Army Study of Iraq War Suppressed, Released on Web

[nosmokes]

thanks to my friend c perry for this gem. librarians rock.
###

Despite extraordinary steps by the Army to limit online public
access to a new report on the Iraq war, the study has nevertheless
been published without the Army's cooperation.

The Army recently completed a book-length study of Operation Iraqi
Freedom entitled "On Point." It is a revealing and fairly
critical account of lessons learned from the war.

Last month, the Center for Army Lessons Learned posted the study
here:

http://onpoint.leavenworth.army.mil/

Incredibly, however, the web version of the Army document is coded
in such a way that it cannot be downloaded, or copied, or printed
out. It must be read online at the Army site, or not at all.

This may be unprecedented for a government web site. The very
notion of a document that cannot be downloaded is antithetical to
the web and seems like an artifact from an alternate universe. If
the Axis powers had won World War II, the whole internet might
look like this.

But in a marvelous feat of textual engineering, the intrepid
Francois Boo of GlobalSecurity.org managed to overcome the Army's
restrictive coding of the document and to make it publicly
available.

It can now be found -- and downloaded or printed --here:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/onpoint/

[Renew Deal]

1. You're right. The only thing that works is print screens.

[Renew Deal]

2. I found a way to save it with images.

PM me if you want to know how.

[Massacure]

3. File -> Save as -> Text file.

Then you open the text file and you can copy and paste all you like.

It works in IE and Mozilla Firefox.

They didn't do a very good job at coding it.

[nosmokes]

5. the second link!

is already decoded guys. that's sorta the point of the second link. you can c&p and/or print from that one. it's interesting stuff.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. The 'Save as' works for the first one too

under Firefox, at least, and so does the 'Select All' option, to copy the entire page, as text, to the clipboard.

When I tried to open the document with IE, IE asked me endless times "do you want to allow this page to paste information from your clipboard?" - so I couldn't even try to read the document; I just had to kill IE after answering the same question (yes OR no) several dozen times. Must be something to do with my security settings.

Yeah, as 'security features' go, this one is incredibly weak.

[Gman]

4. You can copy and paste with Mozilla but not IE

Graphic - Center for Army Lessons Learned "On Point"
The United States Army
in Operation Iraqi Freedom

Chapter 2

Prepare, Mobilize, and Deploy

In this Chapter:

* Prepare - Building the Theater Infrastructure
* Prepare - Building the Command and Control Relationships
* Prepare - Planning the Campaign
* Prepare - Training the Staffs and Soldiers
* Prepare - Equipping the Forces



* Prepare - Additional Considerations
* Mobilizing the Reserves
* Deployment to Theater
* Prelude to War: "Final Planning and Preparation"
* Notes

From today forward the main effort of the US Army must be to prepare for war with Iraq.
General Eric Shinseki
Chief of Staff of the Army,
9 October 20021

During the 12 years following DESERT STORM, the deliberate preparation for operations against Iraq focused primarily on defensive preparations in the event of a second Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and operation of the northern and southern no-fly zones. The US-led coalition maintained a presence in the region to serve as a deterrent, a "trip wire," and to confirm the continuing US commitment to the Kuwaiti people. The Army maintained near-continuous presence by rotating small, battalion-size forces to Kuwait to conduct combined training with Kuwaiti and other Gulf Cooperation Council armed forces.

Folded into the CENTCOM exercise INTRINSIC ACTION, these rotations served several purposes. First, INTRINSIC ACTION demonstrated resolve and a continuing commitment to the defense of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from another attack. Second, the deployed task forces exercised the Army's brigade set of equipment pre-positioned in Camp DOHA, Kuwait. Although deploying units rarely used the entire set, rotational use and maintenance of the equipment ensured it would be fully mission-capable when called upon. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 3rd Infantry Division drew and used this equipment to fight its way up the Euphrates valley and into Baghdad. Similarly, constant practice in receiving new units into Kuwait, marrying personnel with pre-positioned vehicles and equipment, staging those units, and then moving them out to desert training areas developed the expertise, standing operating procedures, and organizations necessary to conduct reception, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSOI) of large formations into the theater.2 Third, these exercises built proficiency in desert warfighting. Ten years of rotations by units from each of the armored and mechanized divisions of the Army into Kuwait, combined with more than 100 rotations to the NTC in the Mojave Desert, built expertise across the Army in desert combat. Finally, INTRINSIC ACTION, in conjunction with the ongoing Operations NORTHERN and SOUTHERN WATCH, helped to educate America's soldiers and leaders in the culture, politics, and social aspects of the Arab world.

Building on a dozen years of engagement, much of the success in OIF stems from the planning, preparation, mobilization, and deployment that took place from the fall of 2001 until major combat operations began on 19 March 2003. During that period of intense activity, soldiers and organizations around the Army built on the foundation laid down during the 12 years since DESERT STORM. When President Bush named Iraq as part of the "axis of evil," it rekindled speculation about war with Iraq. Slowly, yet steadily, America moved ever closer to its second war of the millennium. Although coalition forces remained engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan, CENTCOM shifted focus toward a possible offensive campaign to remove Saddam's regime. Although often accused of preparing to refight the last war, soldiers attempt to prepare for the next war. And because all campaigns are joint and interagency, the Army prepared in conjunction with the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps under the command of CENTCOM. Planning included the key agencies of the nation's security team: the State Department, Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, the National Security Council, and other national agencies. Even without orders or assigned missions, alert leaders started to think through the immense challenges of a campaign in the deserts and river valleys of Iraq.

Figure 9. Ground scheme of maneuver in Iraq
Click here for higher resolution image (48 KB)
Figure 9. Ground scheme of maneuver in Iraq

As OIF changed from possible to probable, the Army and the rest of the nation's armed forces undertook a number of important tasks designed to prepare for war. From the Army's perspective, these included preparing the theater infrastructure, determining the ground forces command and control architecture, planning the campaign, training the staffs and soldiers, fielding new equipment, providing theaterwide support, mobilizing the US Army Reserve (USAR) and Army National Guard (ARNG) forces, deploying forces into the theater, and moving to the border. Equally important, preparing the theater had joint implications for the Army and the other services meeting their obligations to each other and preparing for their roles in increasingly likely operations in Iraq. Although On Point focuses on the Army's effort, the Army did not act alone, but in concert with the other services and in response to CENTCOM. Joint Forces Command, Transportation Command, European Command (EUCOM), and other joint organizations played central roles in training, preparing, and working with other nations' military and civilian authorities to set conditions for the possibility of a campaign in Iraq. This effort continued through execution of combat operations during operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere in CENTCOM's area of responsibility. CENTCOM and its subordinate commands found themselves stretched to assure they accomplished all of their missions.

