At Bloomberg Adm. James Stavridis meditates on the lessons of D-Day:
On the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994, I was a young Navy commander serving as captain of my first ship, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Barry. She’s still in commission — a grizzled veteran of America’s wars over the past three decades. But in those days, she was state-of-the-art, and we were afforded a remarkable honor: to pass in review before Queen Elizabeth II at Spithead, U.K., then to sail across the English channel to the shores of France.
Our short voyage mirrored the launch of the D-Day operation the night of June 5, 1944, and we ended up anchoring off the beaches of Normandy in position to be part of the backdrop for the speeches by the allied heads of state, including President Bill Clinton. It was a meaningful moment for my young crew – average age around 22 – to sail through the waters our predecessors had in Operation Neptune, the naval portion of the larger Operation Overlord.
The lessons he highlights are:
- The Navy matters
- Surprise, deception, and operational security matter
- We can’t control the weather, more broadly, there are always circumstances we cannot control
- Courage, honor, and commitment matter
mentioning Reagan’s “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech given 35 years ago and which has received much favorable comment lately. What has not been observed in connection with the speech is that the U. S. military is and always has been heavily populated with Jacksonians for whom ideas like courage and honor have particular resonance. If he had been speaking to a group dominated by Wilsonians and Hamiltonians, it would have fallen flat.
Could we manage such a feat today? I have my doubts. When everyone has a video camera in his or her pocket and a burning need to share everything they see, I suspect it would founder on the second lesson above.
We would have trouble doing it now because if we were at war with another country that had anywhere near a competent military that would have recon ability to spot us trying to move thousands of troops. The cellphones would also be a problem as you point out. Anti-ship missile technology is better.
As an aside, I think we are ok on courage, honor and commitment, at least at the field grade officer and below. The rapid tempo of overseas deployments since 9/11 has been unmatched in our history. Troops have done an admirable job of keeping it up.
Steve
Understandable when you take into account the large participation of the heavily-maligned Jacksonians.
When it comes to D-Day, WW2 in general and other major US accomplishments, I think the difference between the two groups is over-rated. Remember when we beat Russia in hockey? I think it is on the more marginal endeavors that the differences become more apparent.
Steve
The short answer is no. We have nine amphibious assault groups with a total of about 10,000 Marines. We have one airborne division, the 82nd, most of which is positioned in the Middle East. One brigade is available.
Our experience in the two Gulf wars is that it takes about two months to move an armored division and a mechanized infantry division just about anywhere. It takes a week just to put them on a train and move them to a port.
There is not one single inch of the Eurasian land mass or coastline that we could invade successfully. The only vulnerable shorelines are in Central and some of South America and some of Africa. I doubt that the available amphibious and airborne forces (about 15,000 troops) could invade and occupy Somalia. The UN force left pretty quickly after Blackhawk Down.
Moreover, we have a volunteer/professional military. It is totally disconnected from, maybe even alienated from, the civilian population. Since the is no draft, civilians let the Ruling Class do whatever it wants with the military. Any significant war in addition to the current dozen or so (Who knows how many?) would require mobilization of the Guard and Reserves. Something on the order of Iran would require a draft. Does anyone think our current youth would tolerate a draft? Can you imagine the riots? If you were young in the 1960s, you will have vivid memories of the hundreds of riots that occurred during the Viet Nam war.
Neither Morocco, nor Tarawa, nor Normandie will ever happen again.
PS. The main action in early June 1944 was the Soviet attack on Army Group Center in western Russian. Army Group Center was destroyed, and the Soviets went on to defeat Germany, more or less by themselves.
There were quite a few riots in Germany and the UK in the late 1960s-early 1970s but just a few of what I would actually call riots in the U. S. Most riots here weren’t the protesters. They were the police.
The Chicago Democratic Convention, the Hard Hat riot in New York, the big riot in Los Angeles in 1970. A lot of small violent incidents that didn’t rise to the level of full-on riots.
… Tarawa … will ever happen again.
Tarawa was a complete cluster fuck. Let’s hope that it never happens again.