Understanding The Victory Disease: From The Little Bighorn To Mogadishu And Beyond
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The growth of the victory disease can best be analyzed through the study of historical examples where the symptoms become quite clear. This work uses the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn and the 1993 actions of Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia to highlight the disease’s effects.
Studying the victory disease can help one avoid succumbing to its effects and ultimately find an effective vaccination. As this work will argue, the only real vaccine for the disease is found in increased study of military history in the Officer Education System, particularly through focusing on campaigns and battles where defeat may be attributed to the sickness. Simple awareness of the problem prevents one from falling prey to the disease, thereby creating immunity.
Major Timothy M. Karcher
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Understanding The Victory Disease - Major Timothy M. Karcher
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Text originally published in 2000 under the same title.
© Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publisher’s Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
Understanding the Victory Disease,
From the Little Bighorn to Mogadishu and Beyond
by
Major Timothy Karcher, US Army
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 5
Foreword 6
Preface 7
Chapter 1 — Introduction 8
The Victory Disease 8
The Battle of the Little Bighorn 10
Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia 10
The Road Ahead 11
The Significance of This Study 11
Chapter 2 — The Battle of the Little Bighorn 12
The Clash of Cultures 12
The Centennial Campaign 13
The Spring-Summer Campaign 14
The Road to the Little Bighorn 15
The Battle Begins 17
The Battle Ends 22
Conclusion 23
Chapter 3 — Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu 24
Descent Into Anarchy 24
Enter the United Nations 25
United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM) 1 26
Unified Task Force (UNITAF) 26
United Nations Operations in Somalia—UNOSOM II 27
TF Ranger Arrives in Mogadishu 28
The Battle of the Black Sea 30
In Retrospect 35
Chapter 4 — The Search for a Vaccine 37
Setting the Conditions 37
Arrogance 37
Complacency 39
Using Established Patterns 41
The Vaccine 42
Chapter 5 — Recommendations and Conclusion 43
When, Where, and How to Conduct Vaccinations 43
The Road Ahead 44
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 46
Bibliography 47
Official US Army and United Nations Publications 47
Published Articles 47
Books 47
Monographs 50
Interviews 50
Internet Sources 50
About the Author 51
Foreword
Turning Victory Into Success: Military Operations After the Campaign
was the title of a recent US Army Training and Doctrine Command/Combat Studies Institute military symposium at Fort Leavenworth. The presenters looked at the imperative of linking battlefield success to political objectives across both tactical and strategic spectrums. One of the symposium’s salient points was that overwhelming military accomplishment does not automatically translate to overall success.
Major Tim Karcher’s Understanding the Victory Disease,
From the Little Bighorn to Mogadishu and Beyond presents further evidence supporting the above premise. With Operations ENDURING and IRAQI FREEDOM in the foreground today, it is fitting that this study should focus on military operations undertaken in the immediate aftermath of extraordinary military victory. US military planners must possess a solid foundation of military history and cultural awareness to ensure battlefield and strategic success today and in the future. Future conflicts are not likely to resemble those of the past, whether they are conflicts from dim memory, the previous decade, or last year. Each brings its own challenges and dynamics. One thing is certain, however, as Major Karcher points out: The US military cannot rest on the laurels of previous campaigns. Major Karcher’s study makes an important contribution to military history as a warfighter’s tool to refine critical thinking and adaptability.
Thomas T. Smith
Lieutenant Colonel, Infantry
Director of Combat Studies
Preface
As a result of America’s national strength and its demonstrated military prowess, US forces are quite susceptible to falling prey to the effects of the victory disease.
The disease, by definition, brings defeat to a previously victorious nation or military due to three basic symptoms: arrogance, complacency, and the habit of using established patterns to solve military problems.
The growth of the victory disease can best be analyzed through the study of historical examples where the symptoms become quite clear. This work uses the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn and the 1993 actions of Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia to highlight the disease’s effects.
Studying the victory disease can help one avoid succumbing to its effects and ultimately find an effective vaccination. As this work will argue, the only real vaccine for the disease is found in increased study of military history in the Officer Education System, particularly through focusing on campaigns and battles where defeat may be attributed to the sickness. Simple awareness of the problem prevents one from falling prey to the disease, thereby creating immunity.
Chapter 1 — Introduction
Today the United States is the sole global superpower.
Until recently, the United States and the Soviet Union had balanced one another as the two opposing superpowers of the world, one leading the Western democracies and the other the communist Eastern Block. This balance of power in a bipolar world actually brought a tenuous peace for over 40 years. Eventually, though, the United States gained distinction as the only super-power due to the Soviet state’s collapse in the late 20th century. America’s prominence has come with great responsibility. Even though our Cold War victory and America’s rise as the superpower have given many Americans much comfort, as this study will illustrate, our success should also be viewed as a potential source of concern.
Accompanying its status as the sole superpower, the United States has a fine tradition of military proficiency and an historical string of victories that many nations view with envy. The US military has been victorious in nearly every major war it has fought, suffering its only real defeat during the protracted war in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s. Even there,