Back to Top
Prepare - Building the Theater Infrastructure

For most of the 12 years following DESERT STORM, CENTCOM assumed that both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait could be used to mount a campaign against Iraq. More accurately, CENTCOM assumed a defense of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait from Iraqi attack. In conjunction with the INTRINSIC ACTION exercises, the Army improved the logistics, training, military support, and command and control infrastructure in Kuwait with this in mind. CENTCOM always made improvements for the next rotation but did so with an eye to a possible rematch with the Iraqi dictator. Training improvements included building the Udairi Range complex, located about an hour's drive from Camp DOHA and set in a wide-open expanse of desert. The Army steadily improved and upgraded the firing range and training resources, and experienced training support personnel created a first-class training facility. All of the services operating in the CENTCOM area of responsibility also sought to improve communications and command and control infrastructure so they could meet wartime requirements. The services also sought to improve facilities to better sustain combat operations. Third Army worked to develop the capability to receive and sustain units in Kuwait and elsewhere in the theater. As a general principle, Third Army focused on joint requirements for support in theater rather than on US Army operations. Prior to the war, for example, Lieutenant General David McKiernan, the Third Army and CFLCC commander, asserted, " There will never be a Third Army fight. We will always be in a combined joint contest."3

By the end of the 1990s, planning in CENTCOM included branches to defensive plans that assumed counteroffensive operations. After the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the concept of operations in Kuwait shifted from a presumption of Iraqi invasion of Kuwait or Saudi Arabia to mounting offensive operations from Kuwait. Major General Henry "Hank" Stratman, the deputy commanding general for support of Third Army and CFLCC observed that from 9/11 on, the assumption in Third Army concerning war with Iraq was not whether, but when. According to Stratman, whatever doubts anyone in Third Army might have had evaporated when the president gave his "get ready" remarks. Of the general officers assigned to Third Army when it became CFLCC, Stratman had the longest tenure, having arrived in the summer of 2001. Stratman brought considerable experience to his task. He commanded a battalion in DESERT STORM and served on the Task Force Eagle staff in Bosnia during the operations by the Implementation Force (IFOR).4

Among the key planning assumptions that Stratman and his staff made, perhaps the most important was that they would not be able to stage in Saudi Arabia. Thus, Third Army had to augment existing Kuwaiti facilities or build what was required. Stratman and his engineers, logisticians, and training support staff developed a set of preparation tasks required to support opening and operating a theater within Kuwait. That meant building or improving everything from "bed-down" sites to training facilities to theater support facilities. Theater support facilities ran the gamut from aerial and sea ports of debarkation to bases for mobilizing theater support command (TSC) units. Stratman remembered well what the euphemism "austere theater" really meant in the northern Saudi desert in 1990 and in Bosnia in 1995. Accordingly, he sought to improve on what he believed would always be a difficult proposition - joint reception, staging, onward movement, and integration - in short, receiving the inbound units and preparing them for combat. Where possible, Stratman and his commander, Lieutenant General Paul T. Mikolashek, took advantage of the growth in forward presence of Army troops from a task force to a brigade combat team. That growth enabled them to build Camps VIRGINIA, PENNSYLVANIA, and NEW YORK, all named for states that suffered attacks on 9/11. Equally important, the growing crisis enabled them to draw and prepare two brigade sets of equipment from the Army pre-positioned stocks to increase combat power on the ground.5 Other Army organizations also began to lean forward and to build capability on the back of the incremental deployment into the theater.
RSOI Infrastructure Improvements

To support developing and justifying requirements, Stratman brought in Major General Bill Mortensen, commander, 21st Support Command. Together, the two generals and key staff officers made some assumptions about throughput, bed-down, and storage requirements. Virtually all of these requirements support joint logistics. Accordingly, Mortensen and Stratman worked with Major General Dennis Jackson, the CENTCOM J4. Jackson consolidated the various requirements of the functional components and supported validating those requirements for approval by the joint staff and the Department of Defense. The bill was $550 million for preparation that included developing an airfield that could accommodate 250 rotary-wing aircraft, fuel pipelines, improvements at Kuwait Naval Base, housing and warehousing at Arifjan for 15,000 soldiers and various classes of supply to accommodate the TSC. CENTCOM validated virtually all of the preparatory tasks and the Army funded them so that, in the summer of 2002, they could begin in earnest. Although work did begin in the late summer of 2002, the pace quickened following Lieutenant General McKiernan's assumption of command on 7 September 2002. In October, after completing his mission analysis, McKiernan briefed the Army chief of staff on his requirements, already vetted at CENTCOM and approved by the Department of Defense. As a consequence, General Shinseki made Third Army's preparation tasks the number one priority in the Army. General Shinseki's decision was important since Army dollars paid the bills.6

In execution, General Stratman found he had to approach the task as though he were a project manager. His team included elements of the Third Army staff and the early-entry command post of the 377th TSC. The US ambassador, the government of Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti armed forces also played essential roles. Stratman believes their enthusiastic and unwavering support, and that of the Kuwait National Oil Company, made a gargantuan task feasible at the least possible cost. To illustrate this point, Third Army made more than 130 requests for support from Kuwait, and not one request was turned down. More important, the Kuwaitis took the initiative to help solve fundamental problems. For example, one key task involved laying a pipeline to move fuel to northern Kuwait. The Kuwait National Oil Company did the work, asking only that Third Army buy the pumps. At the time of this writing, Kuwait continues to provide the fuel at no cost. In Stratman's view, the support from both the American diplomatic team in country and from the Kuwaitis could not have been better. 7

Figure 10. Key coalition camps and location
Click here for higher resolution image (48 KB)
Figure 10. Key coalition camps and location

Figure 11. Sea port of debarkation bed-down facilities, Kuwait Naval Base, Kuwait
Figure 11. Sea port of debarkation bed-down facilities, Kuwait Naval Base, Kuwait

At the receiving end of operations, the Army is the lead service responsible for operating common-user seaports, which is executed under Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC) as the single port manager. The single port manager concept grew out of lessons learned during operations in support of DESERT STORM. Although the Army is the lead service, port operations are a joint operation. During Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Colonel

Figure 12. Troop housing complex, Arifjan, Kuwait
Figure 12. Troop housing complex, Arifjan, Kuwait

Figure 13. Supply storage facility, Arifjan, Kuwait
Figure 13. Supply storage facility, Arifjan, Kuwait

Victoria Leignadier and her troops from the 598th Transportation Terminal Group led operations for the services as the single port manager and ran port operations in Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait to support OIF and troops in Afghanistan. The group also operated in Djibouti to support operations in the Horn of Africa. The 598th, in Leignadier's words, provided the "single face of port operations to the warfighter to the port authority."8 In the three Kuwaiti ports, Leignadier's soldiers collaborated with their counterparts in the Military Sea Lift Command and with a USMC Port Operations Group. The Navy also supplied a coastal warfare unit that provided "waterside" security. Finally, a Coast Guard port security unit patrolled the harbor waters.9

Figure 14. Kuwait pipeline and fuel infrastructure
Figure 14. Kuwait pipeline and fuel infrastructure

