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    Understanding The Victory Disease: From The Little Bighorn To Mogadishu And Beyond
    Understanding The Victory Disease: From The Little Bighorn To Mogadishu And Beyond
    Understanding The Victory Disease: From The Little Bighorn To Mogadishu And Beyond
    Ebook109 pages4 hours

    Understanding The Victory Disease: From The Little Bighorn To Mogadishu And Beyond

    By Major Timothy M. Karcher

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    About this ebook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTannenberg Publishing
    Release dateNov 6, 2015
    ISBN9781782899792
    Understanding The Victory Disease: From The Little Bighorn To Mogadishu And Beyond

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      Book preview

      Understanding The Victory Disease - Major Timothy M. Karcher

      This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com

      Or on Facebook

      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,

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