Category: Ineptitude

Huh?

Hamas’s Shift to Tunnel Warfare Catches Israel by Surprise

JERUSALEM — Israel entered its latest conflict with Hamas armed with a high-tech arsenal, real-time battlefield intelligence and strong domestic support for dealing a heavy blow to Hamas.

But again on Friday, Israeli forces were taken by surprise, this time with two soldiers killed and one taken prisoner when militants once again attacked from a tunnel in Gaza.

As frustration grows in Israel over the military’s limited success so far in trying to neutralize Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs Gaza, despite hitting 4,300 targets in 24 days of intense bombing, some military experts say it is increasingly evident that the Israel Defense Forces have been operating from an old playbook and are not fully prepared for a more sophisticated, battle-ready adversary. The issue is not specifically the tunnels — which Israel knew about — but the way Hamas fighters trained to use them to create what experts in Israel are calling a “360-degree front.”

“Hamas has changed its doctrine and is using the tunnels as a main method of operation,” said Israel Ziv, a retired general who headed the military’s Gaza division and its operations directorate. “This is something we learned amid the fighting.”

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: Any military “professional” that does not understand tunnels as a poor man's calvary is poorly educated.

See Especially:

Review: The Tunnels of Cu Chi

Article below started to circulate in the office on Friday and appears in today's Washington Post. LTG (R) Barno is spot-on.  He describes the Army I retired from and, substantially, the Army I was commissioned into in 1971.  In Iraq and Afghanistan, the threats were IEDs, snipers, etc.  In the Army to return, the threats will be Semi-Annual Training Briefs, PT tests, maintenance inspections, barracks inspections, shortages of white paint for rocks, etc.  For the junior officers and, to a significant extent for the Soldiers, during the 13 years of combat, they have been working within intent, with significant autonomy and opportunity to exercise initiative.  And they have done well.  Now they face infinite micromanagement with emphasis on uniforms, tatoos, police call, pulling Staff Duty Officer and Charge of Quarters, motor stables, area beautification, etc.  Principal drivers of this future are a former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army and the current Sergeant Major of the Army, who have postulated that this new regime is the silver bullet to restoring discipline within the force and reducing Soldier suicides.  As LTG Barno notes, it's also likely create unattractive command climates thus generating voluntary separations which will contribute to sequestration-driven reduction of end strength.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: US Army's New Enemy Is Itself”