Figure 15. Sea port of debarkation facilities, As Shuaybah, Kuwait
Figure 15. Sea port of debarkation facilities, As Shuaybah, Kuwait

The 143rd Transportation Command, USAR, assumed responsibility subordinated to the 377th TSC (USAR) to work in the port in support of the 598th. The 7th Transportation Group operated the ports for the 143rd. The 7th Group, a unique and valuable resource for the joint team, is normally composed of four battalions - the 6th Transportation Battalion (the only "truck" battalion in the group), and the 10th, 11th, and 24th Transportation Battalions (Terminal). The 24th assumed control of all Army watercraft in the theater. Additionally, the 106th Transportation Battalion (a line haul truck battalion) joined the group in theater.10

Figure 16. Kuwait Naval Base supporting US Army vessels
Figure 16. Kuwait Naval Base supporting US Army vessels

The 7th Group operated both in EUCOM and in CENTCOM. The 10th Transportation Battalion originally deployed to Iskendrun, Turkey, but ultimately redeployed to Kuwait. In Kuwait, the 7th Group supported terminal operations in three ports: Shuwaikh for containers, As Shuaybah, the principal port, and Kuwait Naval Base (KNB) for unloading I MEF, ammunition, and JLOTS. The 7th Group tasked the 24th Transportation Battalion with controlling watercraft to support port operations and JLOTS. The 24th had operated periodically at KNB since 1998 and had maintained at least one Logistics Support Vessel (LSV) at KNB since 2000. Accordingly, they were on reasonably familiar turf. The 24th began to ramp up its efforts in the spring of 2002 when 7th Group received an alert to transfer selected watercraft to the theater.11

In August 2002, the 24th Transportation Battalion soldiers loaded five Landing Craft Utility (LCU) vessels belonging to the 824th Transportation Company (USAR) onto the semi- submersible vessel Tern. They also loaded one large and one small tug assigned to the 10th Battalion and five of their own Landing Craft Mechanized-8 Mike boats. These vessels and associated crews joined the LSV forward. Finally the 24th's 331st Transportation Company (Causeway), the Army's only modular causeway system company, also deployed forward to support offloading equipment over the shore.12

To this mix, the Army added the theater support vessel (TSV) Spearhead. As noted, the Army acquired the TSV as an offshoot of the Army transformation effort and as a possible solution to Army requirements for lift within a theater. The Spearhead and its naval counterpart, the High-Speed Vessel (HSV) X1, Joint Venture, which was commanded by a naval officer and manned by a joint Army-Navy crew, provided first-rate high-speed lift for use in theater to make runs within the gulf and, as required, to the Red Sea and back.13

During OIF, Army watercraft, the TSV, and Army causeways all contributed to the theater efforts in important, if generally unheralded ways. Army watercraft sailed nearly 57,000 miles supporting ship handling, cargo hauling, passenger ferrying, and combat operations, including seizing the gulf oil platforms. The Spearhead sailed 30,000 of those miles, moving what amounted to 1,000 C-130 sorties of cargo. Army units supported 12 separate JLOTS

Figure 17. Tern delivers Army watercraft
Figure 17. Tern delivers Army watercraft

Figure 18. The 331st Transportation Company (Causeway) in operation in Kuwait
Figure 18. The 331st Transportation Company (Causeway) in operation in Kuwait

operations and enabled the Marines to close at a single port, thus facilitating their consolidation and movement forward. Although the Army provided support, the Marines have world-class capability of their own and discharged the bulk of their equipment without assistance from 7th Group units. Finally, an Army tugboat helped clear the channel for the first humanitarian assistance supplies to be delivered by the UK cargo vessel Sir Galahad.14

Figure 19. Joint Venture and Spearhead at Kuwait Naval Base
Figure 19. Joint Venture and Spearhead at Kuwait Naval Base

Figure 20. Sea port of debarkation operations, Kuwait
Figure 20. Sea port of debarkation operations, Kuwait

MTMC terminal units, marines, navy cargo units, and a battalion of 7th Transportation Group offloaded 199 vessels at the sea ports of debarkation (SPODs), handling 880,000 short tons of goods and materiel. The 11th Battalion's assigned Army stevedores offloaded 51 of these vessels. As a general rule, if it came through Kuwait, someone in MTMC or 7th Group handled it or moved it.15

None of these US armed forces operations could have been achieved without the support and collaboration of the Kuwait Port Authority. Leignadier, as General Stratman had earlier, found the Kuwaiti authorities to be first-class partners. Similarly, her counterparts in the European ports she operated in strove to help when and where they could. Recognizing the threat to the ports posed by Iraqi missiles, Leignadier was also determined to protect contract stevedores from the threat of chemical weapons. Accordingly, the 598th soldiers equipped the contract stevedore teams with masks and protective garments in the event of a chemical strike. More important, they trained their stevedores on donning the chemical equipment so that when missile alarms sounded, the stevedores donned their gear and remained at the port, prepared to return to work the moment the "all clear" sounded.16 The record of the 598th, the troops of all services, and their Kuwait and third country nationals involved in the ports during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM speaks for itself.
Aerial Port Operations

On one side of Kuwait International Airport, life seemed to go on as usual. The exception was the occasional coalition trooper in desert camouflage sipping a cup of Starbucks coffee while sitting next to a Kuwaiti in long flowing gowns reminiscent of Arab herdsmen. But despite this odd and somewhat disorienting picture, the civil side of the airport was calm in contrast to the frenetic pace and apparent chaos on the far side, where the coalition's military airlift and charter airliners were disgorging people and gear at high speed.

Soldiers arriving in Kuwait by air did not pass through the civilian terminal, but rather entered the country through Camp WOLF. The Army built Camp WOLF right outside the airport as a reception, staging, and onward movement facility for soldiers and equipment arriving by air. A sprawling facility, it served as a holding area for troops awaiting transport to marry up with their equipment and their units. It also served as a trans-load point where equipment and supplies were transferred from aircraft pallets to trucks ready to move the equipment forward 24 hours a day. The Army's 3rd Theater Army Movement Control Center provided movement control for all of the services. More than 200,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen came through the aerial port of debarkation (APOD) between 1 January 2003 and the end of major combat operations. Movement troops processed and handed off 85,218 tons of air cargo for transportation. Obviously, the arrival airfield was a joint and combined operation, with all services and coalition forces, including the Kuwaitis, working together. All of the airmen, whether US or otherwise, and soldiers and civilians who operated the arrival airfield did a difficult job superbly.17

Figure 21. Aerial port of debarkation operations, Kuwait International Airport

Figure 21. Aerial port of debarkation operations, Kuwait International Airport
Pre-positioned Equipment
The Best I Have Ever Seen

We drew tanks in UDAIRI. They were excellent; best I have ever seen! If we had used our tanks from Fort Benning, we would have lost the war.

