War in Iraq: Shock and awe?

Army, May 2003 by Atkeson, Edward B

One cannot be sure whether the Army was ever conceived as a participant in Shock and Awe warfare, but its performance in the physical operation has been outstanding. Mission assignments have been accomplished in a manner which will place the organizations in the history books for study by scholars for all time. Other forces arriving in the theater have a high standard to live up to.

At some point in the future one can imagine that there will be some fascinating seminars held at staff and war colleges probing the order of battle arithmetic of the two sides. As antiquated as the Iraqi ground forces may have been, they started the conflict with over 20 divisions, including six of the Republican Guard, plus 11 separate brigades of the Special Republican Guard, commandos and special forces; and however impressive the execution of the air campaign has been, the ground action has engendered no less Shock and Awe in the enemy's eyes.

In due course, we should expect that there will be an effort toward reconciliation of whatever aspects of air and ground doctrine might have suffered from desynchronization in the shadow of a false concept. There is no question that war has changed in recent years. The question is how it has changed, and what adjustments are necessary to ensure that we emerge from this experience with stronger joint doctrine leveraging the greatest strengths of each of the services.

It may be interesting, for example, to speculate whether, just as the management of large armies turned toward greater decentralization of command in the past, the dynamics of modern battle may be creating a counterpressure of some magnitude. If it is true that the entire zone of operations is becoming visible in detail to the highest level participant, and that he can efficiently reach down to guide movements at the lowest level, as is done on a chess board, perhaps more thought should be directed to the reduction or restructuring of intervening headquarters. Greater integration of cross-service representation on battle staffs might also be explored.

These matters aside, it is remarkable that the U.S. armed forces have attained such a high level of technical and operational excellence that the outcome of the campaign in Iraq has never been in doubt. The U.S. Army has played an indispensable role in the unfolding of the battle, with or without Shock and Awe. There is plenty of room for well earned pride.

By Maj. Gen. Edward B. Atkeson

U.S. Army retired

MAJ. GEN. EDWARD B. ATKESON, USA Ret., Ph.D., is a senior fellow at AUSA's Institute of Land Warfare. He has written four books and more than 100 articles on military affairs.