Pages

28 July 2011

Campaign Names and Their Meanings

Following up our earlier post about the phases of the different campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, the NY Times At War blog has a very amusing column offering new names for the phases based on the author's experiences downrange.

Iraq
Phase 1 (March 19, 2003, to May 1, 2003)
DoD Title: Liberation of Iraq
My Title: Lost: W.M.D.’s. Found: Lots of Old Def Leppard Shirts

Phase 2 (May 2, 2003, to June 28, 2004)
DoD Title: Transition of Iraq
My Title: “We Disbanded What?” A Whodunit Mystery

Phase 3 (June 29, 2004, to Dec. 15, 2005)
DoD Title: Iraqi Governance
My Title: The Last Throes of an Insurgency

Phase 4 (Dec. 16, 2005, to Jan. 9, 2007)
DoD Title: National Resolution
My Title: The Last Throes of an Insurgency, Part II

Phase 5 (Jan. 10, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2008)
DoD Title: Iraqi Surge
My Title: Counterinsurgency! It Works!

Phase 6 (Jan. 1, 2009, to Aug. 31, 2010)
DoD Title: Iraqi Sovereignty
My Title: Noncombat Operations (That Still Include Combat)

Phase 7 (Sept. 1, 2010, to present)
DoD Title: New Dawn
My Title: Another Day, Another Dollar

Afghanistan
Phase 1 (Sept. 11, 2001, to Nov. 30, 2001)
DoD Title: Liberation of Afghanistan
My Title: Operation American Fury

Phase 2 (Dec. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2006)
DoD Title: Consolidation I
My Title: The Five-Year Tora Bora Facepalm

Phase 3 (Oct. 1, 2006, to Nov. 30, 2009)
DoD Title: Consolidation II
My Title: We Really Should’ve Read Up on the Soviet War in Afghanistan

Phase 4 (Dec. 1, 2009, to present)
DoD Title: Consolidation III
My Title: Counterinsurgency! It Doesn’t Work! (But Who Cares, Bin Laden’s Dead!)


Now we sit back and wait for Guardian to chime in! :)
Matt, you too!

By: Brant

2 comments:

  1. I love phase 3 of Afghanistan! You title is very appropriate. My constant companion during that phase of the war was the Bear Went Over the Mountain. If only everyone else had read that book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They're not my recommendations... They're from a blog post at the NY Times. But I did find them funny.

    ReplyDelete