|The author at the grave of his ancestor|
Stephen Van Rensselaer
Albany Rural Cemetery, NY
Is there American way of War? Is there a discernible historical pattern to the way in which we as a people engage in war?
Colonel John Boyd, an ace fighter pilot and trainer, conceived the OODA loop to explain the mechanics of aerial combat. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. Each Action leads to a new Observation (the target is hit or missed) and the loop continues. Boyd's insight into conflict resolution is applicable to ANY competitive landscape had been utilized in fields from sports to business as well as warfare. The military understands that speed is of the essence when flying in the OODA loop. The warrior's very survival depends on his constantly asking himself, "Where am I now in the OODA loop?" and "Can I accelerate versus my opponent?"
The OODA Loop has even put used to improve one's golf swing (http://www.creategolfers.com/2013/08/ooda-your-way-to-better-golf.html)!
Boyd's revolutionary approach provided a new way to describe the tactics of armed conflict. (See earlier post...http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/colonel-john-boyd.html)
I detect an OPAD Loop through history which may be used to describe the strategic cycles that define the American Way of War. OPAD loop is strategic rather than tactical and helps to describe the stages of our nation's military history.
"O" stands for "Overconfident and Ill-prepared". An excess of confidence and a lack of proper preparation characterize the period that precedes the commencement of hostilities and lasts through each war's initial battles.
"P" stands for "Painful Lessons". We seem only to learn from hard experience.
"A" stands for "Adjustments". Course corrections are implemented as a direct result of the "Painful Lessons".
"D" stands for "Decisive Victory". At long last, a decisive victory is won. But as we celebrate the triumph we often forget that it is precisely this victory that puffs the bellows of national pride leading to Overconfidence and poor preparation for the conflict that waits around the next corner.
"O" -- OVERCONFIDENT AND ILL-PREPARED
All too often the lead-up period to war and its earliest stages are characterized by American overconfidence and poor preparation.
The War of 1812 affords an early example of "Overconfident and Ill-prepared".
|General Stephen Van Rensselaer|
Albany Rural Cemetery, NY
|Picnic at First Bull Run (Manassas)|
Yankee Doodle Dandy, James Cagney
In April 1917 George M. Cohan wrote Over There about how "the Yanks were Coming, etc." as Wilson plunged us into war against the "Hun". The American military, in spite of having witnessed the agony of trench warfare from August 1914 until that point, was woefully unprepared for war. More than 100,000 Americans would be killed Over There in World War I over the course of about 20 months -- nearly twice as many as killed over the ten years of America's experience in Vietnam.
|Eddie Rickenbacker's Spad XIII (replica)|
Imperial War Museum Duxford, UK
Secretary of the Navy WW2
But it seems that the lessons of World War II would be quickly forgotten.
|Start of Korean War|
I use the term "ill-prepared" rather than "unprepared" advisedly. Americans are often prepared to fight a war but they are prepared to fight the last war rather than the next war. Victory over Saddam in the First Gulf War, for example, did not prepare us to deal with the insurgencies of subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that followed 9/11/
P -- PAINFUL LESSONS
USMA, West Point, NY
Many Painful Lessons would follow in the American Revolutionary War and in all subsequent conflicts.
The Mexican-American War (1846 - 1847) and Spanish-American War (1898) were both relatively short wars that produced significant American territorial gains. After the Mexican-American war territory forming California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico were added to the Union. After the Spanish American War Puerto Rico and Guantanamo were added to American control. But both wars had Painful Lessons of their own. Both wars claimed many American casualties due to disease with the wars being fought in tropical climates. During the Mexican-American War a higher percentage of those serving died than in any other American war. The occupation of the Philippines that followed Dewey's naval victory at the Battle of Manila Bay degenerated into a long and brutal guerrilla war.
The US Civil War, the costliest in our nation's history, was full of Painful Lessons. The Battle of Antietem on September 17, 1862, for example, killed more on one day than any before or since in American history.
|Carnage on the Atlantic Coast|
Nor are Painful Lessons limited merely to the opening rounds of American wars. The Battle of the Bulge which began in December 1944 was the costliest American Battle of World War II (http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/battle-of-bulge.html). At Bulge Americans learned that even a dying beast can maul its hunter.
A -- ADJUSTMENTS
The record shows that Americans at war, after suffering Painful Lessons, make significant adjustments in terms of strategy, tactics, leadership, technology and even military medicine.
|Baron Von Steuben|
Valley Forge, PA
During the US Civil War President Lincoln made numerous leadership changes before settling on the team of Meade, Grant and Sherman to win the conflict for the Union. Truman felt compelled to dismiss MacArthur during the Korean war. George W. Bush eventually accepted Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. And so on.
