fantassin
02-08-2004, 12:44 PM
At least some people are taking their infos on other channels than CNN and Fox news.
Current Operations of the French and German Armies
September 2003-Army Magazine
By Col. Peter Herrly, U.S. Army retired
That America undertook Operation Iraqi Freedom against the advice and without the participation of some of its oldest allies, including France and Germany, aroused considerable controversy and ill will during the run-up to and conduct of the war.
America's ties to France and Germany were severely strained by the political divergence over the war in Iraq, to the extent that many voices on the American political scene began questioning the utility of long-standing alliances like NATO. It is nevertheless remarkable that even when tempers were most heated, U.S., French and German soldiers continued to serve together in other coalitions as well as formal alliance efforts.
In fact, if we think of the continuing global war on terror as composed of various "fronts" where substantial active military forces are operating, it is remarkable that despite their absence in Iraq, French and Germany forces are present and operating with U.S. forces in multiple theaters. For the French Army, these include Afghanistan, East Africa, West Africa and the Balkans. German forces have broken with a long-standing reluctance to deploy outside of Germany and have been or are present in such areas as Somalia, the Balkans and Afghanistan.
These operations illustrate the complexity of the modern world. It is true that when an American asks -- "Are you with me or against me?" -- a Frenchman is ****e to answer, "On what issue?"
That complexity has been hard for many Americans to swallow as the country and Army geared up for a tough and difficult struggle in Iraq.
The dispute among allies over the Iraq conflict masked an often overlooked reality: The United States, despite its military might, will have a tough time taming an unruly world without its admittedly less muscular but still most militarily capable allies.
From the Balkans to Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military maintains strong forces (at a considerable strain in operational tempo and soldier and family cohesion). Even so, tackling alone the laborious tasks associated with building enduring peace in difficult theaters does not present the optimum solution for the U.S. Armed Forces.
The complex realities of global operations are portrayed here, showing the French and German Armies in recent action in various hot spots around the world -- Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Ivory Coast and elsewhere. Often these forces are involved in training and operating directly with the U.S. Army or in similar missions. Like the U.S. Army, the French and German Armies have lost soldiers in the fight against the forces of global terrorism and instability.
The French Army
There are only a few armies in the world today that retain robust full spectrum capabilities. Beyond the U.S. and British Armies, the French Army is one of the few land forces that not only maintains a substantial worldwide presence and a capability to fight at high intensity, but also is increasingly optimized for power projection.
The French Army has recently completed the ambitious restructuring program it launched in 1995, despite the handicaps of budget constraints imposed by five years of a center-left government from 1997 to 2002. These funding constraints hit especially hard at equipment maintenance and modernization accounts, in part because the Army was so heavily engaged in a series of deployments and overseas commitments. Nevertheless, despite the strains of this vigorous operational tempo, the French Army has completed the transition to an entirely new force structure, converting from a division to a brigade-centered force, and making the transition to an all-volunteer force.
During the same period, adding to its long-standing presence in Africa and the Pacific, the French Army began in 1992 a substantial long-term and continuing effort in the Balkans, where nearly 100 French soldiers have perished in the intervening decade.
In addition, after September 11, 2001, the French Army was asked to mount a major effort in Afghanistan. There, French soldiers operate in close conjunction with their American counterparts, notably in training the Afghan Army, participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and recently deploying special operations forces in a combat role.
To this has been added deployments to the Ivory Coast, where after helping evacuate American citizens, the French force has been engaged in a risky but so far successful effort to keep the lid on an explosive situation. Despite having fewer soldiers than the situation would seem to demand, French soldiers have employed their sense of the terrain and the overall environment to prevent the emergence of still another failed state, of still another spawning ground for instability and a potential safe haven for terrorists.
Recently, the French Army has also sent units to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for similar purposes.
At the same time, the French Army continues to develop its "Air-Land Operational Space" concept, a parallel to the U.S. Army's Future Combat System. This program's scope and bold vision, like the British Army's FRES (Future Rapid Effects System) effort, show that high technology in the landpower arena is not a one-way street from the United States to Europe.
Even in the domain of future high-intensity combat, the French Army remains centered around the soldier on the ground to maintain "Contact With Reality" as the current French Army doctrine states. Despite the deep tensions of the past year over Iraq, the French Army is more often than not still ranged solidly on the ground beside the Army of its oldest ally, the United States.
The German Army
In the past 12 years, the German Army has dramatically evolved from a Cold War border defense army strictly within the NATO framework to one that is operating worldwide. The German Army's new missions have led German soldiers to Cambodia, Somalia, Georgia, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Djibouti, and above all to the Balkans.
