Posted on Oct 29, 2017
Who would really be the first fighting force to be sent in?
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It has been a while seen there has been some military service banter. I have often heard that since I was a younger that the Marines were the first to fight. Much later I was exposed to the Army, to which I would join, and the Airborne. Logically you would tend to believe Airborne units would really be the first one there.
What would you say?
Alibi: Then when I joined the Army I realized the Air Force were really the first ones to fight.
What would you say?
Alibi: Then when I joined the Army I realized the Air Force were really the first ones to fight.
Deployment
Combat
Warfare
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 31
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Ask the 75th RANGER Regiment about Urgent Fury and Just Cause. If you want to reach out and touch someone - send the best light infantry in the world
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COL (Join to see)
SEALs were on the island long before the Rangers got there in Urgent Fury. The 7th Special Forces beat the Rangers to Panama during Just Cause.
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LTC Orlando Illi
COL (Join to see) - True in both cases. I interpreted the question as what type of sustained combat powers would be the first - Special Ops are not sustained combat power. They are used for reconnaissance.
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PFC (Join to see)
LTC Orlando Illi I would say also special forces in Afghanistan they were some of the first military units sent for the purposes of fostering a guerilla movement as well as verifying HVT's and also sensitive sites for destruction or seizure.
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LTC Orlando Illi
In 2001, subsequent to 9/11, both the CIA and the SOCOM began to court the Northern Alliance in an attempt to use indigenous personnel to overthrow the Taliban. In my estimation that is NOT projecting Combat Power. Rather, it is use of Special Operation and CIA assets to effect regime change with the intent of bringing the new regime into friendly relations with the United States.
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CPT (Join to see) It all depends and on the size and scope.... Ranger Battalion most likely, or an Airborne BCT. Or, both. But, it is all METT-TC
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LTC (Join to see)
Ask the USMC's MEUs dwelling somewhere near a hotspot. They may go first on a NEO or into combat.
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COL (Join to see)
Sir, you know that SOCOM had a smaller element there before they employ one of those other organizations.
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COL Charles Williams
COL (Join to see) - Roger, I will never forget when we did an Assault Landing in Somalia... Only to find Red Horse had already repaired the airfield, and an Army Transportation element was controlling the traffic on the airfield. SF had been their for months prior. Long before the SEALS landed on national TV.
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Usually they employ the Air Force and or the Navy first; then send in the ground forces in a large battlefield scenario. This way the enemy count has been decreased before the ground forces are sent in. The worse case scenario is when there are combatants and non combatants that are co-located. In that scenario, the Marines usually will be first in followed by the Army with air support by the Air Force. Of course the Navy gives the Marines a ride and the Air Force gives the Army a ride.
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CPT (Join to see)
When I was younger I used to think it was the Army then I realized the air force would be there first dropping bombs.
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COL (Join to see)
Someone from SOCOM...not the Airforce...unless you count the reconnaissance aircraft.
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1LT(P) (Join to see)
It's also in the Marine Corps Hymn though "First to fight for right and freedom." So, even the songs disagree.
I also looked for it in the NOAA Corps song (yes, they actually have a song), but didn't see it since they really fight/track storms.
I also looked for it in the NOAA Corps song (yes, they actually have a song), but didn't see it since they really fight/track storms.
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On 19 March 2011 I was at an undisclosed location in SW Asia and saw bomber after bomber after bomber headed to Libya. "We" also imposed a no fly zone over the entire country with Air traffic controlled through the "eye in the sky".
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COL (Join to see)
That's a good point. There are some missions that are purely air campaigns, but I'd bet that there is a SOF element on the ground somewhere with a laser.
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Special forces maybe for the purposes of gathering intelligence as well as organizing a guerilla force. After that rangers sound like the next likely unit to secure insertion points for and key installations this will most likely include SEAL teams as well. After this pending on the area the first conventional forces will be a combination airborne army units and marine Corp forces which all depends on the area of battle.
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TSgt Robert Allen
You make a great point. Intelligence gathering prior to carpet bombing or other more precise targeting is a good way to go. Still, the war isn't won by a single branch.
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PFC (Join to see)
TSgt Robert Allen true never meant to imply that it's just what I believe the ground order of battle might be like in opening phase of combat of course you will have navy and air force flying CAP and SAR that's a given as well as air force combat controllers embedded with ground forces.
