A Review Essay
by Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Armstrong
Download the full article: Gators, Leathernecks, and Full Spectrum Operations
Gary J. Ohls, Somalia... From the Sea (Newport Paper #34), The Naval War College Press, Newport RI, 2009. 249 pp. appendix, notes, glossary, bibliography, available for free download here.
Much like the country of Iraq, the United States has faced the challenge of Somalia for two decades. Long before today's concerns about piracy and terrorist support, as the United States military built up is presence in the region during Operation Desert Shield, Somalia insisted that some of that capability be dedicated to its own problems. An alert was sent to Central Command warning them that internal clan conflict had the potential to endanger American citizens, and the embassy in Mogadishu. From that message the United States became involved in Somalia for four years of operations. Those operations involved urban warfare, population security, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, infrastructure reconstruction, joint and interagency work with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and American military involvement with internal politics. The series of Somalia operations are a veritable menu of the kinds of missions that have become central to the U.S. approach to counterinsurgency a decade later in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gary Ohls' book Somalia... From the Sea, published by The Naval War College Press, offers a comprehensive and well considered account of U.S. operations in Somalia in the early 1990's. The mission was centered on the capability of the United States Navy and Marine Corps to conduct global expeditionary operations and provides an important illustration of amphibious forces. The account, nearly 250 pages long, is broken up into nine chapters and several appendices which are structured around the five separate operations which the Americans and United Nations carried out in Somalia. The appendices are very helpful, with explanations of abbreviations as well as short explanations of strategic concepts. Colonel Ohls, USMC (Ret), has a PhD in history from Texas Christian University and the research demonstrates the academic rigor of his background using original sources, reports, interviews of participants, as well as news coverage.
Download the full article: Gators, Leathernecks, and Full Spectrum Operations
Lieutenant Commander Benjamin "BJ" Armstrong is a Naval Aviator who has served as an Amphibious Search and Rescue and Special Warfare Pilot and an Advanced Helicopter Flight Instructor. He holds a MA in military history and has written on naval history and irregular warfare. He is a regular SWJ contributor and has had articles and reviews appear in numerous journals, including most recently in Defense & Security Analysis, USNI's Proceedings, and Naval History Magazine.
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Thanks John.
Somalia is often seen in our pop/media culture as a failure. However, there were a large number of big successes in the five Operations there, and several "lessons observed." I steal the phrase from TX Hammes because from our experiences in Iraq/Afghanistan I don't know that I would say we learned anything from Somalia in the early 90's.