United States Forces Somalia

The American mission in Somalia presented U. S. forces with a variety of difficult operational challenges as they tried to bring peace to a county ravaged by natural and man-made disasters. After initial success in the summer of 1992 in restoring order and saving thousands of lives, American soldiers clashed with Somali forces and were withdrawn in the spring of 1994. In the months that followed, we have studied what the Somalia experience can teach us about peace missions and learned how we might improve our capabilities across the spectrum of joint operations. This book represents the first time a new tool - the Joint Universal Lessons Learned System - is being used to evaluate an operation in its totality. With it, Colonel Kenneth Allard assesses the operation from its early stages of humanitarian relief through the de facto combat of peace enforcement. He has organized the lessons learned for ease of reading and enlivened them with numerous concrete and anecdotal examples. Although focused on the operational level, the insights of this study should be of interest to strategists and policymakers as well. Lessons are only truly learned when we incorporate them into our planning, doctrine, tactics, and training - a process which can take some time. The author has taken the essential first step by identifying and articulating the hard lessons of Somalia with candor and objectivity. But even as we resolve not to repeat mistakes, we should not allow the tragic events in the latter stages of our Somalia operations to obscure the many things we did right. These too are lessons, ones to build upon as we prepare to meet further challenges in the complex world of peace operations. Ervin J. Rokke Lieutenant General, United States Air Force President, National Defense University

This study examines the American military's experience with urban operations in Somalia, particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu. That original focus can be found in the following pages, but the authors address other, broader issues as well, to include planning for a multinational intervention; workable and unworkable command and control arrangements; the advantages and problems inherent in coalition operations; the need for cultural awareness in a clan-based society whose status as a nation-state is problematic; the continuous adjustments required by a dynamic, often unpredictable situation; the political dimension of military activities at the operational and tactical levels; and the ability to match military power and capabilities to the mission at hand.

Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.

Includes 12 maps and 8 tables “My Clan Against the World”: US and Coalition Operations in Somalia, 1992-94 represents another in a series of military case studies published by the Combat Studies Institute (CSI) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The impetus for this project came from the commanding general, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, who directed CSI to examine the American military’s experience with urban operations in Somalia, particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu...This case study also cautions against the misuse and overuse of “lessons” learned from any given military undertaking. As with the lessons of Vietnam, one of which dictated that conventional units should not engage in unconventional warfare, the US experience in Somalia left many military analysts and policymakers convinced that the U.S. should eschew any undertaking that smacked of nation building. Yet, as this book is published, just ten years after the US exit from Somalia, American forces are engaged in several locations against an unconventional foe and are involved in nation building in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps the first lesson to be learned about extracting lessons is, in the words of a once-popular motion picture, “Never Say Never Again.” Another principal aim of the authors was to provide an analytical narrative of each phase of the US military involvement in Somalia. For many Americans, the mention of that African country conjures up one memory, that of the fierce firefight between US troops and Somali militia on 3-4 Oct. 1993. As this overview seeks to remind the reader, the U.S. had a military presence in Somalia from Dec. 1992 to the end of March 1994. During that period, much was accomplished of a positive nature. Starving and mistreated Somalis were provided food and a modicum of security, while some progress was made toward peace in the country.

1993 nightmare operation in Mogadishu that left 18 US soldiers dead and led to the troop withdrawal from Somalia.