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Back in the ‘80s three divisions were on rotation as the rapid deployment force: 10th Mountain, 7th Inf (Ft. Ord) and the 82nd IIRC. They were tasked to be able to go anywhere in the world and be ready to fight within 72 hours. I don’t know if that made them “first” on the ground, but that certainly made them likely first to arrive in force.
That’s probably all changed by now.
That’s probably all changed by now.
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COL (Join to see)
It's still going on and it's ready to go...but it is a high risk operation. Nothing else is going to be ready to support them except more light infantry following in more planes. You could get 3 airborne brigades there pretty quick, but depending on where it goes down, that would be a really quick way to end the concept of vertical envelopment for good.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
The units in Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force were 82nd, 101st, 9th Inf. 24th Div. Mech, and the 1st Marine Div., plus a Brigade for 1 Cav. Technically, the 7th and 10th was not part of the Rapid Deployment Divisions, but any of the Light Infantry Units were considered to have the ability, so that would have included the 25th and the 6th Arctic Light.
I was right in the middle of all these changes in the 80's, including the changes after the fall of the Soviet Union when they thought that we would just be involved in bush fire wars and contingency operations short of war. Boy, did we every miss the mark on that one.
I was right in the middle of all these changes in the 80's, including the changes after the fall of the Soviet Union when they thought that we would just be involved in bush fire wars and contingency operations short of war. Boy, did we every miss the mark on that one.
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SPC Kevin Ford
CPT Lawrence Cable - I'm probably misremembering or perhaps the NCO that explained it to me didn't fully understand the situation either. There are a lot of mushrooms growing at the E4 level.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
SPC Kevin Ford - I probably had a bit more association with it too. I spent some time with 101st, 10th and 6th ( they shuffled Brigades around a lot during this time period ) back in the glory days of the Light Fighters.
If you look at the original deployment in Desert Storm, that is exactly how it was planned to work. 82nd and 75th Rangers hit the ground first, followed by the 101st , then the 1st Marines and the 24th. So in less than three weeks from the initial decision to go in, we had 4 divisions on the ground. That's called force projection and I doubt anyone else in the world could do it.
If you look at the original deployment in Desert Storm, that is exactly how it was planned to work. 82nd and 75th Rangers hit the ground first, followed by the 101st , then the 1st Marines and the 24th. So in less than three weeks from the initial decision to go in, we had 4 divisions on the ground. That's called force projection and I doubt anyone else in the world could do it.
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Depends on the kind of war. If the government feels like we can just get the people to overthrow whoever, then the green berets would be the first on the ground to train the civilian populace. If that is not the plan, then you would have to look at the geography of the place we are going into and what the type of war would be. If it is a smaller force that is on a coast, I can imagine amphibious Marines would conduct the first landing. Is it a guerilla force of unknown strength though? In that case, the army may be deployed first due to the size and ability to meet large forces head on. Airborne units are great, but they would not be deployed on their own to start a fight; that would mean almost certain death for an airborne unit. They would have to be deployed in conjunction with another force in order to get attention away from the dropping airborne probably behind enemy lines. If you really want to think about it, Air Force and Navy would probably the first to "fight." Utilizing bombers and ship based cannons to rain hell onto an enemy force prior to the land invasion would be their first mission.
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Situation dictates... Diplomacy is always the first to fight... and fail... this is our first instrument of national power... then Information (hopefully more than just a twitter battle or other social media)... followed by Economic force.
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Sir, your response gives sight to an air campaign, but the word "IN" to me indicates a ground operation, just the way I am built I guess. In a small mission/conflict, it is a myriad of SOF which we all know is usually a joint mixed force, so all of them. However, in a land campaign, usually the Marines as they were in 2002 and 2003 occupying some land expeditionary prior to our arrival. Thing is that USA SOAR was there concurrently, but when you are the Dark Horse, a lot of folks just don't know you are there.
It basically depends on the operation and intent of the mission. All DoD entities fight for this piece of the pie (budget) with their individual and team selling points.
It basically depends on the operation and intent of the mission. All DoD entities fight for this piece of the pie (budget) with their individual and team selling points.
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