Staff Sergeant Michael Brouillard
Alpha Troop, 3-7 Cavalry

In Europe during the Cold War, the Army had, at one point, two forward-deployed corps available to fight on short notice and supported by an enormous stockpile of gear in the Pre-positioned Equipment Configured in Unit Sets (POMCUS). The plan was that, in the event of war, CONUS units would deploy their soldiers to Europe, marry them up with the POMCUS and head for the front lines. POMCUS greatly reduced the deployment problem since equipment did not have to be moved from CONUS. Since the end of the Cold War, the Army reduced its footprint in Europe and has sought to pre-position equipment where it might be needed. Today, some equipment remains in Europe and is therefore closer to possible theaters than CONUS. Other equipment is pre-positioned at sea, following studies mandated by the Congress. The Army study, called the Army Strategic Mobility Program, focused on the deployment triad of airlift, sealift, and pre-positioned equipment. Among other things this study led to moving some equipment from Europe to other sites, including the Gulf region and its Army pre-positioned stocks (APS) APS-3 (afloat) and APS-5. Each set contained the bulk of gear required to equip a heavy brigade composed of two mechanized infantry battalions, two armor battalions, and supporting units.18

Figure 22. Army pre-positioned stocks, Arifjan, Kuwait
Figure 22. Army pre-positioned stocks, Arifjan, Kuwait

CONUS Facility Improvements

In addition to TRANSCOM, EUCOM, and Third Army efforts, the Army had to ensure that its units could use their installations as power-projection platforms. This meant investing in the infrastructure to move rapidly from home stations to sea or air ports. The Army identified and assigned priorities to the sites from which it would deploy or support deployments. Based on this analysis, the Army made improvements to railhead capacity and deployment facilities to ensure it could deliver units to ports of embarkation from which TRANSCOM would take them to the theater of operation. To that end, over the past 12 years, the Army invested $800 million to improve capability at 15 posts, 14 airfields, 17 seaports, and 11 ammunition plants to improve deployment posture. In short, the Army modernized its platforms and altered the focus of its thinking from forward basing to force projection.19

European Command

EUCOM also contributed to Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in a number of ways. In the fall of 2002, CENTCOM conceived the "Northern Option," which intended to produce concentric ground attacks on Iraq from all points of the compass. In the Northern Option, the coalition would introduce forces from Turkey. Because Turkey is in EUCOM's area of responsibility, EUCOM assumed responsibility for supporting CENTCOM's effort. Both commands already collaborated effectively to support operations in Afghanistan.

EUCOM assigned the mission of establishing a Joint Rear Area Coordinator to US Army Europe. Ultimately, US Army Europe (USAREUR) and V Corps assigned the mission to Major General John Batiste's 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One). In the end the Joint Rear Area Command mission evolved into a service component requirement. Specifically, the Big Red One provided command and control as Army Forces-Turkey. The division provided the core of this headquarters, two battalion task forces. USAREUR further augmented the 1st ID with units from the 21st TSC, 66th Military Intelligence Group, 18th Engineer Brigade, 7th Signal Brigade, 38th Personnel Support Battalion, and 313th Rear Area Operations Command. Ultimately, some 2,200 troops deployed to Turkey starting in January 2003 to prepare to receive, stage, and support units (primarily the 4th Infantry Division) that CENTCOM planned to employ from Turkey. The troops, in coordination with Turkish authorities, developed a 700- kilometer route, including three convoy support centers, four rest stops, 32 checkpoints, and six traffic control points, in addition to the work done to prepare staging areas near the ports. In the end, this capability was not required and the troops assigned to support the effort began redeployment to Europe in April 2003.20

However, EUCOM provided other important support, some of which stemmed from EUCOM engagement in NATO's Partnership for Peace Program and a EUCOM program called "In the Spirit of Partnership for Peace." Both programs originally existed as a means of engaging former members of the Warsaw Pact as it began to collapse following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Over time these programs produced benefits as nations sought to join NATO. Basing rights, overflight, and other means of cooperation are in part benefits of more than a decade of NATO and EUCOM efforts in the newly democratic states of central Europe. Access to infrastructure and support in building communications links that CENTCOM needed could be found in countries eager to help as part of the continued effort to join NATO or to demonstrate support based on relations generated, at least in part, as a result of military-to-military engagement through Partnership for Peace or EUCOM's "Spirit" program. Lieutenant General Dan Petrosky, who served as chief of staff at EUCOM from 2000- 2002, summed it up this way, "What (engagement efforts) did set the stage for our war on terrorism and how we could support it." 21 Refueling rights in central Europe were among the benefits Petrosky believed stemmed from these efforts.22

EUCOM supported CENTCOM in other ways, including contracting support along the main air and sea deployment routes, developing communications infrastructure along the air and sea routes for example. Despite political differences of opinion, EUCOM had help from allies in the region in providing security in the Mediterranean. EUCOM's service components supported the operation from sites as diverse as Ramstein Air Base and Rhein Ordnance Barracks in Germany to bases in Spain and in the Azores.23

Back to Top

Prepare - Building the Command and Control Relationships

In any campaign, the design of the command and control architecture is extremely important. For large-scale ground combat operations, such design is critical. In DESERT STORM, the CENTCOM commander, General Norman Schwarzkopf, elected to command the ground operations himself, without a land component commander to integrate ground operations. In contrast, for IRAQI FREEDOM, General Tommy Franks decided to establish a Combined Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) to command and control the operations of all Army, Marine, and coalition ground forces. Although General Anthony Zinni, who preceded General Franks at CENTCOM, had declared Third Army the joint land component command, Third Army had never been assigned the people required to enable it to function in that role.24 On 20 November 2001, Franks designated Third US Army, based at Fort McPherson, Georgia, as the CFLCC.25 Franks' order provided Third Army the basis to organize and man the headquarters as a joint forces land component command. During the previous winter and spring, Third Army had served as the CFLCC for OEF in Afghanistan and throughout the region. Much of the Third Army Headquarters (HQ) deployed to its forward command post at Camp DOHA, Kuwait, but by late spring 2002 had redeployed to Fort McPherson.
Filling the CFLCC's Empty Chairs

Commanded by General George Patton during WW II, Third Army has a proud history and tradition and had focused on the CENTCOM area since the late 1980s. But it was manned in peacetime at about half strength. As the potential for war grew in the fall of 2002, the Army began filling the Third Army HQ to full strength. Lieutenant General David McKiernan assumed command in September 2002. McKiernan, commissioned in 1972, had commanded a tank battalion, an armored brigade, and 1st Cavalry Division. He served with VII Corps in DESERT STORM, where he ran the corps tactical command post. As G2/G3 Intelligence and Operations in the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, McKiernan learned NATO and coalition staff procedures. Finally, he served as the deputy chief of staff for operations (G3) for the Army prior to arriving at Third Army. McKiernan's experience and understanding of both coalition and joint warfare ideally suited him to the task of commanding CFLCC.

