by Robert M. Traxler

ISIL/ISIS is losing ground, the Caliphate is shrinking; a very good question to ask is, why? Those of you who regularly read this column, thank you kindly, know the old saying, military amateurs study tactics, and professionals study logistics. As General of the Army Douglas MacArthur famously stated, the history of all lost wars can be articulated in four words: “too little, too late.”

The armchair book store generals who have studied battles will tell us that they are military experts capable of leading troops into battle; ask them a few questions on basic logistics and they are lost. How many gallons of potable water do the troops need per day? What are the nine classes of supply and what is the priority of resupply? Knowledge of field sanitation, medical support, transportation and march serials are vital. An education in bridge classifications, main/secondary supply routes, maintenance support, (operator, unit, direct, general, depot), communications networks, field sanitation, and a whole lot more go into making a military leader. The United States Army maintains it takes some 20 years to fully train a senior leader.

A self-appointed military expert will study Hannibal Barca’s tactics at the battle of Cannae in 216 BC. A professional soldier will study how he got his army over the Pyrenees and the Alps and crossed many major rivers, how he built, bridges, roads, fed the troops, elephants, horses, clothed his army and sheltered them in the mountain snows. A military leader will have a staff; ask our armchair generals what are the responsibilities of the G1, G2, G3, G4 and in some cases G5 and they most likely will not know.

Back to the ISIS/ISIL Caliphate losing ground, and we see the terrorists are being defeated by a lack of logistical support more than the casualties they suffer in battle. Jihadists will gladly die for the free ticket to paradise; remove logistical support, food water, ammunition, medical treatment, billeting and they are not so radical. Islam has two basic denominations, Shia and Sunni; the ISIS/ISIL forces are Sunnis and the areas they occupy have a supportive population. The people are serving as a logistical support troops for the ISIS/ISIL combat troops.

Enter the Russians in Syria, who are bombing ISIS/ISIL targets that contain “non-combatant” civilians; we condemn this action, but the Russians are denying logistical support to the combat troops. It is a hard-hearted thing to say, but if ISIS/ISIL is to be defeated, the logistical support base, the Combat Support and Combat Service Support elements, those who provide, food, water, shelter to the ISIS/ISIL radicals, must be prevented from supporting the Jihadists.

The American Civil War ended in part when Operation Anaconda started to work, a naval blockade that punished civilians for supporting the Confederate Army in the field. WWII ended when the German and Japanese cities were fire bombed, destroying the morale of those who supported the military in the field. In the firebombing of Dresden Germany 50,000 died, in Tokyo Japan nearly 100,000.

The Russians attacking military targets in the Caliphate with little regard to “collateral damage” has caused the support for ISIS/ISIL in Syria to wane drastically. The Russians’ actions are cutting the logistical support for the ISIS/ISIL units that we are facing in Iraq. It is very politically incorrect to note this; however, it is a fact.

In cities in the Caliphate in Iraq, “civilians” have been put on notice by American-led forces that they were not safe in ISIS/ISIL occupied territory, and supplies will be blockaded; many departed, denying the combat forces the logistical support they need to be effective. The blockade will aid in destroying the combat effectiveness of the Mujahedeen forces; however, it will also deny the remaining civilian population, most of those who support the enemy, the necessities of life.

“War is all hell,” said William T. Sherman, and it needs to be; indeed, it must be, or we will use it rather than diplomacy way too often. War must be short, very violent, and very rare.