Husky.
Torch.
Anvil.
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Overlord.
Olympic.
Linebacker.
Reforger.
Rolling Thunder.
These are the names we used to give our military operations. Forceful names. Decisive names. Military names. OK, so Operation Olympic got called off — but only because we’d already nuked the crap out of a couple Japanese cities. After that, an actual invasion just seemed so over the top.
So now comes word that US Marines (and our Afghan allies) are finding the fight unexpectedly tough in Marjah. One report even says they’re “bogged down.”
The name of the operation: “Togetherness.”
‘Nuff said.
So Operation Togetherness is having trouble keeping it together?
Better than Operation Hug It Out…. but not by much.
Someone badly translated “Gung Ho” ?
Actually, REFORGER was the acronym that covered the movement of forces to and from Germany… REturn of FORces to GERmany, in order to conduct exercises, such as “Atlantic Lion”, etc.
One man’s “bogged down” is another man’s “I can’t just blow everything away like I did in WWII and Korea so I find that I have to take my time. Oh, and yeah, they didn’t sign the landmine treaty and the place is lousy with them.”
I.e., the Talibs can fight, and are putting one up.
And, as long as we keep our nose to the grindstone and don’t fret every time something doesn’t go just perfectly, we’ll find that we’ve ground them to dust in a place they have chosen to put up a fight.
I also rather suspect the name wasn’t chosen in a late-night skull session between the President and Rahm, but reflects the political realities of the war as we have to fight it.
I.e, see above – not being conducted as an existential fight by us, but *is* being conducted as an existential fight by them.
Yeah, it was just simpler when we could just nuke stuff and move the rubble piles around.
Too bad that’s not the war we’re fighting. Nor should it be, however much we might like it to be, because gosh, golly gee, it sure would be simpler. And I mean that.
John –
Putting the snark aside, which I’m loathe to do as snark puts food on my table, you’re almost certainly right. If you haven’t already (and I’m going to link to it tomorrow) see Austin Bay’s latest On Point at Strategy Page. The relevant bit:
The problem, of course, is that the Marines are pitching their sale to the Afghan/Taliban audience (and doing a smash-up job of it) and Obama & Rahm are pitching their sale to another audience — the collegiate elite. The problem, of course, is the the elite don’t really care about victory, or else Obama would bother himself to use the word now and then.
And the other problem is, the American people (and the Taliban, for that matter) can see the mixed message, and respond accordingly.
Sigh.
Either way, I still think it’s kinda cool they named a military operation after a parade float in Animal House.
So when is Operation Tea & Hugs?
The Johnson administration changed at least a few operation-names because they sounded “too aggressive.” While Rolling Thunder sounds impressive, the intent was to send signals to North Vietnam by very slowly & gradually (too much so, if you ask the military) increasing the size & tempo of the bombing campaign. Alas, the only signal the North received was “we don’t want to fight.”
To pick a small nit, John, shouldn’t those code names be in all caps, or is that form now discontinued?
Robin Roberts may have raised an interesting point; how would “Togetherness” be translated into Pushto? Perhaps it sounds more heroic then?
Ops names should be randomly chosen, with no relation to anything. They are designators only.
Sword. Gold. Omaha. Juno.
My favorite was always “Operation Mickey Mouse”, though.
Good observation, Apostic, they just picked the wrong Animal House float.
Shoulda been:
Operation Bite Me
On behalf of the Central American humanitarian missions Joint Task Force Aurora and Operation Fuertes Caminos (my Spanish is mostly nonexistent, sorry if misspelled) that I participated in back in the nineties, apologies for using up two names during peacetime that might be cooler than “Togetherness”.
Then again, a clever PRT could re-translate those into Farsi or Dari, I guess.
Operation Bite Be, that’s a hoot!