As recently as 1994 and 1995, the missions in Somalia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were watched very closely by Germans -- but now peacekeeping missions characterize the daily operations of the German Army, which bears the brunt of this commitment, adapting its force structure and equipment toward the new requirements. This reorientation continues; the objective is to obtain a balanced mix of light, medium and heavy army forces fitting into a prioritized deployability pattern. Today, some 6,000 German Army soldiers are employed abroad in different operations: with the special forces and in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; in SFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina; in KFOR in Kosovo; with Task Force Fox in Macedonia; and in the German NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) defense contingent in Kuwait.
Humanitarian and disaster relief missions. Humanitarian and disaster relief missions -- inside and outside Germany -- have a long tradition in the German Army. In Somalia, for example, the German Army deployed what was at the time the largest component contingent of the UNOSOM II (United Nations Operations in Somalia II) forces.
With operations in the Balkans, soldiers of the German Army became an integral part of international peace missions and crisis response operations and included work by supply convoys, engineers, army aviation and the medical corps.
The balance sheet for German Army contingents is impressive: 17,984 outpatient treatments; 2,277 inpatient treatments of people from 58 nations; 492 convoys/transport missions encompassing 5,615,000 kilometers; 12,100 cubic meters of fuel transported; 34,550 tons of cargo; 1,056 helicopter missions with 5,010 flying hours; 45 engineer working areas; nine overhauled/renewed bridges; 35 kilometers of road construction and 21 kilometers of road maintenance; and 38,200 meters of mine clearing (carried out by the mine-clearing vehicle Keiler).
Kosovo. The German KFOR contingent has approximately 3,680 soldiers. The commander of the German contingent is also the commander of the Multinational Brigade South (MNB [S]). In addition to the German troops, this brigade is composed of soldiers from Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, Georgia, Azerbaidzhan and Bulgaria. Focal points for operations in the MNB (S) are the enhanced surveillance of the borders with Albania and Macedonia, the assurance of the return of refugees, and support rendered to Task Force Fox in Macedonia.
Macedonia. Over 600 German soldiers participated in NATO Operation Essential Harvest.
Djibouti, Kuwait and Afghanistan. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, triggered a comprehensive international struggle marked by extensive solidarity against international, Islamic-extremist terrorism. The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) participate based on U.N., NATO, and European Commission resolutions. Direct involvement encompasses the Army, Air Force and Navy with a total strength of up to 3,900 soldiers. In the course of these operations, the Army has been involved since early 2002 with special and NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) defense elements in Operation Enduring Freedom against international terrorism, together with U.S. and Czech NBC defense elements.
Soldiers of the German Special Operations Command are deployed to Afghanistan to fight terrorism. Typical targets are storage sites, command, control and communications areas, cave and tunnel systems, as well as the infiltration routes of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. The struggle against terrorism in Afghanistan has not yet been completed.
The International Security Assistance Force, operating under U.N. mandate, supports Afghanistan's state organs in the course of maintaining security in Kabul and the local environment. Since February 2002, a contingent of approximately 810 German Army soldiers participated in Operation ISAF. As the second largest provider of forces, Germany is tasked with the tactical leadership of the deployed forces of the Kabul Multinational Brigade (KMNB), which includes, in addition to a German-led German-Dutch-Austrian Battle group, one French and Turkish Battle group each, and other multinational contingents of various sizes. The German contingent, jointly with the Netherlands, assumed ISAF leadership from February 2003 on.
The mission is carried out under difficult circumstances and is primarily marked by an enduring high threat imposed by terrorist and criminal attacks as well as by mines and other ordnance. Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who remained in the country endanger security in the greater Kabul area through criminal and terrorist attacks.
Outlook. Major parts of the German Army will be deployed for years to come, executing missions abroad. Currently more than 20,000 of its soldiers are involved with preparatory measures, deployment and post-mission activities.
Missions to pacify current and future crises will not be measured in months but in years. The Bundeswehr must be prepared for this eventuality. So far 56 German soldiers have lost their lives during the above mentioned missions, and others suffered serious injuries.
COL. PETER HERRLY, USA RET., is AUSA's Director of European Affairs. Formerly CJCS Chair at the National War College and U.S. Defense Attache in France, he also taught history at the U.S. Military Academy. The photographs and explanatory material for this article were furnished by Brig. Gen. Patrice Mompeyssin, Director of International Affairs on the French Army staff, and Maj. Gen. Werner Widder, commander of the German Army Training and Doctrine Command.
