U.S. Victory Lost in History

[Jedburgh]

Little-known Korean border war offers lessons for Iraq, Afghanistan

Dubbed the Second Korean Conflict by historians and veterans, this undeclared and relatively unknown border war lasted 37 months from late 1966 until late 1969.

But if the Korean War is America's "forgotten war," then the Second Korean Conflict is its forgotten echo.

Few know about this successful defensive campaign against North Korean infiltrators who hoped to drive a wedge between the United States and South Korea. Fewer still realize that the fighting along the Korean DMZ marked an American military victory that offers bedrock lessons for the counterinsurgency campaigns against the irregular forces fighting American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It turned out differently than the Vietnam War, but nobody knows about it," said Army BG Daniel P. Bolger, author of the most detailed comprehensive historical analysis of the Second Korean Conflict and commander of the team training the new Iraqi army. "It was a success. It's like Sherlock Holmes -- the dog that didn't bark. When you hold the line against bad things and you do what you're supposed to do, you don't get special credit for that."

Written when the BG was a Major, his book is available on-line at the Combined Arms Research Library of the General Staff College. But - unfortunately - not in downloadable pdf. You have to read it online, or try to find a hard copy.

Scenes From an Unfinished War: Low Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966-1969

In Leavenworth Paper No. 19 Major Daniel P. Bolger, USA has subjected the events and evolution of this more recent Korean conflict to close analytical scrutiny. The results of his effort require careful study. He not only describes in detail the vast range of military operations short of war that an adversary can employ against countries supported by the United States, but he also assesses how allied forces can adapt to the unexpected and devise countermeasures that, if not completely effective, can at least disrupt the designs of the adversary so he cannot obtain his primary objectives. Through the exemplary leadership of General Charles H. Bonesteel III, Bolger also demonstrates the importance of personality in warfare and the essential need for officers to recognize the dominance of political considerations at the lower end of the conflict spectrum. In short, Bolgers' study reinforces current doctrine. which states emphatically that commanders and staff officers "must adopt courses of action which legally support those political considerations even if the courses of action appear to be unorthodox or outside what traditional doctrine had contemplated".

[Tom Odom]

Then MAJ Bolger's LPs is a good read and one I have used here for discussions. I would heartily recommend it to anyone. I would (and have here) equally endorse the CGSC/CSI Press at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...csi.asp#papersas a great source (as a unvarnished former CSI guy) for excellent military history publications that are free to down load. You can down load Bolger's LP in segmeneted PDF at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...ent.asp#scenes.

Best
Tom

[Jedburgh]

You can down load Bolger's LP in segmeneted PDF at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...ent.asp#scenes.

Thanks, Tom. More fool I, I didn't catch on to the pdf section for the pubs. Reading a pub in segmented pdf is annoying in comparison to just loading the full version, but, hell, its better than no soft copy at all.

[SWJED]

Let's see if this 'jarhead' did it right - I think I captured the entire doc in PDF (no sections) - posted here.... Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low-Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966-1968 - that said, the contents "hot links" lead to dead ends but the link is the entire document in one piece - 105 pages for print...

[Martin]

Sir (SWJED), I take it you have Adobe Acrobat Professional. I'd recommend the concatenate feature.

1. Download and locate the files you want to concatenate.
2. Start Acrobat.
3. Click button menu "Create PDF", choose From Multiple Files.
4. And I think you'll get the rest as you see it...

HTH

Martin

[SWJED]

Sir (SWJED), I take it you have Adobe Acrobat Professional. I'd recommend the concatenate feature.

1. Download and locate the files you want to concatenate.
2. Start Acrobat.
3. Click button menu "Create PDF", choose From Multiple Files.
4. And I think you'll get the rest as you see it...

HTH

Martin

Quit calling me and others 'sir' and thanks so much for the good info - I am using AAP and you have saved me mucho time in attempting to figure out how to do things 'right'. Moreover, glad you are a member of the SWC!

S/F

[Tom Odom]

Guys,

Suggest you use the links I posted. The first will take you to to the CGSC/CSI Press page (as opposed to CARL). It has all the CSI and CGSC products. Bolger's LP is 19. You will see an HTML link or a PDF link. The latter takes you to the same destination as the second link; that is a sort of master page for most of the CSI products that were put out in PDF, whether segmented or not.

A. CGSC/CSI Press at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...csi.asp#papers

B. PDF download page at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...ent.asp#scenes.

As suggested below you can indeed reassemble the PDFs into a single document. Or you can use the HTML and simply save the thing as a PDF. I routinely do this in buidling our History DVD so that I can embed the JRTC CALL Cell Kilroy as a watermark, attached here, which you are welcome to post anywhere you wish.


Best all,

Tom

[Martin]

Quit calling me and others 'sir' and thanks so much for the good info - I am using AAP and you have saved me mucho time in attempting to figure out how to do things 'right'. Moreover, glad you are a member of the SWC!

S/F

Okay, thanks!

Martin