Shortly after McKiernan assumed command, he decided he needed to ramp up the experience level of his primary staff. Accordingly, he asked for a number of officers by name. With General Shinseki's support, McKiernan handpicked several generals and placed them in the key staff positions in Third Army, including Major General James "Spider" Marks as the CFLCC intelligence officer (C2), Major General James "JD" Thurman as the CFLCC operations officer (C3), and Major General Claude V. "Chris" Christiansen as the CFLCC logistics officer (C4). Colonel Kevin Benson, recently assigned to CFLCC as the C5 plans officer, remained at his post. Major General Lowell C. Detamore joined as the C6 communications officer. Before McKiernan took command, Shinseki provided a second deputy commanding general to the CFLCC. Major General William "Fuzzy" Webster joined the headquarters as deputy commanding general for operations (DCG-O). Major General Henry "Hank" Stratman, who arrived earlier, served as the deputy commanding general for support (DCG-S). Colonels normally headed the Third Army staff sections, but for OIF McKiernan and Shinseki wanted the most experienced team possible.

Joint and coalition members also joined the team. Major General Robert "Rusty" Blackman, USMC, arrived from CENTCOM to serve as the CFLCC chief of staff in October 2002. Blackman, who commanded the 2nd Marine Division and served as the president of the Marine Corps University, brought a wealth of experience to the team and amply demonstrated his skills as a leader. One Army colonel observed of Blackman, "I would follow him anywhere."26 Major General Daniel Leaf, USAF, joined the CFLCC to direct the Air Component Coordination Element in February 2003, coming from the Air Staff. Leaf, a command pilot with more than 3,600 flying hours, had multiple combat experiences, including Operations NORTHERN WATCH and SOUTHERN WATCH in Iraq. He was intimately familiar with US Army operations, having been an honor graduate of the Army's Command and General Staff Officer Course and a graduate of the Army's pre-command course. Leaf and his team represented the Combined Forces Air Component Command (CFACC) and supported integrating air and space operations with ground operations. Finally, Brigadier, later Major General, Albert Whitley, British Army, rounded out the CFLCC corps of generals. Whitley replaced Brigadier Adrian Bradshaw as senior adviser to CFLCC for British land forces. McKiernan, who had served with Whitley in the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, asked Whitley to lead a planning team that focused on operations in the northern part of Iraq.

Moving the Third Army staff toward a genuine joint and coalition headquarters could not be achieved by assigning a handful of generals. When Major General Blackman joined CFLCC in October 2002, he found "four or five" marines on the staff against a joint manning document calling for 90 or so marines. Blackman weighed in with his service to assign marines to CFLCC. In January 2002, Lieutenant General McKiernan also sought to have marines assigned. Although the Marine Corps could not immediately produce 90 marines in the grades required, it did assign more than 70 marines to serve with CFLCC.27 Transitioning any service headquarters into a truly joint headquarters takes both time and effort to assure the result functions usefully. McKiernan and Blackman turned their attention to that task as well.
Staff Organization

Lieutenant General McKiernan also reorganized his staff. McKiernan wanted to move away from the traditional structure of administrative, intelligence, operations, and logistics and toward the operational functions that CFLCC would perform. In Blackman's view this meant transitioning from a "Napoleonic staff system" to a functional staff system. These functions included operational maneuver, effects, intelligence, protection, and sustainment. This organization required developing staff organizations, coordination boards and cells within the headquarters, new processes, and new digital architectures. For example, Blackman developed an Effects Synchronization Board that, among other things, attempted to examine whether CFLCC efforts achieved their intended outcomes.28 Major General Marks, the C2, led the reorganization of the intelligence staff to meet the requirements of operational intelligence. At the same time, he built a new operational-level intelligence architecture that linked tactical and strategic intelligence functions while providing interoperability with all the various agencies and capabilities of the intelligence community. In plain English, Marks developed the organization to leverage joint intelligence and to provide intelligence support both to V Corps and to I MEF, which used different tools to move intelligence than did the Army. McKiernan's vision in developing a 21st-century functional staff organization contributed significantly to the successful battle command of complex simultaneous joint operations by CFLCC during the IRAQI FREEDOM campaign.29

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Prepare - Planning the Campaign

CENTCOM did not plan the campaign in Iraq in isolation. Ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Yemen, and the Horn of Africa all required resources and supervision. To develop a campaign based fundamentally on a concentric attack against the regime, CENTCOM needed to work with EUCOM, whose regional area responsibility included northern Iraq and much of the Middle East as well as friendly nations in the region. CENTCOM also needed support and services from TRANSCOM and United States Space Command (SPACECOM). CENTCOM's task required more than a little finesse.

Figure 23. CFLCC to V Corps training and preparation schedule - linkages between plan evolution and deliberate training events
Figure 23. CFLCC to V Corps training and preparation schedule - linkages
between plan evolution and deliberate training events

As the winter of 2001 gave way to the spring of 2002, planners at CENTCOM and the supporting functional component headquarters including CFLCC, continued the dynamic process of planning contingencies in the region, now focusing on operations ranging from the isolation of the regime to the toppling of Saddam. Colonel Mike Fitzgerald and Colonel Kevin Benson led the plans cells at CENTCOM and CFLCC, respectively. Colonel Fitzgerald, an artilleryman, had been at CENTCOM headquarters since before 9/11. As chief of the CENTCOM Long-Range Planning Element, he had been the chief architect of the Operation ENDURING FREEDOM campaign in Afghanistan. A proven planner, Fitzgerald had a keen understanding of the strategic context in which the campaign would unfold. Benson, a cavalryman who had just finished a fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, served as chief of plans at CFLCC. Benson had served at Third Army before and knew the CENTCOM region, Kuwait, and Iraq very well.30
Ripple Effects

With the release of a draft prepare to deploy order (PTDO) in April 2002, there was an immediate ripple effect throughout the Army.31 In addition to giving V Corps responsibility for lead planning instead of the XVIII Airborne Corps, the divisions considered how to refocus their training and maintenance posture to be ready for the possible deployment.

The 101st Airborne Division, for example, was in the middle of planning an expected relief in place of its brigade in Afghanistan, along with a possible relief of the 10th Mountain Division's headquarters. However, as a unit specified on the draft PTDO, then-commanding general Major General Cody directed his staff to develop and resource 30-, 60-, and 90-day training and maintenance plans, as well as refocus from other contingency planning operations. The division staff had to balance the new requirements with what was already on its plate.

