ARRC Journal 2019 | Page 68

ARRC JOURNAL UTILISING CULTURE AS AN ENABLER TO ACHIEVE TACTICAL ACTIONS THAT HAVE POSITIVE STRATEGIC EFFECT Lieutenant Colonel Per Mikkelsen, Danish Army In August 2006, by the invitation of the Iraqi Government, a Danish battlegroup was deployed to the Basra region of Iraq with my role being commander. stemmed from the fact that the civil environment was the source of the manpower for the security forces, as well as the workforce for all key civil infrastructure. Added to this complex and multi- layered problem, it also became apparent that there were numerous socio-political challenges within the civil environment itself, emanating from the local tribal structures, which were in dispute more than agreement and often violent dispute at that. The author’s battlegroup on patrol in 2006. I remember we arrived with a solid grasp of the military events that had preceded our deployment, as well as a clear understanding of our orders, which was to deliver security via protection of key civil infrastructure, oil production facilities, electrical grids and, most importantly, to build up and train the fledgling Iraqi 68 ALLIED RAPID REACTION CORPS Security Forces. What I also recall is that we only had a narrow understanding of the civil environment itself, which, during our pre-deployment analysis, seemed inconsequential. However, within days of our arrival we found that we faced not just a complex security challenge, but a complex civil/security situation. This In the area of operations allocated to me there were approximately 72 tribes. Of these, two major tribes – the Garamsha and Halaf – had an on-going, bitter internal war. This was not a war of words, but a conventional, almost daily, exchange of fire. The war and the disbursement of the national army had provided the population with a huge ‘take your own weapons for free’ option, which obviously had been a great success. Everybody had at least one Kalashnikov rifle and a matching RPG or mortar system as well.