Posted on 12/06/2016 3:58:04 PM PST by RoosterRedux
Two weeks into the war in Iraq, Marine Col. Joe D. Dowdy concluded the crowning military maneuver of his life, attacking an elite band of Iraqi troops and then shepherding 6,000 men on an 18-hour, high-speed race toward Baghdad.
But no praise awaited the First Marine regimental commander as he pushed into the tent of his superior, Maj. Gen. James Mattis, on April 4, 2003. Instead, Col. Dowdy was stripped of his command, which effectively ended his 24-year Marine career. In a final blow, Col. Dowdy says, the general asked him to empty his sidearm and turn over the ammunition. "He thought I was going to try to kill myself," the colonel says.
Assuming a battlefield command is the pinnacle of a Marine's career. Being removed is near the nadir, exceeded only by a court martial. It's extremely rare for the modern U.S. military to relieve a top commander of duty, especially during combat. Col. Dowdy, 47 years old, was the only senior officer in any of the military services to be dismissed in Iraq. He says he would rather have taken an enemy bullet.
Col. Dowdy's firing was even more unusual because he didn't commit any of the acts that normally precipitate a dismissal: failing to complete a mission, disobeying a direct order, breaking the rules of war. "It was a decision based on operating tempo," says Lt. Eric Knapp, a spokesman for the First Marine Division. He wouldn't elaborate.
The colonel's removal sparked media coverage and intense speculation in the Marine Corps. The reasons for his firing weren't clear, mainly because the colonel and his superiors refused to talk about it. Now, interviews with Col. Dowdy and a score of officers and enlisted men show the colonel was doomed partly by an age-old wartime tension: Men versus mission...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
"There is one way to have a short but exciting conversation with me, and that is to move too slow. Gentlemen, this is not a marathon, this is a sprint. In about a month, I am going to go forward of our Marines up to the border between Iraq and Kuwait. And when I get there, one of two things is going to happen. Either the commander of the Fifty-First Mechanized Division is going to surrender his army in the field to me, or he and all his guys are going to die.”
I think there is a major clue in that quote. (This is from the article: "I Served With James Mattis. Here’s What I Learned From Him")
I wouldn’t doubt Col Dowdy is a good man. Even good and capable people fail to deliver to their boss on occasion. You would know better, he could have been looking out for his men, thought it was too aggressive, could be any number of things.
Command is difficult in peace, and I expect in war the difficulty goes up exponentially. I read something recently where an enlisted guy said “No way I would want to be an officer. I just have to take stupid orders and carry them out. Those officers are in the position of having to give stupid orders...”
“didn’t want to sacrifice his men just to beat the Army into Baghdad”
That’s actually a fairly serious offense in the USMC. Kidding of course. But seriously, Marines are very light, so speed and violence are the key to success. That leads to lighter casualties by shortening the battle. While he dithers, the bad guys move other things to where you don’t want them.
Schwarzkopf was faced with the same decision in Desert Strorm. Gen. Fred Franks’ 7th Corps was behind schedule. Schwarzkopf was leaning toward replacing him with the 3rd Army’s Chief of Staff, Calvin Waller. But he figured it would be all over soon, and it might actually slow things down.
I understand that was Patton's creed as well. There are many who see Patton in Mattis, and I think I agree with them.
Your commanding officer says go 100 miles per hour and don’t stop until you get to the rendevous point, you go 100 miles per hour. And if it’s General Mattis giving the order, don’t even think about stopping.
My understanding was the entire campaign was designed to dislocate the Iraqi defense so that the Army could hit the Karbala-Gap with superior force. The Marines were on the flank, so it was always intended that the Army would kick in the front door — with tanks.
I have always fallen back on my military experience when taking my marching orders from those above me in civilian life. If they say they want something, I deliver. If I can’t, I give them plenty of notice and reasons for it.
Sadly, in the military, things are different. You can’t give notice and reasons. You have to deliver, because people’s lives may well depend on your completion of your mission. I don’t think I could do some of those things men have to do in combat, both at the risk to themselves, and ordering other people to do things that may very well kill a lot of them.
I have the utmost respect for someone who can do that, and not get callous about it.
Thanks Doc. It was a good read.
Agreed - excellent read.
Mattis’ gripe appears to have been that the design of the operation was such that if Col. Dowdy’s force arrived late, other US forces might have been endangered. By not blowing through resistance, probably with higher casualties to his men, Dowdy might have endangered men not under his command. In actuality, events did not go that way, but Mattis knew they could have...
I think you hit the nail on the head...although no one actually says it in that way.
COL Dowdy, in my mind, weighed the body count of those he commanded, versus the body count of those he did not, and tried to compromise.
That compromise obviously slowed his response and brought him into conflict with GEN Mattis.
COL Dowdy is a man of honor, no doubt, and he accomplished his mission, however, he sacrificed the trust of his commander.
I have a good friend that can attest to the heartache of GEN Mattis in his decision to relieve COL Dowdy, but he has told me that GEN Mattis had the fortitude of character to do what was necessary, and he felt that he could not trust COL Dowdy to repeat himself had the conflict continued.
Even without the relief, COL Dowdy, statistically, would not have gotten a star and GEN Mattis was aware of that and it probably colored his decision a bit.
By all accounts, GEN Mattis is a hard-assed son of a bitch, but he is a beloved hard-assed son of a bitch, as his officers and men know that anything he orders of them, he is prepared and willing to do right there beside them.
I in no way speak for anything that may have occurred...but I'm very much aware of the decisions that a man like GEN Mattis must make.
I've studied GEN George S. Patton extensively and if it were possible for him to be reincarnated...then GEN Mattis is the closet thing to that, but without the overbearing sense of destiny and propensity for grandeur that Patton had.
Just my two cents.
And worth at least one of them.
War is Hell.
My mom and I sat up most of the night and watched “The Thunder Run Into Baghdad”. It’s one of those treasured moments I had with her.
Well, “”being fatigued beyond normal” and “not employing the regiment to its full combat potential,” he says, quoting from the document. It also said he was “overly concerned about the welfare” of his Marines”
Incident 1: Probably the fully engaged line. Failed to attack enemy force in Kut.
“On the morning of April 3, 2003, the 15th day of the war, Gen. Kelly called Col. Dowdy to say he wanted the assault on Kut to begin immediately. Col. Dowdy said he was awaiting fresh ammunition and checking a report that the road to Kut was mined”
Incident 2: Not getting a runway fixed on a captured airfield.
“Col. Dowdy’s regiment was camped about 50 miles southeast of Kut. He had his men capture a nearby airfield so supplies could be airlifted in. The next day, Gen. Mattis dropped by to check on his men — and was infuriated by what he saw: A cratered runway and a Marine captain sitting on a bulldozer reading a paperback book. The captain said he hadn’t been given an order to fix the runway.
A few hours later, Col. Dowdy says, he got an earful from Gen. Mattis, who said he should have made sure the job of fixing the runway was done. Col. Dowdy now says he should have issued a written order. He considered stripping the bulldozer operator of his command, but thought better of it. “If you fire everyone who makes a mistake, pretty soon you’re standing there all by yourself,” he says.”
Incidnet 3: Probably the fatigued line.
“.... The regiment suffered its first casualty when a rocket-propelled grenade blew through a Humvee door and severed a captain’s hand, according to men on the scene.
As bullets flew and the captain was being hauled out by helicopter, Col. Dowdy, two days without sleep, slouched in his Humvee, with his staff around him. He fell asleep.”
My dad served under 'old blood and guts' Patton...He says it was Patton's guts and the unbelievable amount of the spilled blood of Patton's men that made Patton a success...
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