shops and bars.  When strolling those streets in the dark of night, they were NOT allowed to carry any weapons.  Go figure!

Today in Afghanistan our soldiers and Marines may only return fire when under attack, are refused air strikes and artillery support, and have even been denied smoke coverage when they needed to conceal their movements.  All of this is supposed to reduce any civilian casualties.  That may be one result, but, it is also true that more and more of our own military personal are being wounded or killed.  In addition, their movements are being restricted and they are being reduced to a defensive posture, not having sufficient strength of force to keep waging an ongoing attack.  Territory that should remain occupied to protect the civilian population is often left undefended. 

Of the 40,000 troops requested to meet the needs of a sustained offensive operation, the President only granted 30,000.  Even that number has not been received.  At last count there were still 10,000 promised troops who had not been deployed to Afghanistan and their ranks remain unfilled today.

So, now we have lost a general, promised troops have not arrived and those strangling rules of engagement remain in place. Dare we ask the big question… are we really winning the war?

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