Major William Abb
Chief of Plans, 101st Airborne Division

Together, and in cooperation with planners of the other service components and special operations forces (SOF), Fitzgerald, Benson, and their two planning staffs laid out the broad outline of what would eventually become the campaign known as Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. However, the planning was not a top-down effort. In the information-age era that enables distributed, parallel planning, V Corps,I MEF, and subordinate divisions were near-equal architects for the final plan. V Corps and I MEF developed base plans and fed them up the chain. These plans, VIGILANT GUARDIAN and CONPLAN WOOD, were designed to thwart any Iraqi offensive action toward Kuwait or the Shiite population of southern Iraq. The planning process, led by Lieutenant Colonel James Danna, then chief of plans for V Corps, and his lead OIF planner, Major Kevin Marcus, paralleled both the I MEF and Third Army from the beginning. Among the key considerations later affecting the execution was how many units would deploy before combat operations began and how many axes of advance ground forces would use.
Planning Considerations

The planners considered several major factors to determine how many forces would deploy before the offensive began. Part of the consideration was the tension between the historic American penchant for large-scale, deliberate deployments of overwhelming force and the more efficient approach of "just-in-time" operations. Logistic requirements for large Army and Marine Corps formations and relatively limited strategic lift argued for a deliberate deployment, while strategic surprise argued for a no-notice deployment. From that tension flowed three options: a deployment scheme similar to DESERT STORM; an almost no-notice deployment in which the war would start with very few forces on the ground in Kuwait; and a hybrid that combined elements of both approaches.

The planners, in fact, developed a course of action for each of these three approaches. The DESERT STORM-like "generated start" plan required a lengthy deployment but carried a heavy price in both time and resources. By the fall of 2002, US diplomatic efforts in the United Nations demonstrated to the world that an American-led campaign to remove Saddam from power was becoming not just possible, but probable. Diplomacy in this case forfeited strategic surprise but allowed a gradual buildup of combat forces in the Persian Gulf region that exerted pressure on the Iraqi regime and its military forces. While the possibility of strategic surprise evaporated, opportunities for operational and tactical surprise remained.

Although no one in the command thought the regime would immediately collapse under the pressure of simultaneous attacks along multiple lines of operation, CENTCOM did attempt to create the conditions that might produce a sudden collapse. Planners thought it possible that the combination of effects from Tomahawk missiles, air attacks, ground attacks, and robust information operations would either render the regime irrelevant or cause it to collapse very early in the fight - in effect, like a balloon pops when poked. There were three iterations of planning based on differing sets of conditions. Each included the idea of simultaneous attack from the air and on the ground, with the number of units available as the key variable. Planners labeled the first option "generated start," which assumed a buildup of forces until all the forces required had arrived in theater. Since no one could be sure whether or when they would be told to go to war, planners developed a "running start" option, which assumed launching combat operations with minimum forces and continuing to deploy forces and employ them as they arrived. The final option stemmed from wargaming the running start. The hybrid plan reflected an assessment that the minimum force required reached a higher number of troops than envisioned in the running start option. In the end the plan reflected a compromise solution between the hybrid and running start options that provided more forces than planned in the running start, but fewer than estimated as required for the hybrid plan. Although most of those officers developing the plan would have preferred the simultaneous attacks afforded by the "hybrid" plan, they perceived the possibility of achieving operational surprise by way of the "running start." Further, operational surprise could offset the risks inherent in sequencing forces into the fight.32

The number of forces required to conduct the operation was the single most important variable around which all of the variants revolved. The end was never in question - remove the regime; but the specific method, or way, required to achieve this strategic goal was the subject of contentious debate. Without agreement on the way - simultaneous or sequential - there rarely was agreement on the amount of force or means required. Yet, correctly balancing mass, surprise, and sustained operations kept the two (way and means) entirely interrelated. The amount of available force affected the proposed course of action, which invited reevaluations of force requirements. This friction is not uncommon and can be found in virtually every modern US campaign. In the end, CENTCOM and CFLCC successfully concluded major combat operations with the forces allocated.33

General Scheme of Maneuver Both General Tommy Franks at CENTCOM and Lieutenant General Dave McKiernan at CFLCC wanted to avoid making the main effort along the direct approach between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This approach is not only the obvious and most heavily defended approach; historically, armies using this direction of attack had been defeated. Also, the planners had concerns about Saddam's ability to flood the valleys, limiting coalition mobility. Yet to close on Baghdad from all directions required CENTCOM to commit forces into the Tigris-Euphrates valley to mount an attack along the Tigris to approach Baghdad from the east. Coming up the Euphrates also posed problems. Forces advancing along the southern approach would have to fight through or bypass the heavily populated urban areas along the Iraqi rivers. And finally, entering Iraq only from Kuwait would limit the coalition's ability to generate and sustain combat power through Kuwait's relatively limited ports and airfields. So, planners examined the southwest axis from Jordan and the northern axis from Turkey. Both axes were operationally difficult, but executable. That said, both axes were also subject to the restrictions imposed by the governments of Jordan and Turkey. These countries supported the effort against Saddam Hussein, but both restricted the use of their land and airspace for ground operations into Iraq.34

As planning continued through the summer of 2002, the campaign's basic outline took shape. CENTCOM's main effort would be a ground attack out of Kuwait to defeat Iraqi forces, isolate the regime in Baghdad and, if necessary, the Ba'ath Party home city of Tikrit, remove the regime from control of the country, and transition to security operations after major combat operations were complete. The main effort ground attack would be supported by significant air and special forces operations. To some extent the air component had already achieved a key goal for any campaign. Operations NORTHERN WATCH and SOUTHERN WATCH effectively precluded any Iraqi effort to challenge the coalition in the air or even to use helicopters. Again, as in DESERT STORM and in Afghanistan, the coalition owned the airspace. Air support to ground forces and the air campaign in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM are a model of responsiveness and precision, from strikes to air mobility operations. Obviously, the air component had other tasks besides supporting the ground component. The air component developed and ultimately executed an air campaign in support of CENTCOM objectives. Eventually some 1,800 coalition aircraft supported operations in OIF, ranging from B-2 bombers flying from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, to aircraft operating from US Navy aircraft carriers.

The coalition maritime component provided support to the air component and operated to assure the safe transit of vessels en route to the theater. The US Navy fielded five carrier task forces, two amphibious task forces, and a dozen submarines. Britain's Royal Navy provided the next largest contingent based on a task group formed on the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. Australia deployed two frigates and other supporting vessels. Naval units from other coalition countries supported operations by executing security operations at maritime choke points on the sea lanes into the theater.

Building on lessons inferred from Kosovo and confirmed in Afghanistan, SOF would mount two major supporting operations. In the north, SOF and conventional and Iraqi Kurdish forces would attempt to fix Iraqi army formations along the Green Line separating the Kurds from the rest of Iraq, attack south to isolate Tikrit, and maintain stability in the Kurdish region. SOF and the CFACC would conduct the other supporting operation in the western region of Iraq to deny the Iraqi forces the ability to engage Jordan, Turkey, or Israel with ballistic missiles. This would be a far more robust and visible "Scud hunt" than the one conducted during DESERT STORM. SOF also would insert "deep" to provide reconnaissance and execute direct action missions as required.
Baghdad - Planning for an Urban Fight

As planning matured, the challenge of urban combat loomed as a major issue. Not only was Saddam's regime centered in Baghdad, a city of approximately 5 million people, there were approximately 40 other cities that held significance for both the Iraqis and the coalition

Figure 24. V Corps objectives
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Figure 24. V Corps objectives

in any potential campaign. These cities differ from Western cities in that the buildings are generally less than five stories tall, but like cities everywhere, they "sprawl."

