thedrifter
08-30-06, 06:50 AM
August 29, 2006
DVD offers different approach to urban combat
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
It isn’t exactly like watching Black Hawk Down, but maybe if the Rangers and Delta Force soldiers who were caught in that film’s deadly ambush had been able to watch this video before they deployed to Somalia, that tragedy might have been avoided.
When most people think of urban operations, they think of blind alleys, rooftop snipers and roadside ambushes — much like the fatal warrens of Mogadishu. But a new DVD presentation produced by the Marine Corps Wargaming Division may better prepare Marines and soldiers to fight on the increasingly complex urban battlefield and prompt new thinking about how to approach the city fight.
“It had always been stressed when you go into urban combat it’s all about the urban structures,” says one Marine commander on the DVD. “The epiphany I had was that the buildings and the streets and the physical landscape really weren’t nearly as important as that political landscape. … Because the city’s most dense asset is the people.”
Developed over the last six months, the video — titled “New Challenges for Military Operations in the 21st Century: Emerald Express Insights and Observations from Operation Iraqi Freedom” — is a combination of combat footage from Iraq, picture montages and interviews of experienced Marine, Army and coalition Iraq veterans giving their take on what’s tough about an urban fight and how to work there effectively.
The video leverages material and insights from a series of lectures and seminars sponsored by the Corps’ Wargaming Division — part of the Quantico, Va.-based Warfighting Lab — over the last several years.
While the video focuses on Iraq, Marine war-gaming experts say the lessons imparted in the video transcend any specific war zone. As an Australian officer interviewed on the DVD says, winning the urban fight isn’t so much about immediate action drills as it is about being intellectually nimble.
“You are better off investing your training time into issues of how to think, rather than templated solutions of what to think,” he explains.
The Wargaming Division has burned about 1,200 copies of the DVD for interested Marines or units to add to their training library. Wargaming officials plan a host of follow-on multimedia products.
“If people can grasp this and understand the environment that we talk about in this video, I think half the battle is won,” said Dave Dileggo, action officer for the Wargaming Division’s Emerald Express and Joint Urban Warrior projects.
For more information on the Emerald Express DVD or to order a copy, contact Dave Dileggo or Wargaming Division director Frank Jordan at wargaming@usmc.mil.
Ellie
DVD offers different approach to urban combat
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
It isn’t exactly like watching Black Hawk Down, but maybe if the Rangers and Delta Force soldiers who were caught in that film’s deadly ambush had been able to watch this video before they deployed to Somalia, that tragedy might have been avoided.
When most people think of urban operations, they think of blind alleys, rooftop snipers and roadside ambushes — much like the fatal warrens of Mogadishu. But a new DVD presentation produced by the Marine Corps Wargaming Division may better prepare Marines and soldiers to fight on the increasingly complex urban battlefield and prompt new thinking about how to approach the city fight.
“It had always been stressed when you go into urban combat it’s all about the urban structures,” says one Marine commander on the DVD. “The epiphany I had was that the buildings and the streets and the physical landscape really weren’t nearly as important as that political landscape. … Because the city’s most dense asset is the people.”
Developed over the last six months, the video — titled “New Challenges for Military Operations in the 21st Century: Emerald Express Insights and Observations from Operation Iraqi Freedom” — is a combination of combat footage from Iraq, picture montages and interviews of experienced Marine, Army and coalition Iraq veterans giving their take on what’s tough about an urban fight and how to work there effectively.
The video leverages material and insights from a series of lectures and seminars sponsored by the Corps’ Wargaming Division — part of the Quantico, Va.-based Warfighting Lab — over the last several years.
While the video focuses on Iraq, Marine war-gaming experts say the lessons imparted in the video transcend any specific war zone. As an Australian officer interviewed on the DVD says, winning the urban fight isn’t so much about immediate action drills as it is about being intellectually nimble.
“You are better off investing your training time into issues of how to think, rather than templated solutions of what to think,” he explains.
The Wargaming Division has burned about 1,200 copies of the DVD for interested Marines or units to add to their training library. Wargaming officials plan a host of follow-on multimedia products.
“If people can grasp this and understand the environment that we talk about in this video, I think half the battle is won,” said Dave Dileggo, action officer for the Wargaming Division’s Emerald Express and Joint Urban Warrior projects.
For more information on the Emerald Express DVD or to order a copy, contact Dave Dileggo or Wargaming Division director Frank Jordan at wargaming@usmc.mil.
Ellie