Into the Storm: On the Ground in Iraq

Constitution of the United States of America' in the United States Army in peace and two wars. That I was permitted to remain on active duty following the amputation of my left leg below the knee, and that I was given every opportunity to serve by Army leaders, by policy, and by my fellow soldiers, has been life's great privilege. My everlasting thanks to this great and noble institution, to our nation which it serves, and to the soldiers in whose ranks I was permitted to serve for thirty-five and a half years.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 'Once More…'

President George W. Bush said in an address to the nation on 11 September 2001,

'Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes or in their offices: secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror… Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.'

As I write these new chapters, the United States Army has more than 300,000 soldiers in day and night combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, forward stationed in nations like Korea, or in other active operational areas like the Balkans. Of the thirty-three active Army brigades, thirty-one are involved in those operations, have come back within the last six months, or are getting ready to go within the next three months. More than 160,000 Reserve Component soldiers are currently mobilized. Whether back in the U.S.A. or in those forward stationed areas, their families also serve in their own courageous way. In our nation and in nations who have given their young men and women to serve, other families bear the pain of loss for those who have 'given their last full measure of devotion' fighting for our very freedoms. Still more soldiers, recovering from wounds, battle on in hospitals and in their hometowns to go on with their lives after giving all they had. All of these soldiers inspire us with their fierce commitment to their mission, their versatile and innovative skills, their bottomless reservoir of courage, and their ability to win as part of a joint military team. Formed on 14 June 1775, and older than our nation it serves so faithfully, the U.S. Army has had many magnificent moments in its almost 229 year history of service to America. This is one of those times. America can remain proud of her Army.

From the early 1990s until today, there has been no strategic pause, nor any timeouts. U.S. armed forces have stayed ready and they have transformed themselves into a military able to fight and win two different campaigns against two different enemies in entirely different conditions.

On opening day of the 2002 baseball season at Camden Yards, the Baltimore Orioles honored the men and women of our military Special Operating Forces with a ceremony on the field before the game. It was a splendid tribute to those who, with our Afghan allies, had taken the fight to the Taliban in Afghanistan and both freed that country from the grip of a repressive regime and destroyed Al Qaeda and their terrorist training camps responsible for attacks on America on 11 September 2001, just seven months before.

After that ceremony, Tom Clancy, one of the Orioles's owners, invited me to join him to meet and talk with these great Americans. I was proud to be with them and listen to their stories of what they had done for America and the world. Theirs were stories of extraordinary professional skills and of uncommon valor. It was my first talk with combat veterans since 11 September 2001. Those discussions and my own impressions would be repeated many times afterward in formal meetings, briefings, hospital wards visiting fellow amputees, and casual meetings on the street or in airports. It would always be the same for me no matter the rank or position of those I met — I was always inspired by their courage, great professional skill, and fierce commitment to this noble cause to defend our freedoms.

TRANSFORMATION

What I witnessed was a quiet transformation in the U.S. military from the early 1990s and Desert Storm to today.

It is a transformation that occurred in the U.S. Army amidst what could have been a ruinous rapid demobilization from an eighteen-division active force of 780,000 to a ten-division force of 480,000 and corresponding reductions in the Reserve Component so that the total Army is about half the size it had been during Desert Storm. Demobilization and wavering commitments to tough battle-focused training had almost ruined the post-World War II Army of 1945, so that when it was called to battle in Korea in 1950, it suffered some early and costly defeats.

Army Chief of Staff General Gordon Sullivan (1991–1995) challenged the Army to 'break the mold' of demobilization and resultant unreadiness for war as happened after World War I and again after World War II. The U.S. Army has broken that mold by showing a remarkable ability to adapt to a wide variety of operational missions from 1991 to 2003. From 1950 to 1989 the U.S. Army went on ten major deployments. From 1989 to the present the number has more than tripled and counting from disaster relief in the U.S.A., to battle in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, the Sinai, rapid deployments to Kuwait, the Philippines, holding the line in Korea, to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. No one predicted many of those scenarios nor did they predict when they would occur because such predictions are not possible. What is possible is for the U.S. Army to keep itself trained and ready, to continue to develop officer and NCO leaders, to focus on service to the nation, and to develop the expertise to operate where our nation needs its Army to operate. Current Army Chief of Staff General Pete Schoomaker calls this 'relevant and ready.' For this war on those who practice terrorism, this war where our nation was directly attacked, our Army and our military were ready, and they have fought this war with extraordinary courage and skill.

FIRST BATTLES

In an old U.S. Army's capstone Field Manual 100-5, published 1 July 1976, there is one timeless statement: 'Today the U.S. Army must, above all else, prepare to fight and win the first battle of the next war' (U.S. Army Field Manual 100-5, Operations, HQ Department of the Army, Washington, D.C., 1 July 1976, p. 1–1).

Earlier in this book we described the 'rebirth,' the remarkable transformation that had taken place in the U.S. Army from the dark days in the 1970s to winning so decisively in Desert Storm in 1991. That war in my own judgment was a Janus War, combining a bit of the past and a bit of the future. Together with Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989, it was the first battle of the next war after the Cold War, and it pointed to the future in many ways. That first battle was a decisive battlefield victory with the U.S. Army as good in the field as it had ever been. One of our major strategic goals in the early 1990s was to ensure that the future Army would have the same battlefield edge we had in Desert Storm when it next went to war.

In these chapters, I would like to add to that story. Today's Army does possess that same battlefield edge and more. The U.S. Army did not stop the momentum of that 'rebirth' after Desert Storm because it is the duty of America's Army to continue to transform itself to be ready, to fight and win the first battles of the next war. Our Army did just that in Afghanistan, as those veterans related in their combat stories on opening day, and it did so in Iraq. Our forces continue to fight remaining elements in Iraq who oppose a free Iraq, and those in Afghanistan who oppose a free Afghanistan.