Great reference on Gulf War Tactics and Strategy?

[Guest Pillar]

This message is cross-posted from the Combat Mission Forum.

I figured this was a more appropriate place to put it, since TacOps deals with modern warfare.

Try to make sense of this as best you can I just copied the whole post and pasted it below.

Thanks!

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Pillar

Member posted 07-18-2000 01:59 AM

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I'm looking for a book that will explain to me exactly how the US managed to conduct such an efficient conflict.

With such small losses for such a great victory, the US forces must really know what they're doing.

Thanks for the advice, yet again.

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Disaster

Junior Member posted 07-18-2000 02:51 AM

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After you find your Gulf War book I recommend that you read Blackhawk Down: A Story of Modern War, a book which has far more relevance to U.S. military policy in the next decade than any lesson you might take from the Gulf War.

Here is the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0871137380/102-8614366-4139304

"Blackhawk Down" is the true story of how the U.S. became embroiled in Somalia and focuses on the mission to save the downed crew of a Blackwawk helicopter which went down in the hart of Mogadishu. It details with warfare in a built up area where the line between noncombatant and 'irregular' was blurred. This is a situation in which the U.S. will become increasingly involved. I don't think the U.S. will have another Gulf War for some time but the chances of the U.S. facing another Somalia are great.

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Mirage2k

Member posted 07-18-2000 09:41 AM

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I thought a good book was "Into The Storm," by General Fred Franks (Ret.). Franks has worked with Tom Clancy and his people on a number of occasions ("Armored Cav," Force 21) and commanded VII Corps during the Gulf War. "Into The Storm" details his experience during the war, as well as his past military experience in Germany in the 1980s and Vietnam.

-Andrew

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Throw me a frickin' smiley people!

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Mirage2k

Member posted 07-18-2000 09:45 AM

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quote:

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Originally posted by Pillar:

With such small losses for such a great victory, the US forces must really know what they're doing.

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It helped that Saddam Hussein and most of his staff weren't very good at their jobs.

-Andrew

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Throw me a frickin' smiley people!

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speedy24

Junior Member posted 07-18-2000 01:43 PM

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Another good Gulf War book is "Every Man a Tiger", also by Tom Clancy. This one is similar to Into the Storm, but focuses on the air war.

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Pillar

Member posted 07-18-2000 04:17 PM

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Are you sure "Into the Storm" is a good resource for Tactics and Strategy?

I was told to stay away from it because it was mostly a reflection of Fred Franks on his own personal experience and life. I was told it didn't detail much other than what happened in his corner of the war.

[EZJCA]

I would suggest "Crusade, The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War" by Rick Atkinson.

EZ

[The Oz]

I would recommend "From Shield to Storm" by Jim Dunnigan and Austin Bay. Although they wrote fairly soon after the war and it's somewhat more 'rah-rah-USA' than others, it's still a reasonably good look at the whole war, not just one aspect.

Dunnigan also knows how to write so you can read the book and stay awake.

[Guest MajorH]

>I don't think the U.S. will have another Gulf War for some time

>but the chances of the U.S. facing another Somalia are great.

Not necessarily disagreeing but that is similar to what said by a lot of 'civilain experts' in the ten years prior to the Gulf War . Those experts said we would not have any more conventional wars and could expect only more 'Lebanons'.

It pays to be prepared for the worst case.

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Best regards, Major H

majorh@mac.com

[rich4421972]

I think it is instructive to review actual statistics of the US forces's combat effectiveness. This war taught us a lot about ourselves. Our smart bombs were somtimes only 40-50% effective while in other arena's, we learned that such marvels as the F-117 Night hawk were most effective only when they were accompanied by radar-jamming F-111's or EA-6's. Military aviation magazines have covered this conflict extensively and the results of the research are quite interesting. All-in-all, CNN coverage of the event was like cotton candy, with little true substance.

[Trooper]

It was only a common misconception that F-117 is invisible to radar, I don't believe the Air Force ever claimed it was. It's only a matter of range and ease of detection, and so of course, it will be more effective with jamming support.

A good read is Storm Command by Patrick Cordingly. Not so much a dispassionate account of the conflict, it does provide good insight as to the British way of doing things.

NTM

[rich4421972]

You are right that the air force never claimed any undue attention for the stealth fighter, but I thought it was fascinating to hear the many testimonials of pilots who experienced an eery feeling unless their mission was covered by radar-jammers. What I said about the bombs is true, though. Someday it would be neat to see a less conceptual airsupport model for TacOps, but I think there is really no need.