Infantry: October 13, 2003

Archives

In the Iraq campaign, Special Forces teams played a major role in finding targets for smart bomb attacks. While thirty teams were active in the 1991 Persian Gulf war, nearly a hundred were active in 2003. Moreover, the Iraq campaign saw the teams operating in close cooperation with ground combat units. Better communications and better training enabled the Special Forces troops to keep in touch with nearby infantry and mechanized units. Special Forces provided reconnaissance assistance and targeting of enemy positions ahead of the coalition ground units. The Blue Force Tracker system, which showed the location of all coalition combat units on a computer screen, was a major factor in allowing Special Forces units to be "out there" and still operate with nearby combat units and not get shot at by friendly air or ground units.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close