Military Physical Environment Analysis

Words: 1589
Pages: 7

Introduction
Since the beginning of time the weather has played critical role throughout history in operational warfare. Historically, warriors have used seasonal weather /climatology to help them determine the best season in which to attack. Genghis Khan used frozen rivers and marshes in winter to enhance his maneuverability. While others used poor weather to surprise their enemy as Sparta did in 429 B.C. catching the Athenians by surprise during the Peloponnesian Wars (Barker 2008). This paper will discuss how the physical environment has played a critical role in three historical military operations and how operational planning staffs used this critical tool to better support the commander in planning for the impacts of the physical environment.
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A tropical disturbance had been reported developing east of the Philippines, communications delays and confused sighting reports robbed Third Fleet of timely and accurate location information. Conflicting weather reports did not help the situation. On 5 June, the typhoon overtook TG 38.1, which passed through the eye of the storm at 0700 that morning. Hurricane force winds of 70 knots, with gusts up to 100 knots, damaged almost every ship in TG 38.1 and TG 30.8. One officer and five men were lost or killed, with another four seriously injured. Storm damage wrecked 43 planes and another 33 were washed overboard (Calhoun …show more content…
Another investigation was held in which a great deal of the blame was placed directly on Admirals Halsey and McCain, and in fact it almost ruined Halsey’s career. It is believed that Admirals Nimitz and King did not pursue punitive action against Halsey because they felt he was looked at as a national hero and doing so would prove opposite to the national interest.
Halsey’s encounters prompted the navy to bolster its ability to monitor and predict the behavior of the Typhoon development and the establishment of the Joint Typhoon Weather Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Failure to account for the environment can have severe consequences. The commander must assess the risk to own forces as it relates to mission accomplishment. In this case, Halsey got it wrong.

Operation Chromite

One of General MacArthur's exceptional attributes demonstrated quite often in World War II, was his keen sense of timing, a great example of this was the invasion of Inchon. General MacArthur's refusal to abandon his mid-September invasion date was influenced by his knowledge of the Inchon area as well as by his desire to relieve the pressure on the Pusan Perimeter as quickly as he could (Winters