From Storm to Freedom by Ballard John;

Author:Ballard, John;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 2010-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

General Sanchez had only assumed command of the Army’s V Corps on June 14, 2003, three days before he was to assume command of Coalition Task Force 7 (CJTF-7). As its commander, he became the leader of all ground forces in Iraq; he and his small staff would be tasked with more than any other corps had ever been required to do, with little augmentation. The operational staff created by the Army to conduct the invasion was “the dream team”31; the staff Sanchez retained was far less capable. The CFLCC staff that had run the ground assault was increased in size, augmented in grade (including the addition of at least six general officers), and reorganized functionally to be better postured to address functional warfighting concerns.32 Garner had a very good viewpoint on the transition, and he noted, “You had Dave McKiernan as land component commander with the best staff I’ve ever seen in my 35 years of military [experience]. They’re all general officers. They know what to do. They’re can-do guys that have been working together for a year and a half. They know how each other thinks, and they make things happen. So overnight . . . Rick Sanchez and 5th Corps are put in. Rick Sanchez is the most junior three-star we now have in the Department of Defense. And this is no hit on Rick. . . . I know how small that staff is. You put them over [there] to do the hardest job the nation’s faced thus far in this century? That doesn’t make sense.”33

As if it were not enough to have the dramatic shift in military staff quality in Iraq, when Sanchez and his staff assumed operational control in Baghdad they also had to create a completely new structure with which to command the many units from the coalition spread all over the country. CJTF-7 was a joint headquarters that should have included several hundred senior staff members from all four military services. Instead, Sanchez assumed responsibility for the entire military mission in Iraq with a staff less than half the size he needed.

General Sanchez was tasked with a mission that required him to continue offensive operations to eliminate any enemy forces remaining in country, provide direct support to the CPA, and provide aid for humanitarian assistance and the reconstruction of Iraq.34 This was a huge mission, even for an army corps staff at full strength operating under a unified chain of command. With the CPA and Bremer as a partner in the effort and with his forces departing Iraq in significant numbers, it soon became an impossible tasking because other circumstances, some unforeseen, but some fully intentioned, intervened.

At the same time that the most crucial element of military command was changing in Iraq, its next higher headquarters, Central Command, was also undergoing a change of leadership. General John Abizaid was named as the new commander of U.S. Central Command on July 7, 2003, immediately following the retirement of General Franks.35 General Abizaid was a natural choice to succeed Franks.

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