Task Force Smith

House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) yesterday gave what he painted as a stark example "of how complacency following the drawdown from major contingencies can result in death and defeat on the battlefield."

Turner, in a speech at the McAleese/Credit Suisse defense conference in Washington, was referencing Task Force Smith, an Army infantry division that was overrun by North Korean tanks in 1950 during the Korean War because the weapons the U.S. force had couldn't stop those tanks:

Think about that for a minute.

Your country just sent you to fight an enemy far from home and the equipment that you were provided just bounced off of the enemy.

Although they were outnumbered 10 to 1, Task Force Smith was able to delay the advancing North Koreans, but they eventually were overrun and suffered hundreds of casualties and wounded.

It is important to note that toward the end of World War II a more advanced bazooka was developed, which would have aided American troops in Korea.

However, because of the peace dividend following the war and the belief that ground forces would play a minor role based on the National Security Strategy, the modernized bazooka program was terminated.

Just five years after the United States led the world to victory in World War II, the force was hollowed to the extent that it was very nearly driven into the sea by the North Korean Army.

To this day the Korean War provides a stark reminder of the consequences of sending an under-trained and poorly equipped force into battle.