Urban operations are traditionally difficult, deadly, and destructive. House-to-house fighting usually leads to large numbers of friendly, enemy, and civilian casualties, and battles conducted in cities usually result in the destruction of large numbers of buildings and infrastructure. Unwilling to repeat the horrors of Stalingrad, Berlin, Aachen, Hue, and Grozny, the Army began a serious planning effort for combat operations in Baghdad and other critical cities of Iraq. In the years immediately preceding OIF, the Army and Marine Corps had focused on tactical operations in urban environments, but neither had devoted as much effort thinking about large-unit operations in cities. The Russian experience in Grozny sparked a more deliberate consideration of this problem. There, the Russian army experienced relentless attacks from guerilla forces positioned with vertical depth in urban infrastructure that made penetrating the city difficult and deadly. The Russians solved their problem by reducing Grozny to ruins. US planners strove to avoid anything resembling a Grozny-type operation in Baghdad.
Systems-Based Planning

In Atlanta, Colonel Benson led his operational planning team through a multiservice/ multiagency planning effort focused on urban operations. In a parallel effort, Major E.J. Degen, who became the chief of plans at V Corps in July 2002, directed his planning staff to begin examining the cities in the potential V Corps area of operations, focusing on Baghdad.35 Major Degen assigned Major Lou Rago, newly arrived from the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) at Fort Leavenworth, the mission to lead the detailed planning effort for urban operations in Iraq. Over the next six months, Rago would combine Armywide intelligence, engineering, and planning support with assistance from government and civilian agencies to refine the analysis, planning, and target selection.

Major Rago approached the problem of urban operations from a systems-based analysis of the city and of how Saddam exercised control over the population. Under Rago's direction, a team of soldiers, airmen, and marines attacked the problem of urban operations. Rago's team also included a group of officers from the SAMS. The corps planning team included a robust contingent from I MEF led by Lieutenant Colonel Mike Mahaney and Major Phil Chandler. The Marine planning team also included representatives from the MEF's air wing. Together the planners developed a methodology to identify key nodes in the regime's system of control.36 The regime used the security forces, secret police, Special Republican Guard (SRG), the media, cultural and religious icons, and even the water, sewage, and power systems to control the population. The regime lavished wealth and quality of life incentives on those

Figure 25. Saddam's systems of control over Baghdad and Iraq

Figure 25. Saddam's systems of control over Baghdad and Iraq

neighborhoods that supported them, while denying the same to those they feared or hated. In cooperation with the Army, Department of Defense, and national intelligence agencies, the planners worked to identify the most lucrative targets. Destroying or seizing the most critical nodes would theoretically chip away at the regime's control.

The corps planners and their hired help from SAMS drew inspiration from several sources. First, all had read and considered the implications of arguments advanced by Dr. Roger Spiller in Sharp Corners. Commissioned by the chief of staff of the Army in 1999 to develop a study on urban operations and possible implications for the Army, Spiller published the results of his efforts - Sharp Corners, in 2001. In succinct clear language, Spiller did a survey of sieges and assaults on cities from Sargon the Great at Baghdad to the Russians at Grozny. He offered several conceptual solutions that influenced the planners. Spiller argued that cities could be spared if the right targets could be attacked with precision. Colonel James Greer, the director of SAMS, provided the second key influence. Greer published a "white paper" on urban operations drawing on Dr. Russ Glenn's notions on the environment of cities, including physical, cultural, and economic variables. Based on the work of Dr. Tom Czerwinski at the National Defense University, Greer came to see the city as a self-adapting system. Greer argued that cities operated as a system of systems, and as such, they had relationships among the systems that produced vulnerabilities. In advancing this case, he borrowed from Dr. Joe Strange, teacher and military theorist at the Marine Corps University, ideas on the relationships between nodes or points of critical vulnerabilities related to centers of gravity. Since the regime's primary control mechanisms lay in Baghdad, some or all of these could be construed as critical vulnerabilities, which, if exploited, could weaken the regime or even cause its collapse.37

By attacking the real and symbolic levers of control with precision, Major Rago's team hoped to avoid a house-to-house fight for the city. Historically, that type of fight carried an overwhelming human, political, and financial cost that would be unacceptable in a campaign of liberation. Aside from the inevitable American casualties, images of Berlin, Hue, and Grozny - wanton physical destruction, rampant human misery, and post-fighting devastation - haunted everyone associated with the planning. The relatively surgical application of force held the promise of avoiding that politically, militarily, socially, and morally unacceptable outcome. Admittedly theoretical and wholly untested, this approach informed the corps' target selection and mission planning. Eventually, V Corps briefed Lieutenant General McKiernan and General Franks on the systems approach to urban warfare. Both generals endorsed the approach and then designated V Corps to lead the effort to plan and execute operations in Baghdad.38

In preparing for IRAQI FREEDOM, the Army and the Marine Corps remained conscious of the Army's experiences in Mogadishu and those of the Russians in Grozny. Black Hawk Down and Grozny cast a long shadow. Determined to repeat neither experience, the Army, the Marine Corps, and JFCOM accelerated the publishing of essential doctrine for urban operations in the summer of 2002. The Infantry Center at Fort Benning produced the Combined Arms Operations in Urban Terrain tactical doctrine manual (FM 3-06.11). The Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth published FM 3-06, Urban Operations, and the Marine Corps, under the auspices of JFCOM, produced Joint Publication 3-06, Urban Operations. A number of papers and pamphlets published by everyone from the Rand Corporation to the Marine Corps Combat Developments Command added to this body of newly published doctrine.


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Figure 26. Map of Baghdad with V Corps' urban operations overlay

Obviously the planners did not operate in a vacuum or some monkish retreat cut off from others, or more important, from their commanders. They collaborated with their commanders and with each other not only because it made sense, but also because they belonged to a community. Most of the planners were graduates of the Army's School of Advanced Military Studies or the Air Force or Marine equivalent. Founded in 1983, SAMS graduated its first class in 1984. Later, both the Air Force and Marine Corps established similar programs. Educated in the theory and practice of planning, graduates of these advanced military studies courses are assigned to important assignments specifically as planners. Often these are iterative assignments. Major Degen for example, served as a division planner prior to joining V Corps as the corps chief of plans; similarly, Colonel Benson served as a planner at XVIII Airborne Corps and at Third Army in an earlier tour as well. As an experienced marine planner, Colonel Chris Gunther, the I MEF planner, moved easily in this circle along with his two lead planners, who were graduates of the Marine Corps Advanced Amphibious Warfare School.

