military may be the world’s greatest force in air, sea and space. At today’s pace, the age of “Iron Man” Tony Starks busting through walls, impervious to enemy bullets, capable of seeing and engaging bad guys in any dark space they may be hiding isn’t coming anytime soon. Without investment and new ways of thinking, our soldiers will neither dominate nor be feared in urban combat. His only remaining choice, and that of a soldier today, was to run inside the house and fight each enemy individual at close range. He didn’t have tear gas to clear the building because the United States signed a treaty to no longer use this nonlethal tool. When he did request a tank-like vehicle engage the house with a large machine gun, the enemy inside remained mostly untouched. Why he couldn’t distinguish from enemy and civilian personnel inside the building? Even if he could have seen inside the building, he did not have a weapon that could penetrate the concrete walls protecting the enemy. forces for urban combat are why Sergeant Bellavia couldn’t see inside the building he attacked. The lack of investments and efforts to equip U.S. There are really only two urban combat training sites in the country that can hold more than a hundred soldiers. Actually, there isn’t a single office in the military dedicated solely to urban combat. There are no Manhattan Projects to change the one spot where the U.S. But inside a building and in a city, we don’t dominate, and the grisly proof is available in Bellavia’s Medal of Honor citation. Even if there’s concern, there’s no denying we already dominate in air, sea and space. We will spend $90 million per plan for new F-35 fighters, $10.2 billion for three new submarines, and may spend up to $2 billion to create a new organization to fight in space, but there are no major marked resources for urban combat. The annual Department of Defense budget is over $700 billion. It is the backbone of the international order for American military forces to carry the biggest stick. We want would-be enemies to fear the involvement of the American forces in any decision they might make. From our nuclear arsenal to our individual soldiers. This deterrent effect works from the nation state level down to the individual bad guy. military power is to be so strong, so capable, so lethal, that they strike fear in opposing forces. The terrain breaks up an attacking force, minimizing their ability to use advanced technologies, or even basic fire and maneuver tactics. It allows them to hide both within the concrete jungle and the civilian population. Urban terrain gives the defender the advantage of turning every building into either a sniper attack position, ambush site, or death trap. David Bellavia June 25 for actions Bellavia took in Fallujah, Iraq during Operation Phantom Fury.Ĭities give anyone with minimal weapons and determined fighters the ability to contest and, in many cases, tactically defeat a more powerful force. President Trump presents the Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sgt. They had fortified bunkers in concrete houses that most American weapons could not penetrate and the enemy knew it would take suicidal room-clearing assaults and ultimately the destruction of the city to eject them. Enemy forces had cheap but more powerful rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Each time they were unaware if they were entering a death trap or an empty structure. They actually cleared over 30,000 houses in that city. Bellavia’s “house of hell” was just one of the hundreds of similar houses that soldiers and Marines faced during the Second Battle of Fallujah in November of 2004.
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