The Tip of the Spear

"We make war that we may live in peace"

Aristotle

One of my favorite movies about the Viet Nam War is We Were Soldiers. It is the true story of LTC Hal Moore and a group of very brave men he led into one of the first US Army battles fought in the Viet Nam War. LTC Moore was a career soldier - a warrior. When he found out he was going to Viet Nam battlefields, he learned as much as he could as quickly as he could. One thing that stuck in his head was how French, who were driven out of Viet Nam, had been soundly defeated, almost massacred, in the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu. They were defeated by a battle tested, battle hardened group of North Vietnamese regulars commanded by the legendary General Giap. LTC Moore knew this is what was waiting for him and his untested group of young soldiers. At the Battle of Ia Drang in November of 1965, against incredible odds, they became the "tip of the spear".  

In that battle, young men died and many others were wounded. From that battle until the war ended in 1975, over 58,000 brave young men and a handful of women were killed, fighting for freedom and democracy in a land so far from home. By all accounts, it was a bad war - in the end, Viet Nam fell to the Communists. However, as in past conflicts, the bravery shown by the young men who went in to harm's way, acting as the tip of the spear, was second to none.

After a period of tranquility, the United States once against was called upon to face a new menace. In an act of naked aggression, Saddam Hussein had invaded a sovereign country and occupied it. Condemned by the United Nations, it was up to the United States and a coalition of willing allies to stem this tide. Brave men and women, many of whom were the children of the warriors who fought in Viet Nam, heeded the call. In January 1991, our troops who had been training in the Middle East as Desert Shield, became warriors once again as Desert Storm commenced.

Most of the 800,000 troops that participated in Desert Storm had never seen battle. It was estimated that the Iraq Army numbered over 1,000,000, which made it the fourth largest army in the world. Saddam had threatened our forces with "the Mother of all Battles" and American blood was to be spilled throughout the desert. Rumors abounded that Iraq had WMD of all shapes and sizes ready to be used on our troops once they crossed the Kuwait boarder. Knowing this, as well as going up against superior numbers in a land few were familiar with, did not deter the resolve of our troops. In January 1991, the United States and it's allies conducted a very effective air campaign which lasted thirty-nine days. On February 24, 1991, a massive wave of allied ground troops crossed the Kuwait boarder and became the tip of the spear in what became a 100 hour ground war.

The war ended with less than 400 US dead and very few wounded. The war did not end with unconditional surrender - it ended with a truce between Iraq and the coalition requiring the withdrawal of all Iraqi forces from Kuwait and restitution to be paid to Kuwait for deaths and damages. Saddam was allowed to stay in power so long as the conditions of the truce remained in effect.

This leads up to March 20, 2003, the start of the Iraq War. Many believe this was a war of revenge by the current president George W. Bush due to the attempted assassination of his father, George H. W. Bush, by Iraqi agents. In reality, this war was a continuation of the 1991 Gulf War, caused by numerous and continual violations of the 1991 cease fire and truce. I won't go into the specifics in this article, however more information on what started this war can be obtained at my previous article called "Stop the War! What War?". That being said, the Iraqi War was much grittier, dirtier and deadlier than the 1991 Gulf War. The coalition of allies to support this effort was not as large as the coalition for the Gulf War resulting in the United States played a much larger role.

The Iraq War lasted from March 2003 until December 2011. During that time, 4,500 brave troops were killed and 32,000 were wounded, some very severely. We had to relearn a  method of warfare not used for decades - house to house close order combat. It was tough, dirty and dangerous. We learned a new term of warfare - IED (Improvised Explosive Device). IEDs used a very crude yet effective technology. They caused many deaths and crippling injuries to our soldiers, even if riding in a shielded tank or Bradley. By the time the war ended, Saddam had been captured, turned over to the new elected Iraqi government, tried and executed. We left Iraq knowing it was a different, and better, country than when we first went it. Thanks to the men and women operating at the tip of the spear, the Iraqi people were free.

That brings us to the current conflict. The Afghanistan War has now become the longest war in United States history. It is the first conflict which resulted from the War on Terror as the United States started operations shortly after the 2001 terror attacks. In the very beginning, the Americans operating as the tip of the spear were trained CIA operatives as well as Special Forces. They worked with the Northern Alliance in rooting out the Taliban and embedded Al Qaeda operatives.

After eleven years of very difficult conflict in a mountainous country which borders Pakistan, a country which is at times both friend and foe, the mission of this conflict has become constantly more nebulous. Knowing that fact, and with the recent advent of "green on blue" murders by Afghan regulars on allied forces, our troops fight on. They are the tip of the spear in an unforgiving land, fighting entrenched forces, against enemies which often looks like friends.

My purpose in this article was to shine a light on the brave souls who daily protect and defend us against all who would do us or our country harm. Even though the time line began in the sixties during the Viet Nam War, this unselfish bravery really started generations ago. Uncommon valor and bravery took place during both the World Wars, Korea, and numerous other conflicts since our founding. So long as there is evil in this world which threatens democracy and freedom, there will be the heroes, the real heroes who stand in the gap, who truly become the tip of the spear.