A GD thread discusses the potential for outside intervention in the Rwandan genocide in 94. That situation lasted approximately 100 days.
I also recall reading recently that it was going to take 30-some days for the US fleet sailing from San Diego to get in position in the Persian Gulf.
This got me wondering, how quickly could the US mobilize what size of a fighting force to the other side of the world. To what extent do we maintain RDF, where, and for what supposed goals? For how long are they self sufficient, or what types of support would be necessary? I tried some googling, but couldn’t find much of interest/use.
I am interested in an ability to achieve some land warfare objectives, rather than simply asking the time to lob a missile or fly a bomber.
Also, if possible, please provide numbers instead of/addition to descriptive terms such as platoon, division, battalion, etc.
Firstly, you have at least two Marine Expeditionary Units floating at all times, normally in the Mediterranean and Western Pacific, more recently one has been in the Persian Gulf, too. Each one of those has about 2,200 Marines. It has a reinforced infantry battalion (three line Companies and a Heavy Weapons Company), with attached Light Armored Vehicles. It has a reinforced helicopter squadron, with AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and AV-8B attack jets, as well as it’s own logistics and command and control elements. They could have been sent to the area within a week or ten days, and with the permission of surrounding nations (Tanzania or Kenya) to pass through their airspace, been on the ground in numbers that matter 24-36 hours after receiving the order to go. Self sustaining for 30 days.
Additionally, the US Army Airborne Forces can fly from the US and be on the ground there probably within about five days in a force size that can make a difference, maybe faster, depending on the advanced notice they get. I don’t know what their logistic needs are, or what their self sustaining lifespan may be.
Ten years back, there was an Air Contingency Force in the USMC (one on the East Coast, for sure) which was a reinforced Battalion on 24-hour alert to fly anywhere. Our bags were packed, weapons in boxes ready to load, vehicles fueled and balanced for air transport, and I carried a beeper. The beeper went off when Saddam invaded Kuwait, and I thought I was going to be there in the next day and a half. We DID have forces on the ground with in few days in Saudi Arabia, just not the East Coast ACF. We were only expected to be self sustaining for about 5 days, if I recall correctly.
Whether or not forces of reinforced battalion size could have stopped the tragedy is a matter for a higher paygrade than I ever had, but it sure would have made an impact.
Do you know what percentage of troops landed would be occupied in protecting the landing area, logistics base and ensuring that the line of retreat would be available if needed?
Probably not since by the time you got your beeper summons Saddam was nearly done with taking Kuwait. Nobody expected Saddam to invade and it caught the US flat-footed on that count. I think Saddam had the country in hand inside of a day or two and then just had some mop-up work to attend to.
That said if your unit could have somehow miraculously been there on time then you and yours would no doubt have made a difference. Could a unit your size have stopped the full weight of Saddam’s army? Probably not. However, I know enough to know that you would have liked given them a helluva bloody nose out of proportion to your size vs. their size. You might have even slowed them enough for the cavalry to arrive but that’s debatable.
More importantly however I’m sure Saddam would have paused before attacking US troops. At the time he thought the US would stay out of the conflict but blowing away a battalion or so of US troops would certainly make the US respond which Saddam did not want to happen. Hard to say what Saddam would have chosen in that instance but I for one am glad you weren’t there had Saddam decided he didn’t care about pissing off the US.
There are also “Maritime prepositioning ships” IIRC one or more are at Diego Garcia. These ships carry tanks and other heavy equipment/supplies that would not be feasible to airlift in large quantities. This way AFV crews can just be flown into the drop point.
Sorry. my last paragraph referred to the tragedy in Rwanda, not the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. The Air Contigency Force would have been a speed bump, as the forces who DID arrive in Saudi Arabia would have been, had the Iraqi armor rolled into that kingdom, in my opinion.
David Simmons, this ACF was to fly into a “friendly” airfield, we were not airborne troops in any sense of the word for parachuting in. There was no set plan for that, since the organization was flexible and had no set area it was planning to head into. If the MEU had landed in Rwanda via helicopters from the ships and secured an airfield, we could have gone into a place like that as reinforcements.
According to Tom Clancy’s Airborne (Berkley Books 1997), pp. 232-33, the 82nd Airborne Division has an airborne brigade (approx 3,500 soldiers) on ready alert.
One batallion (1/3 of the brigade) is on alert to return to Fort Bragg within 2-hours of a recall and to be fully combat loaded and flying within 18 hours. The other two batallions would follow shortly.
I just had this bouncing around my skull, realizing that in this era of near instantaneous communication and long distance warfare, it still takes some amount of time to get actual bodies in place.
I assume there are smaller units of special ops forces, Rangers or Seals, “on-call” who are able to hit hot spots just about as quickly as a jet, helicopter, or ship/sub can get them there.