Copyright © 2004 by The Association of the U.S. Army[/b]
Current Operations of the French and German Armies
September 2003-Army Magazine
By Col. Peter Herrly, U.S. Army retired
That America undertook Operation Iraqi Freedom against the advice and without the participation of some of its oldest allies, including France and Germany, aroused considerable controversy and ill will during the run-up to and conduct of the war.
America's ties to France and Germany were severely strained by the political divergence over the war in Iraq, to the extent that many voices on the American political scene began questioning the utility of long-standing alliances like NATO. It is nevertheless remarkable that even when tempers were most heated, U.S., French and German soldiers continued to serve together in other coalitions as well as formal alliance efforts.
In fact, if we think of the continuing global war on terror as composed of various "fronts" where substantial active military forces are operating, it is remarkable that despite their absence in Iraq, French and Germany forces are present and operating with U.S. forces in multiple theaters. For the French Army, these include Afghanistan, East Africa, West Africa and the Balkans. German forces have broken with a long-standing reluctance to deploy outside of Germany and have been or are present in such areas as Somalia, the Balkans and Afghanistan.
These operations illustrate the complexity of the modern world. It is true that when an American asks -- "Are you with me or against me?" -- a Frenchman is ****e to answer, "On what issue?"
That complexity has been hard for many Americans to swallow as the country and Army geared up for a tough and difficult struggle in Iraq.
The dispute among allies over the Iraq conflict masked an often overlooked reality: The United States, despite its military might, will have a tough time taming an unruly world without its admittedly less muscular but still most militarily capable allies.
From the Balkans to Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military maintains strong forces (at a considerable strain in operational tempo and soldier and family cohesion). Even so, tackling alone the laborious tasks associated with building enduring peace in difficult theaters does not present the optimum solution for the U.S. Armed Forces.
The complex realities of global operations are portrayed here, showing the French and German Armies in recent action in various hot spots around the world -- Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Ivory Coast and elsewhere. Often these forces are involved in training and operating directly with the U.S. Army or in similar missions. Like the U.S. Army, the French and German Armies have lost soldiers in the fight against the forces of global terrorism and instability.
The French Army
There are only a few armies in the world today that retain robust full spectrum capabilities. Beyond the U.S. and British Armies, the French Army is one of the few land forces that not only maintains a substantial worldwide presence and a capability to fight at high intensity, but also is increasingly optimized for power projection.
The French Army has recently completed the ambitious restructuring program it launched in 1995, despite the handicaps of budget constraints imposed by five years of a center-left government from 1997 to 2002. These funding constraints hit especially hard at equipment maintenance and modernization accounts, in part because the Army was so heavily engaged in a series of deployments and overseas commitments. Nevertheless, despite the strains of this vigorous operational tempo, the French Army has completed the transition to an entirely new force structure, converting from a division to a brigade-centered force, and making the transition to an all-volunteer force.
During the same period, adding to its long-standing presence in Africa and the Pacific, the French Army began in 1992 a substantial long-term and continuing effort in the Balkans, where nearly 100 French soldiers have perished in the intervening decade.
In addition, after September 11, 2001, the French Army was asked to mount a major effort in Afghanistan. There, French soldiers operate in close conjunction with their American counterparts, notably in training the Afghan Army, participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and recently deploying special operations forces in a combat role.
To this has been added deployments to the Ivory Coast, where after helping evacuate American citizens, the French force has been engaged in a risky but so far successful effort to keep the lid on an explosive situation. Despite having fewer soldiers than the situation would seem to demand, French soldiers have employed their sense of the terrain and the overall environment to prevent the emergence of still another failed state, of still another spawning ground for instability and a potential safe haven for terrorists.
Recently, the French Army has also sent units to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for similar purposes.
At the same time, the French Army continues to develop its "Air-Land Operational Space" concept, a parallel to the U.S. Army's Future Combat System. This program's scope and bold vision, like the British Army's FRES (Future Rapid Effects System) effort, show that high technology in the landpower arena is not a one-way street from the United States to Europe.
Even in the domain of future high-intensity combat, the French Army remains centered around the soldier on the ground to maintain "Contact With Reality" as the current French Army doctrine states. Despite the deep tensions of the past year over Iraq, the French Army is more often than not still ranged solidly on the ground beside the Army of its oldest ally, the United States.
The German Army
In the past 12 years, the German Army has dramatically evolved from a Cold War border defense army strictly within the NATO framework to one that is operating worldwide. The German Army's new missions have led German soldiers to Cambodia, Somalia, Georgia, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Djibouti, and above all to the Balkans.
