Should Kill Boxes Be Banned?

Smoke rises over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as seen from the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, October 18, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach

Scott Beauchamp, The Atlantic: The Moral Cost of the Kill Box

The repurposed military tactic is both unethical and ineffective in today’s conflicts.

In laymen’s terms, “kill boxes” sound like torture devices. In military jargon, they are almost incomprehensible; as defined in the Department of Defense Dictionary, they are “a three-dimensional area reference that enables timely, effective coordination and control and facilitates rapid attacks.” But despite their ominous name and complicated technical definition, kill boxes are actually relatively simple in concept: They are three-dimensional cubes of space on a battlefield in which members and allies of the United States military are completely free to open fire.

According to the DoD, “there is no formal kill-box doctrine or tactics, techniques or procedures.” They require a sophisticated web of logistical, bureaucratic, and technological expertise to implement. Like most military tactics, kill boxes aren’t new—they’ve been around for nearly 30 years now. But they are constantly being reinvented for new conflicts. In recent years, kill-box strategy has shifted: They are now used in conflicts that are not between two states, but rather within states against terrorists and fighters who aren’t members of any particular country’s military.

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WNU Editor: This sounds more like a "kill-zone". And as to this tactic being an American one .... I am not sure. I read on how the Germans used it against the Soviet Army during the Second World War.

Bad Military Tactics In The New 'Independence Day' Movie?

Joseph Trevithick, War Is Boring: The new Independence Day is full of terrible military tactics

The original 1996 movie Independence Day pitted American pilots and troops — and eventually the entire world — against an extraterrestrial threat armed with laser cannons and energy shields. Marine aviators, including Will Smith's character Capt. Steven Hiller, watch helplessly as their missiles disintegrate.

Nimble otherworldly fighters quickly pick off the F/A-18 fighter jets, killing most of the pilots. By the dramatic climax, very little has changed. Even after Hiller and David Levinson — played by Jeff Goldblum — succeed in disrupting the alien shields in a near-suicidal mission, the invaders wield considerable firepower and inflict heavy casualties.

But according to the December trailer for the sequel Independence Day: Resurgence, the American military did very little soul searching in the interceding two decades. "I spent 20 years trying to get us ready for this," Goldblum's Levinson says in the teaser as we see the first images of the new flying machines.

WNU Editor: I am still going to see the movie. :)

The Iraq War Changed U.S. Military Tactics

U.S. Army Spc. Deonty Eastmon secures his sector during a patrol through Al Betra, Iraq, Nov. 26, 2007, as the rest of his squad asks local residents about recent insurgent activity. Eastmon is assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz

Iraq Changed U.S. Military Tactics – Think Quick And Small -- McClatchy News

WASHINGTON — Ten years ago, the United States massed a traditional military force behind sand-berm walls separating Kuwait from Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors and Marines in camouflaged chemical warfare uniforms sat in or stood near idling trucks, personnel carriers and Humvees. They were waiting for an hours-long barrage of artillery and bunker-busting bombs to soften up whatever forces Saddam Hussein had still willing to defend the border, before rolling forward to Baghdad.

But on the moment – March 20th along that border, March 19th in the United States – that the American military was preparing regime change in Iraq, the evolution within the military in the decade since has also been significant.

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My Comment: The use of Special Forces, the importance of intelligence and having small units available to act very quickly on this acquired intelligence, seeking allies in the local population, understanding the culture and geography of the war zone, the use of technology for surveillance and as a tool to plan future missions .... as well acting to quickly eliminate high valued targets when the opportunity arises .... these tactics (and more) is what the U.S. military has learned (and is still learning) from it's Iraq experience.