The US Naval cryptanalysts that failed us before Pearl Harbor would succeed marvelously at the Battle of Midway. Convoys would finally be instituted after the carnage of Operation Drumbeat.
A little known campaign in the Aleutian islands in 1942 illustrates the adjustments that were made in military medicine at that time. Historian Brian Garfield wrote, "The largest single classification of agony--severe frostbite and trenchfoot--represented the first combat cold injuries suffered by American troops in the Second World War. To avoid making the same grisly mistakes in the forthcoming Italian campaign, Army doctors studied Attu veterans with close clinical attention, and submitted voluminous findings to the Surgeon General. As a result, important changes were soon made in Army footgear, clothes, tents bedrolls and food. In the next two years' global fighting, the experience of Attu would save thousands of limbs and lives." (Source: The Thousand Mile War, Brian Garfield, 1969, p 333, www.amzn.com/0912006838).
The Manhattan project that developed the atomic bomb provides a perfect example of a technological adjustment to the strategic needs of the Second World War. The nature of warfare changed as a result.
D -- DECISIVE VICTORY
The American Way of War ends in Decisive Victory. The Battle of Yorktown ratified in blood the aspirations of the Declaration of Independence. In 1847 General Winfield Scott led US forces into Mexico City. Sherman ignited Atlanta to finish off the Confederacy. The Spanish Empire crumbled at San Juan Hill and Manila Bay. The Kaiser was forced to abdicate his throne. Berlin and Tokyo were left a heap of smoldering ruins by the end of WW2. Saddam's Republican Guard attempted ruinously to flee Kuwait with stolen vehicles on the "highway of death".
|George S. Patton|
USMA West Point, NY
Most historians agree that the War of 1812 basically ended in a draw with no territory changing hands. But even this inconclusive war ended with Decisive American victories on water (Battle of Plattsburgh, 1814) and on land (Battle of New Orleans, 1815).
VIETNAM AND THE OPAD LOOP
Patton, of course, spoke prior to the Vietnam war. While it must be acknowledged that Vietnam was a defeat for the USA, OPAD still provides a framework for trying to understand this American war.
Americans had plenty of Overconfidence at the start of the Vietnam War. JFK intoned, "We will bear any burden" but his listeners had no idea that the full reckoning would cost over 50,000 American lives. From the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the escape of the Boat people, Vietnam furnished Americans with many "Painful Lessons". General Westmoreland's sacking by LBJ after the Tet offensive was one of many Vietnam adjustment. But Decisive Victory proved to be elusive in Vietnam.
Or did it...? American forces did not really lose a single pitched battle in the course of the Vietnam War. The Tet offensive in 1968, for example, was a propaganda and media victory for the Communists but in purely military terms they were routed everywhere by its conclusion.
|POW John McCain returns to USA|
WHY THE LOOP?
Why do we Americans tend to careen from Decisive Victory in one war to Overconfidence and IIl-preparedness at the start of the next conflict?
Decisive Victory has a causal relationship to Overconfidence. Part of this is simply due to human psychology. Triumph puffs up the bellows of the national ego leading to excessive complacency. Meanwhile, American triumphalism helps to foster resentment among those around the world who wish us ill.
|"Wild" Bill Donovan of the OSS|
|9/11 Memorial, Lower Manhattan, NY|
THE OPAD LOOP TODAY?
Where are we today on the OPAD loop of American military history? President Obama was quick to dismiss ISIS as the "JV team" demonstrating the American penchant for Overconfidence once again. Will we now accelerate towards Decisive Victory against ISIS or must we endure more Painful Lessons and Adjustments?
Everyone has an opinion but only future historians will be able to provide the complete answers.
Thanks Washington Times...http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/9/christopher-kelly-historical-loops-of-presidents-a/
Thanks Courier Post...http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/02/14/commentary-can-deliver-decisive-victory/80301276/
Thanks Daily Journal...http://www.thedailyjournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/02/14/commentary-can-deliver-decisive-victory/80301276/
Thanks South Coast Today...http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20160215/OPINION/160219788/0/SEARCH
Thanks Tampa Tribune...http://www.tbo.com/list/news-opinion-commentary/christopher-kelly-us-presidents-and-the-american-way-of-war-20160215/
Thanks Times Tribune...http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/winning-wisely-by-respecting-opad-loop-1.2007212
Christopher Kelly is the Co-Author, with Stuart Laycock of America Invades and Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World.
You may find signed copies here...www.americainvades.com,
And unsigned copies are available here