Fog, Friction and Force Caps
Abstract
Force caps and related command and control issues had a considerable influence on the conduct of operations in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. This paper attempts to answer the question, "Did force caps prevent ground component commanders from prosecuting this war according to the Army's doctrinal concept of overwhelming force?" The significance of this paper is that the military will in all likelihood be called upon to operate with the constraint of force caps again in the future, and there are lessons to be learned from the way forces were implemented in Afghanistan. The methodology that brought the author to choose this topic was interviews with planners and operators who had first hand knowledge of the issues of the campaign and who identified force caps and command and control as the greatest issues of the campaign. Further research was then conducted using additional sources identified and discussed in Appendix-1-Literature Review. The paper starts with examples of how operations and logistics were impacted due to force caps and includes an account of the U.S. Marine's insertion into Forward Operating Base Rhino in Southern Afghanistan in November of 2002. The author describes how force caps created an ad-hoc force structure. This structure resulted in the generation of an overwhelming amount of requests for forces. These requests for forces went through many layers of lengthy approval processes. The author discusses the dangers of piecemeal commitment using the historical example "Task Force Smith" which occurred in July 1950 at the outset of the Korean War. The flattened command and control structure, the risks involved in limiting the amount of force, and issues of command relationships are also addressed. Reasons for the force caps are presented, including the strategic context that contributed to the limit on the number of for
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 22, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA420056
Entities
People
- Shelly Walker
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College