Cop Out

Basil: Austin, the Cold War is over!
Austin: Finally those capitalist pigs will pay for their crimes, eh? Eh comrades? Eh?
Basil: Austin... we won.
Austin: Oh, smashing, groovy, yea capitalism!
--Austin Powers (1997)

Somebody somewhere had another plan
Now he’s got a rifle in his hand
Rollin’ into Baghdad wonderin’ how he got this far
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war
--Just Another Poor Boy, Steve Earle
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The Army handed out punishment recently to a company commander and a platoon leader following a 2006 ambush by insurgents upon an isolated observation post south of Baghdad (''Army Punished 2 Officers in '06 After Failures in Iraq Ambush.'').

''An Army investigation into the circumstances of the attack. . . concluded that they had been left for up to 36 hours without supervision or enough firepower or support to repel even a small group of enemy fighters.''

The Army's investigative report concluded, ''The shortcoming of standards at the platoon level was compounded by company leadership that was not engaged in enforcing standards.''

And Ranger asks, ''Where were the Battalion and Brigade Commanders during this period?'' Platoon leaders must always be over-supervised since they have only been in the Army for a short time. This is especially true of a platoon that has recently lost a platoon leader and members to hostile action.

''Although the leaders of this platoon care and are staying in the fight, the platoon is frayed,'' Colonel Daugherty wrote [in the Army's report.] He recommended that the platoon be given immediate down time to recuperate.''

This platoon is, in microcosm, a representation of the problems plaguing the entire Army both in Iraq and elsewhere. The troops are over-committed and understaffed.

''In his interview, Sergeant Gallagher called Captain Goodwin ''a good man'' who did not have enough soldiers or equipment to fulfill missions ordered by superiors. ''I felt it was the command above him,'' he said. A captain is not going to tell a battalion commander that he cannot complete a mission based on personnel and based on assets.''

There must be realistic leadership objectives at Brigade and higher. Of course, a company commander will not and can not exhibit anything other than a can-do attitude, and this gets soldiers killed.

'''This platoon needs to take a hard look at its standards and discipline,' the report said.''

Wrong. The entire Army in Iraq must look at its standards and discipline. Putting this problem onto a Second Lieutenant's shoulders is an institutional cop-out.

Ranger can only commiserate with the Company level soldiers in contact with enemy personnel. The only leadership that is possible is to fall the troops in and give them a ''rear march'' out of Iraq.

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Next: Situation analysis.