博客來During their 9 months and 8 days of close cooperation, XIX Tactical Air Command and Patton’s 3rd Army developed a sublime combat synergy that should be the archetype of joint air-ground operations. Patton’s focus on speed and maneuver worked hand in glove with the inherent strengths of airpower and harnessed its destructive potential to annihilate the German Army at every opportunity. The result of this confluence of doctrine, organization and personalities was the unprecedented drive across France that had no parallel in the history of warfare. Unfortunately many of the lessons that should have been learned were lost when the XIX TAC - 3rd Army team was broken up after VE day. In many ways Operation IRAQI FREEDOM reprised many of the aspects of Patton’s drive across France. Speed and operational maneuver were the keys to the lightning ground advance that was aided by airpower. The ground scheme of maneuver in turn made the Iraqi Army choose between remaining impotently in place or moving with a death wish. However, the hand in glove nature of the XIX TAC - 3rd Army was not really present in OIF as doctrine, service culture and lack of joint training hindered the closest possible air-ground cooperation. Although the current trend is to focus on unconventional warfare capabilities, it is imperative that the U.S. address the issues brought up in this paper in order to preserve our current conventional superiority and project it into the foreseeable future.
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