Q & A GEN. JOSEPH F. DUNFORD JR., USMC
2014, he led U.S and coalition forces in Afghani- stan. A Boston native, Dunford graduated in 1977 from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont with a degree in political science and his commission. During a nearly 39-year career, he has served as an infantry officer at all levels, including com- mand of the 5th Marine Regiment during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Other assignments include command of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines; assistant division commander of the 1st Marine Division; Marine Corps director of operations; deputy com- mandant for plans, policies, and operations; com- manding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force; and commander, Marine Forces U.S. Central Command. Joint duty includes chief of the Global and Multilateral Affairs Division (J-5) and vice di- rector for Operations (J-3) on the Joint Staff. Dunford discusses with Contributing Editor Tom Philpott current operations and longer-term bud- get and readiness challenges. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.
How would you assess the current fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria? I’ve just returned from a trip to Eu- ropean Command and Africa Com- mand, down into Turkey and then into Iraq. I wanted a crosscut with folks doing advise and assist and building partnership capacity in the- ater and an update on the air cam- paign. We’ve put together a coalition of over 60 nations, with 20 providing forces in the fight. The campaign designed by U.S. Central Command under General [Lloyd J.] Austin is to pressure the enemy across Iraq
54 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2016
and Syria. That required developing ground forces. It took time to pull that together. In Iraq the last year, we’ve trained a number of effective forces. They now have momentum for the first time at the operational and tactical level. The psychology of Iraqi forces has changed just over the last couple of months. They are approaching the future with a degree of confidence I hadn’t seen when I visited in Oc- tober. Some wins have provided a sense of confidence. I’m referring to operations up the Tigris River Valley
that drove the enemy north of Bagh- dad. Peshmerga forces in the north reduced ground ISIL held. More recently, we saw the enemy pushed out of Ramadi, and during that op- eration, we learned how to integrate more effectively coalition capabilities with Iraqi ground forces. The valu- able lessons learned will be carried over to the campaign still ahead to recapture Mosul. Syria has been more difficult. We
didn’t have any ground forces or even a government to work with. What our guys are doing on the ground there is incredibly difficult. They have had to develop relation- ships, vet people, assess ability to fight, and get them trained. That takes time. We changed methodol- ogy a couple of times using lessons learned. We’re now supporting large groups of vetted Syrian opposition forces willing to take the fight to ISIL. We’ve seen some progress in northern Syria, taking ground back from ISIL. The goal is a force able to drive toward Raqqa, capital of ISIL, and conduct isolation operations. We’re starting to see the comple- mentary nature of operations in Syria and Iraq. It’s not two separate places. We are seeing operations in Syria, si- multaneous with those in Iraq, start- ing to limit the enemy’s freedom of movement and flexibility. There’s a lot of fighting to be done.
We’re not underestimating the chal- lenges ahead. But if we’d had this conversation the first week I was in the job last October, it would have been different. For the first time, I’m confident we have the momentum. The ground ISIL holds is more lim- ited, and the pressure we’ve put on, in multiple locations, is having an effect.
If the endgame is to prevent ISIL from establishing a caliphate,
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