The planners knew each other and networked because it makes difficult work less difficult. They also enjoyed their work, so many engaged in theoretical and practical debates on the art and science of war on Internet lists that they managed expressly for that purpose. Their community included some of their superiors at CFLCC as well, including Generals Fuzzy Webster and Spider Marks. Marine Brigadier General Chris Cowdrey, who joined CFLCC as deputy C3, did a fellowship at SAMS that included one year of study and a second year on the faculty, so he was both a graduate of and teacher in the Army's course. All of this facilitated parallel planning and reduced friction; as the planners came to know each other, they also passed on information, which they called "FLAGINT" or intelligence generated by their "flag or general officers."39

The top tier of generals in the land component participated actively in the planning process. They worked closely with each other and with their own planners. McKiernan made a point of assuring that he remained closely tied to Lieutenant General Wallace at V Corps and to Lieutenant General Conway at I MEF. More important, McKiernan understood the operational tasks CFLCC needed to accomplish and kept his staff on track. He coached his planners "not to plan the V Corps fight, not to plan the I MEF fight, but to shape (them)."40 McKiernan wanted his subordinate commanders to have "freedom of action within their zone," so he focused at the operational-strategic level and worked with his planners and his subordinates in a de facto, "adaptive planning process" that accounted for the dynamic variables in the theater.41 At V Corps, Wallace engaged frequently and at length with his planners in a comfortable relationship, encouraging debate and issuing guidance as required.42

McKiernan had clear ideas on a number of important operational issues. For example, he did not like the notion of sequencing I MEF and V Corps into the fight. An early iteration of the plan called for I MEF to lead the attack with a relatively small force composed of units from 1st Marine Division and a BCT from 3rd ID. Ultimately a CENTCOM wargame confirmed McKiernan's view and the plan changed. McKiernan also wanted one commander in charge at Baghdad. Initially, he determined that Lieutenant General Wallace would command the forces assaulting Baghdad. In the end, however, he divided the responsibility for Baghdad between V Corps and I MEF. Finally, in response to guidance from General Tommy Franks, McKiernan began considering how to open a northern front if 4th ID could not enter through Turkey.43

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Prepare - Training the Staffs and Soldiers

With the chain of command and general scheme of maneuver emerging, the next step in preparation included training the troops and headquarters. Preparing to operate at a scale and scope not seen since DESERT STORM with units not used to working together, a series of exercises served to advance the planning and develop procedures, teamwork, and familiarity across the divisions, corps, CFLCC, and CENTCOM. CENTCOM began to host a Component Commanders Conference monthly to build the team. The CFLCC commander ensured his major subordinate commanders also attended these events. These events not only enabled CENTCOM to convey guidance and information, they helped build the command team. Lieutenant General Wallace at V Corps began to build his team by hosting a seminar on command and control in August of 2002. The senior mentors of the seminar were General (retired) Fred Franks and his VII Corps operations officer, Brigadier General (retired) Stan Cherrie, both of DESERT STORM fame. The seminar included the commanders from all the subordinate divisions and separate brigades that were matched against any possible war plans for Iraq.

Figure 27. V Corps command and control seminar, 26-28 August 2002
Figure 27. V Corps command and control seminar, 26-28 August 2002

Training Exercises In September 2002, V Corps and selected subordinate command posts deployed to Poland and conducted Exercise VICTORY STRIKE. This exercise enabled the V Corps staff to practice planning, preparing, and executing corps operations with a focus on the deep fires and maneuver that would be critical to the coming campaign. VICTORY STRIKE enabled the corps to train with airmen in a "live" training environment. Conducting the exercise proved difficult since the V Corps staff was simultaneously planning for the actual IRAQI FREEDOM campaign. V Corps also used this exercise to test its deployment systems, as it deployed a large portion of the corps to Poland and back again. VICTORY STRIKE led the way for a series of exercises through the fall and winter that resulted in completed and rehearsed plans.

CFLCC conducted the next critical exercise, LUCKY WARRIOR, in Kuwait. It was McKiernan's first opportunity to plan and conduct operations with his new staff and new general officers and to exercise the new organizations. LUCKY WARRIOR also provided the first opportunity for CFLCC's major subordinate elements - V Corps, I MEF, and coalition forces - to practice operations under the CFLCC HQ. Much of the exercise focused on team building and establishing standing operating procedures (SOPs) that would enable the CFLCC to integrate the operations of forces with differing capabilities, doctrine, languages, communication capabilities, and historical modes of operation. The exercise also provided an opportunity to practice a variation of the still-evolving plan, thus contributing to commanders' and staffs' understanding of the challenges and complexity of the environment, terrain, and enemy they would soon confront.

Figure 28. V Corps VICTORY STRIKE summary
Figure 28. V Corps VICTORY STRIKE summary

CENTCOM conducted the next major exercise, its annual INTERNAL LOOK, which had a long history for the command. A dozen years earlier, shortly before Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, General Schwarzkopf led CENTCOM through an INTERNAL LOOK exercise. The 1990 iteration contributed significantly to CENTCOM's rapid and effective response to Saddam's invasion on 2 August 1990. But that INTERNAL LOOK occurred without foreknowledge of the impending war. In contrast, CENTCOM executed the 2002 INTERNAL LOOK in an atmosphere of growing likelihood of war with Iraq. Accordingly, INTERNAL LOOK 2002 focused on joint and coalition operations specifically for the OIF campaign.

As the services turned to the final preparations for the anticipated campaign, INTERNAL LOOK provided the venue for the functional components of the command to examine their plans. Air Force, Marine, and Navy air units combined to form the Joint Force Air Component Command (JFACC), while Special Operations Command for CENTCOM (SOCCENT) formally established two Joint Special Operations Task Forces (JSOTF): JSOTF-North and JSOTF-West. McKiernan also won an important point with General Franks on the minimum US force required to execute the running start option. CFLCC would have at least I MEF with part of its air wing, 1st Marine Division with two regimental combat teams, and V Corps with all of 3rd ID, an attack helicopter regiment, and part of the corps artillery.44 This decision laid the cornerstone for the final version of the war plan for Iraq to evolve. McKiernan decided he would attack into Iraq with V Corps and I MEF simultaneously.

Lieutenant General McKiernan identified the regime's ability to control and direct the country as the principal target. Since most of the regime's control mechanism resided in Baghdad, he believed Baghdad to be the center of gravity. In consonance with General Franks at CENTCOM, McKiernan envisioned a simultaneous and synchronized ground attack from multiple directions aimed at isolating the regime within Baghdad and ultimately at striking sites in the city. He directed V Corps to attack along the west bank of the Euphrates River as the main effort and the I MEF to make the supporting effort up the Tigris-Euphrates river valley. Because CENTCOM joint special operations task forces in the north and west mounted offensive operations, Saddam had to cope with concentric attacks. McKiernan further specified the method he desired as simultaneous, multidirectional, continuous effects using combined arms maneuver, operational fires, and information operations, synchroni

[tom_paine]

7. kick

:kick:

[KoKo]

8. Okay guys when you get it downloaded please condense it for those of

us who can't understand all the military stuff. What does this report say that we need to know? I read the snip and it was too much strategy and staging for my brain to figure out what might be significant...

;-)'s It must be important if they tried to limit readership.