Master Chief Petty Officer James H. Rhodes, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)
Operation Chromite, General Douglas MacArthur’s surprise amphibious landing at Inchon on 15 September 1950. It was a total success, with minimal casualties to the invading force, placing a U.N. army well behind the North Korean army besieging Pusan at the southern tip of the peninsula. They captured Seoul in less than two weeks.
Lieutenant Colonel Brian Kerg, U.S. Marine Corps
The Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War. An expeditionary U.S. Army corps crippled Spanish forces in a brutal slugfest that included hand-to-hand combat. This led to Spain’s withdrawal from Cuba, ending four centuries of Spanish rule.
Lieutenant Colonel Adam Yang, U.S. Marine Corps
Operation Urgent Fury in October 1983, during which U.S. forces secured the safety of U.S. citizens and restored a pro-American government in Grenada. However, this operation also revealed serious operational weaknesses in joint operations, which spurred the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act that restructured the U.S. military command system.
Commander John M. McGrail, U.S. Navy (Retired)
The American Expeditionary Force in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of World War I in the final phase of the Hundred Days’ Offensive in 1918. This was an early successful use of combined-arms tactics, which allowed the Allied forces to exploit significant breakthroughs in the German trenches. The outcome led to the abdication of the Kaiser and surrender of Germany.
Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Warren, U.S. Marine Corps
The Korean War’s opening phase. From the disastrous Task Force Smith to the liberation of Seoul, this period uniquely demonstrates the folly of committing unprepared forces to a fight, necessity for a readily deployable standby-force, and criticality of having an integrated, all-domain combat force.
Don Chappell, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran
The Union’s one-two punch initiating Lincoln’s blockade strategy by closing New Orleans and seizing Port Royal (Beaufort). The combined effects of interdicting the flow of all international and domestic commerce throughout the Mississippi basin and of establishing an advance base to support the South Atlantic Blockade Squadron proved decisive.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert B. Lange, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
The naval invasion of Veracruz, Mexico, in 1914, poisoned U.S.–
Latin American relations for at least a century. Duped by a politically connected New York financier and playing into the hands of U.S. arms manufacturer Remington, local U.S. military commanders assisted Europe’s more experienced statesmen in keeping U.S. focus on the relatively powerless Mexican government instead of the world-changing catastrophe unfolding in Europe. Sounds almost like present day.
Major Ben Van Horrick, U.S. Marine Corps
Task Force-58 in Afghanistan demonstrated the Marine Corp’s ability to build combat power fast. The operational reach and expeditionary employment of TF-58 secured tactical objectives in pursuit of strategic aims. TF-58’s audacity served as a template for Fallujah and Marjah as the service confronted the thorniest of missions.
Lieutenant Justin Palmer, U.S. Navy Reserve
Operation Eagle Claw—the failure to rescue the hostages in Iran in 1980, and the most infamous modern failure of our military to project power overseas. Eagle Claw’s failure not only arguably changed a presidential election, it led directly to Goldwater–Nichols legislation, Special Operations Command and Joint Special Operations Command, and the V-22 Osprey.
John Andrade
The U.S. naval quarantine of Cuba in 1962 was the most significant expeditionary warfare battle.
Joel Hurt
In a six-year span, World War II spurred rapid technological advancements and required massive industrial output. Nations had to adapt quickly to produce vast quantities of weapons, vehicles, vessels, and other war supplies, often requiring a complete reorganization of their economies. Some changes that can still be seen today.
Brendan Boreth
Operation Linebacker I, from May to October 1972, was the first unrestricted bombing campaign against North Vietnam and was critical to the development of tactics that would later be used in Operation Desert Storm. The key parts—the rapid buildup of U.S. air power from March to May 1972, followed by strategic elimination of the North Vietnamese air-defense networks, logistical efforts for the Easter Offensive, and elimination of command-and-control facilities—would be carried over for Desert Storm.
Lieutenant Dalton Sawyer, U.S. Navy Reserve
The greatest expeditionary campaign of the U.S. Navy is actually the 52,000 Navy reservists deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan during the war on terror. The naval intelligence community alone accounted for more than 60 percent of all Navy Reserve personnel deployed.
Captain John Bodnar, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)
The shores of Tripoli in 1804. Jefferson built first six Navy frigates to protect commerce. This was the first implementation of policy of “millions for defense. Not a penny for tribute.” And it was the first combined Navy–Marine Corps amphibious operation. It set standard for Navy–Marine Corps combined ops for next two centuries.
Christian Milord, U.S. Coast Guard Veteran
Although the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea and Vietnam were large mobilization efforts, the troops arrived incrementally. By contrast, Operation Desert Shield was a significant five-month combined forces buildup in preparation for Operation Desert Storm. Desert Storm was a successful battle strategy that evicted Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait in a matter of six short weeks in early 1991.
Commander Robert Pinnell, U.S. Navy (Retired)
The highly successful amphibious assault at Inchon, Korea, in September 1950 is unsurpassed for audacity, high risk, and nearly flawless execution. The extreme tidal conditions and restricted channel access were very difficult, and the assault across a seawall into an urban area was unprecedented.
Captain David Teska, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (Retired)
Without a doubt, the Inchon landing of September 1950. General Douglas MacArthur surprised the skeptics and the North Koreans when he pulled off his end-run invasion out of the Flying Fish channel to break the North Korean long supply chain and attack them essentially from the rear as the allies broke out of the Pusan Perimeter. He broke the stalemate that gave the initiative back to the allies. Unfortunately, they (and MacArthur) did not count on the Chinese entering the fight a few months later.
Ted Hubbard
The early days of the Korean War in 1950 have to be #1. From the Pusan Perimeter to Inchon and Seoul, the U.S. military executed bold and successful expeditionary operations that prevented the fall of the Korean Peninsula. Nothing else compares in size, complexity, and significance.
