National Defense Briefs – 06/06/16
June 6, 2016
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
NATIONAL DEFENSE BRIEFS is a series produced by National Defense Consultants, LLC, aimed at informing readers with timely military and homeland security news updates, trends, definitions, and short commentaries. Defense issues are inextricably connected to business. In that, MidlandsBiz.com and National Defense Consultants presents the “National Defense Briefs” that matter.
• Seventy-two years ago today, soldiers, sailors, and airmen – nearly 160,000 men, 9,000 aircraft and nearly 5,000 ships – struck northwestern France in what was then “the largest amphibious invasion in modern warfare.” Those numbers would swell dramatically in the coming days and weeks. The Allied force, comprised primarily of Americans, British, and Canadians, struck the German defenders along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline. “The fate of the freedom of the world rested on the shoulders of those hitting the beaches of Normandy,” says, Col. Bill Connor, a U.S. Army Reserve Infantry officer (Ranger) and former senior U.S. military advisor in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. “At Omaha Beach in particular, U.S. forces were pinned down by withering fire, as entire units were decimated when the ramps came down at waters edge. At that moment of death and destruction, leaders of small units and gallant servicemen charged forward in the face of almost certain death and on toward eventual victory. The self-sacrifice and quiet heroism of so many of the ‘Greatest Generation’ on D-day should never be forgotten: As General Eisenhower put it in his pre-invasion letter to the troops: ‘Let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God.’ Let us continue to do the same.”
• There is some debate as to whether the invasion of Normandy was the largest amphibious landing in history or perhaps the landings on Okinawa, Apr. 1, 1945. Normandy was indeed the largest to date in 1944, and it remains the most famous.
• Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. aircraft and American special operations teams, began advancing toward the ISIS-held Iraqi city of Fallujah on May 23 with the objective of retaking the city. Fallujah fell to ISIS fighters in 2014, and according to reports, “remains one of two strongholds for the extremists (the other is the northern city of Mosul).” As of this writing [Mon., June 6, 10:00 a.m. Eastern], Iraqi Army forces have surrounded the city on three sides and are slowly advancing from the south. Those forces “have encountered strong resistance from the Islamic State, which is defending the approach with snipers and mortar shelling,” according to reports. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have discovered a mass grave believed “to contain the bodies of 400 soldiers executed by ISIS.”
• ISIS is reportedly executing civilians as they attempt to try flee their homes in Fallujah. According to Foreign Policy, this includes “shooting people trying to swim across the Euphrates River to safety. Other routes out of Fallujah have been made too dangerous with the placement of defensive traps. Despite the dangers, approximately 18,000 people have fled to nearby camps in the past two weeks.”
• The May-June 2016 drive to retake Fallujah is the third major battle for the city since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 13 years ago.
• As we have reported, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (also ISIS), the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and the Islamic State (IS). Many Arab-speaking people refer to ISIS as Daesh, an acronym for Al Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham (the Arabic translation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham). ISIS originated with Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2006. But AQI formally severed ties with ISIS in 2013-2014. AQI is also known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia or AQM.
• Ahoy Raiders! U.S. Marines with infantry MOSs (military occupational specialties) are trained for amphibious assault, ground combat, and to varying degrees, special operations. It has always been the Corps’ raison d’etre as an expeditionary force. Though defiantly refusing to be part of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) until 2006, the broader U.S. Marine Corps has been a key player in American special operations (functioning as innovative expeditionary and raiding forces) since 1775. Today, a few specially trained Marine riflemen serve as Marine Raiders, the Corps’ designated SOCOM component. But because they are so few in number, Marine Raiders are relative unknowns compared to Navy SEALs or Army Special Forces. But they exist (as do Marine Force and Battalion Recon units). Generally, Raiders are also the youngest men in SOCOM. And to a man they will tell you, they are first-and-foremost Marines.
– W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a former U.S. Marine rifleman – is a military analyst and partner with NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.
