Lessons Learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom

CW2 Jonathan Kantor — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 10:54:39 -0400

Since we have so many people on here from different branches and specialties, I am curious to learn what everyone has to say about any lessons learned from OIF. Consider your response and make sure you are not revealing anything that is classified.

Also, what lessons learned did we get from previous military campaigns that were forgotten or overlooked during OIF. Did we make the same mistakes as before? Did our successes come from previous lessons learned?

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 11 at 2014 10:58 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 10:58:15 -0400

CALL: great resource http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fusacac.army.mil%2FCAC2%2Fcall%2F&ei=9QJIU4rJF6fJsQSa3YLABA&usg=AFQjCNFeeSWHC08ZEdSeMNyqbnUaCJNAjw&sig2=3ri-rkfVtIsFyfQ11Vt9mg&bvm=bv.64542518,d.cWc

Response by SGT Ben Keen made Apr 11 at 2014 11:10 AM

SGT Ben Keen — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:10:19 -0400

I think the one lesson the military took into Iraq was how to be adept to the changing battlefield. While I wasn't alive to serve in Vietnam; from everything I read, the US went into that fight expecting the enemy to fight like the enemies faced in WWI, WWII and Korea. The idea of gorilla warfare wasn't though of at the time and once the US sort of figured it out, the damage had already been done.

When we rolled into Iraq, we still had a lot of questions, but we were able to take lessons from all the conflicts before and apply them to the war in Iraq. While not perfect, we took the time to line our HMMWVs with sandbags to slightly reduce the possible results of a land mine. We went into the cities with as much of a force as we could and we tried to gain control as quickly as possible.

Again, while we still learned a lot of lessons from things that happened early on into the invasion of Iraq; I personally think we were able to take some lessons learned and applied them with some level of success.

Response by SGT James Elphick made Apr 11 at 2014 12:14 PM

SGT James Elphick — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 12:14:19 -0400

I think one of the most important lessons RE-Learned was to employ defeated enemy combatants and reintegrate them into the post-conflict society. From my understanding most of the Iraqi Army was disarmed and sent home, a vanquished foe. Then when things got bad and they had no money and no livelihood, they became insurgents, angry at the US for the situation in which they now found themselves.

Response by SFC Craig Dalen made Apr 11 at 2014 12:49 PM

SFC Craig Dalen — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 12:49:49 -0400

The biggest lesson learned for me was we should know all the facts about what is going on before we just jump into action. There was no real purpose to have been there.

Response by SGT James Elphick made Apr 11 at 2014 4:44 PM

SGT James Elphick — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 16:44:08 -0400

Another lesson I think we learned, and I think this is particularly important with the budget draw downs, is that individual soldiers need to have as much fire power as possible in order to handle a variety of threats when other means of support are unavailable. What I mean by this is that often times fighting in Iraq insurgents were fighting in heavily populated areas and used sacred places and shrines as a shield of sorts, knowing we could not drop bombs or artillery on their position. Since that time the military developed or acquired more weapons to empower soldiers at lower levels such as the XM-25 and the Carl Gustav. These capabilities have also translated nicely to combat in Afghanistan and as such have proved ubiquitously useful.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 13 at 2014 1:42 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:42:41 -0400

President OBummer - "Duh?!"

President Bush - "Axis of Evil for $400, Alex."

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Dec 12 at 2018 9:46 AM

LTC Jason Mackay — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 09:46:31 -0500

CW2 Jonathan Kantor there is an official Army study of Operation Iraq Freedom that is in the final phases of preparation.

Response by PO1 Mark Koenig made Oct 14 at 2021 12:44 PM

PO1 Mark Koenig — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:44:42 -0400

The invasion was carried out by professional patriots.
And

1) It is hard to "look the other way" on the series of intelligence power plays that pushed for the invasion of Iraq. Post 9/11 was a huge change for the USA and the world. It seems like it was a useful tragedy that became a blank check for going to war with Iraq, Afghanistan ( but give the Saudis a pass).

2) There was no clear mission beyond "WMD Crisis mitigation" and maybe Al-Qaeda has a block party every now and then.

2.1) There was no rebuild plan that could be sustained by occupation forces of Iraq.
2.3) We failed to reintegrate the Iraqi military into their society. This failure is likely the main reason the Iraqi invasion failed .

Regarding lessons learned from individual communities within my AO:

When Naval Coastal Warfare showed up for the invasion we ran into the multinational forces off the get go. British forces were sweeping in from Kuwait to Iraq.

My first impression is that a USMC helicopter crashed in the desert on the road to Iraq did not have a good look.

This was the kickoff of the invasion. Why was an aircraft already down?
Where were the aircrew? How come no one reported that shit to us?
And
While the British forces were aggressively clearing the area for a sniper and mortar position, we were stalled out on the road with a rather tasty convoy of small boats armed port and starboard, but on trailers none the less.

While nothing "bad" happened, it was never fun for me to encounter other armed forces without knowing about their operations.

Communications and Coordination.
If we didn't have personal cell phones, I don't think we would have survived some of the gaps in communication.