Mission Command And The Accidental Statesman

Mission Command and The Accidental Statesman Rough Draft Student’s Name Course Location Mission Command Rough Draft Major General David H. Petraeus as well as the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division took a drastic decision some months after invading Iraq in March 2003. During this time, Baghdad and the government of Saddam Hussein had fallen and Major General Petraeus noticed anarchy in the country. The 101st was ordered to the third largest metropolitan in Iraq and Nineveh province’s capital, Mosul, to spare and ensure things were under control. The 101st strategy and General Petraeus approach to leadership was aimed at rebuilding a new era after the war. However, this case involved using militant like-minded people in nation building. This approach might have been successful in rebuilding Iraq but it was not a good idea to hand over control and authority to Iraqis as early as possible and should have involved politically attuned organizations and pay more attention to Iraqi national interest rather than avoid long-term “US national interest” implementation. Mission Command “Mission command entails authority as well as the direction given by the commander with regards to the orders of the mission so as to enable a disciplined initiative (U.S. Department of the Army, 2012a, p. 1). The most important thing if or staff to understand the commander’s intent. The vision in the intent of the commander has to compressive to ensure planning and executed of the mission success. There should also be a shared understanding and purpose between the commander and staffs and subordinates. A doctrinally written format will be utilized in order to create the shared understanding of the intent. Case of Mosul Major General David H. Petraeus and the US Army's 101st Airborne Division entered Iraq’s second biggest city, Mosul. As the Commander of the 101st Airborne Division, Major General Petraeus was ordered to take control of Mosul. However, when they moved into Mosul, there was no enemy contact. Iraq seems to be unconcerned with this issue. The city of over 1.7 million is a shambles as much from looting as from war. This prompted the question of whether the mission was accomplished. However, the intent seemed to be met and thus, the Commander needed to develop a new intent or over further guidance in regards to the mission objectives. Therefore, it was up for Major General Petraeus to the issue to pursue the next mission orders. The ORHA was in charge of the mission to rebuild Mosul but there were manpower challenges as there were only ten men available (U.S. Department of the Army, 2012b). The personnel and plans were not effective an...