As recently as 1994 and 1995, the missions in Somalia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were watched very closely by Germans -- but now peacekeeping missions characterize the daily operations of the German Army, which bears the brunt of this commitment, adapting its force structure and equipment toward the new requirements. This reorientation continues; the objective is to obtain a balanced mix of light, medium and heavy army forces fitting into a prioritized deployability pattern. Today, some 6,000 German Army soldiers are employed abroad in different operations: with the special forces and in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; in SFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina; in KFOR in Kosovo; with Task Force Fox in Macedonia; and in the German NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) defense contingent in Kuwait.
Humanitarian and disaster relief missions. Humanitarian and disaster relief missions -- inside and outside Germany -- have a long tradition in the German Army. In Somalia, for example, the German Army deployed what was at the time the largest component contingent of the UNOSOM II (United Nations Operations in Somalia II) forces.
With operations in the Balkans, soldiers of the German Army became an integral part of international peace missions and crisis response operations and included work by supply convoys, engineers, army aviation and the medical corps.
The balance sheet for German Army contingents is impressive: 17,984 outpatient treatments; 2,277 inpatient treatments of people from 58 nations; 492 convoys/transport missions encompassing 5,615,000 kilometers; 12,100 cubic meters of fuel transported; 34,550 tons of cargo; 1,056 helicopter missions with 5,010 flying hours; 45 engineer working areas; nine overhauled/renewed bridges; 35 kilometers of road construction and 21 kilometers of road maintenance; and 38,200 meters of mine clearing (carried out by the mine-clearing vehicle Keiler).
Kosovo. The German KFOR contingent has approximately 3,680 soldiers. The commander of the German contingent is also the commander of the Multinational Brigade South (MNB [S]). In addition to the German troops, this brigade is composed of soldiers from Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, Georgia, Azerbaidzhan and Bulgaria. Focal points for operations in the MNB (S) are the enhanced surveillance of the borders with Albania and Macedonia, the assurance of the return of refugees, and support rendered to Task Force Fox in Macedonia.
Macedonia. Over 600 German soldiers participated in NATO Operation Essential Harvest.
Djibouti, Kuwait and Afghanistan. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, triggered a comprehensive international struggle marked by extensive solidarity against international, Islamic-extremist terrorism. The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) participate based on U.N., NATO, and European Commission resolutions. Direct involvement encompasses the Army, Air Force and Navy with a total strength of up to 3,900 soldiers. In the course of these operations, the Army has been involved since early 2002 with special and NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) defense elements in Operation Enduring Freedom against international terrorism, together with U.S. and Czech NBC defense elements.
Soldiers of the German Special Operations Command are deployed to Afghanistan to fight terrorism. Typical targets are storage sites, command, control and communications areas, cave and tunnel systems, as well as the infiltration routes of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. The struggle against terrorism in Afghanistan has not yet been completed.
The International Security Assistance Force, operating under U.N. mandate, supports Afghanistan's state organs in the course of maintaining security in Kabul and the local environment. Since February 2002, a contingent of approximately 810 German Army soldiers participated in Operation ISAF. As the second largest provider of forces, Germany is tasked with the tactical leadership of the deployed forces of the Kabul Multinational Brigade (KMNB), which includes, in addition to a German-led German-Dutch-Austrian Battle group, one French and Turkish Battle group each, and other multinational contingents of various sizes. The German contingent, jointly with the Netherlands, assumed ISAF leadership from February 2003 on.
The mission is carried out under difficult circumstances and is primarily marked by an enduring high threat imposed by terrorist and criminal attacks as well as by mines and other ordnance. Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who remained in the country endanger security in the greater Kabul area through criminal and terrorist attacks.
Outlook. Major parts of the German Army will be deployed for years to come, executing missions abroad. Currently more than 20,000 of its soldiers are involved with preparatory measures, deployment and post-mission activities.
Missions to pacify current and future crises will not be measured in months but in years. The Bundeswehr must be prepared for this eventuality. So far 56 German soldiers have lost their lives during the above mentioned missions, and others suffered serious injuries.
COL. PETER HERRLY, USA RET., is AUSA's Director of European Affairs. Formerly CJCS Chair at the National War College and U.S. Defense Attache in France, he also taught history at the U.S. Military Academy. The photographs and explanatory material for this article were furnished by Brig. Gen. Patrice Mompeyssin, Director of International Affairs on the French Army staff, and Maj. Gen. Werner Widder, commander of the German Army Training and Doctrine Command.
Copyright © 2004 by The Association of the U.S. Army[/b]