Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Dissertation: Dhofar Rebellion Part 6

I've put together a Photo Bank. I'd like to include a few photos, both on the cover of my dissertation and at various points throughout. For example, Image #1 below will be used to illustrate the effective use of information operations by the counterinsurgent force in Dhofar. The rest - most of which are re-tasked from a list I kept for a work project a few months ago - will help to add some visuals to what will otherwise be a lot of text. Here's what I've got so far.

  • Image #1: British Propaganda - "The Hand of God Destroys Communism"
  • Image #2: Young Sultan Qaboos
  • Image #3: Young Sultan Qaboos
  • Image #4: Lance Cpl. Tyler Langford, anti-tank missileman, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, leads his pack mule during a hike at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center Bridgeport, Calif., Oct. 13, 2012. Langford used skills he learned in the Animal Packers Course, taught four times a year at MCMWTC. The 16-day course teaches Marines how to use animals in the region they find themselves in as a logistical tool to transport weapons, ammunition, food, supplies or wounded Marines through terrain that tactical vehicles cannot reach. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ali Azimi)
  • Image #5: Marines serving with Engineers Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, construct a new perimeter surrounding Camp Hanson in Marjah, Afghanistan using HESCO walls and concertina wire May 4, 2012. Combat engineers have torn down some of the fortified walls to shrink the base's perimeter. The Marines plan to reduce their base's guard posts in half by the end of their seven-month deployment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Michael Cifuentes)
  • Image #6: 1st Lt. Michael Moore, platoon commander for 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, crosses paths with Djiboutian wildlife as he walks back to camp after taking part in assault climber training with his Marines in Djibouti, Aug. 29, 2012. The training is a part of a Training Force, or T-Force, package focused on primitive infantry skills. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a theater reserve and crisis response force throughout the U.S. Central Command in the Navy's 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michael Petersheim)
  • Image #7: A Marine with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment (2/7), inspects his vehicle on Forward Operating Base Now Zad, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Dec. 17, 2012. The Marines of 2/7 are currently deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alejandro Pena)
  • Image #8: Marines assigned to Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7, ground guide their vehicles on the way to provide security for an improvised explosive device (IED) post blast analysis near Forward Operating Base Now Zad, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Nov. 25, 2012. The Marines provided explosive ordnance disposal assets to assist an Afghan National Army unit whose truck struck an IED that resulted in several casualties. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alejandro Pena)
  • Image #9: Sgt. Julie Nicholson, Female Engagement Team leader, Marine Headquarters Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, shakes hands with an Afghan child during a mission in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Nicholson's team conducts searches of Afghan women and children and gains information from the women who are not permitted to interact with men outside of their families. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Michele Watson)
  • Image #10: A soldier from 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery, attached to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion the Rifles, patrols through a corn field in Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province.Photographer: Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Chandler, USN
  • Image #11: A Combat Logistic Patrol (CLP) consisting of EPLS (Enhanced Palletised Load System), Combat Support Tankers (CST), Support Vehicle Recovery (SVR), Mastiffs and Ridgebacks in convoy in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. 1 Logistic Support Regiment (1 LSR) provides logistic close and general support to 20th Armoured Brigade, supplying and distributing everything British troops need. 1 LSR currently provides the Close Support Logistic Regiment (CSLR) in Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK 15. Its role is to provide logistic support through to all areas of Helmand Province by Combat Logistic Patrols. Photographer: Sgt Wes Calder RLC
  • Image #12: U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Brian Zamiska, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), pulls security with a U.S. Air Force working dog, Jan. 6, 2013, during a patrol with the Afghan Border Police in Tera Zeyi district, Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Alex Kirk Amen
  • Image #13: An Afghan National Army soldier and Soldiers of Combined Task Force 4-2 (4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division) provide security Dec. 6, here, as the commander of 205th Corps ANA briefs his International Security Assistance Force counterparts on the logistics of Operation Zafar. During the two-day operation, ANA soldiers cleared 22 villages in the Sperwan Ghar area and captured multiple improvised explosive device-making materials. The ANA planned, coordinated and executed the operation with minimal support from their ISAF partners. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kimberly Hackbarth, 4th SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. Public Affairs Office
  • Image #14: Blackhawk helicopters fly to Kandahar, Afghanistan, Dec. 16, 2012. DoD photo by D. Myles Cullen
  • Image #15: Supplies drop to U.S. Soldiers deployed to the mountainous Paktya province on Forward Operating Base Lightning, Afghanistan, Dec. 23, 2012. Military leaders coordinated the air drop to resupply the base when adverse weather made roads through mountainous areas too difficult to traverse. U.S. Army Sgt. Aaron Ricca
  • Image #16: U.S. Army Spc. Zackery Cely provides security from a tower on Forward Operating Base Lane in the Zabul province, Afghanistan, Oct. 5, 2009. Cely is assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Tia P. Sokimson
  • Image #17: Soldiers from the Royal Army of Oman, the Oregon Army National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 82nd Cavalry Regiment, and the 125th Forward Support Company from Joint Base Lewis McCord, Wash., prepare for a briefing at the Rubkut Training Range in Oman, Jan. 22. The U.S. Army Central-sponsored event was designed to share knowledge and build diplomatic relations. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Cory Grogan, Oregon Military Department Public Affairs)
  • Image #18: Oregon Army National Guard Spc. Brian Corliss from the 1st Squadron, 82nd Cavalry Regiment, provides cover with other members of his squad and Soldiers from the Royal Army of Oman’s 11th Brigade, Western Frontier Regiment, during a squad assault training exercise, Jan. 24, at the Rubkut Training Range in Oman. The U.S. Army Central-sponsored event was designed to share knowledge and build diplomatic relations. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Cory Grogan, Oregon Military Department Public Affairs)

    As for this post's installment from the Quote Bank, I'm going with the words of General James N. Mattis. I had the pleasure of serving under General Mattis for several years, have met him several times, and was once photographed with him while wearing one of my kilts, as I demonstrated earlier. General Mattis, who recently retired, has been surrounded by controversy at one point or another in the recent past because he very carefully but honestly speaks his mind. I want to include multiple quotations from General Mattis in my dissertation, because I believe he and his remarks have demonstrated the best, most concise guidance about the state of contemporary and near-term warfare available. Here are some of the ones I've identified, several of which have already been integrated into my manuscript. Here's the "General Mattis" section from my Quote Bank:
    "I don't get intelligence off a satellite. Iraqis tell me who the enemy is."

    "I would also add that [Al Qaeda] was dumb."

    "I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all."

    "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."

    "Fight with a happy heart and strong spirit. For the mission’s sake, our country’s sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division’s colors in the past battles-who fought for life and never lost their nerve-carry out your mission and keep your honor clean. Demonstrate to the world there is "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" than a U.S. Marine."

    "PowerPoint makes us stupid."

    "[No new technologies or weapons systems] would have helped me in the last three years [in Iraq and Afghanistan]. But I could have used cultural training [and] language training. I could have used more products from American universities [who] understood the world does not revolve around America and [who] embrace coalitions and allies for all of the strengths that they bring us."

    "No war is over until the enemy says it's over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote."
    That last quote may be used to illustrate one of my concluding points: first, that unilateral declarations of victory will not prevent irregular warfare adherents from visiting violence upon the West; and second, that if we don't sweat to implement the lessons of Dhofar and other campaigns in the coming years of nominal peace, our forces will pay for it in blood when they are next called on to wage proactive or reactive counterinsurgency. I have a great deal of respect for General Mattis, who was a great leader, one of the few true strategists in America's officer corps, and an excellent example of integrity in both philosophy and conduct.

    More to come.
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