Major General David H. Petraeus's Five Forces

Lead, Direct, and Assess In 2003, Major General David H. Petraeus led the 101st Airborne Division as they deployed to Iraq to conduct combat operations. The combat portion of that deployment was short-lived and the 101st soon found themselves tasked with rebuilding a nation that was struggling from the aftermath of war and the policies of its former government. MG Petraeus moved the 101st into the Nineveh province and began the challenging task of providing stability and restoring essential services in that region. This mission required a change to strategies that had been developed prior to the unit’s deployment. In order to meet the intent of commanders at the strategic level, MG Petraeus had to develop new plans and ensure understanding
He examined the operational environment and determined that the Center of Gravity (COG) for the region would be Mosul (Lundberg, 2006). Accordingly, Mosul would have to be secured first, a task he gave to his 2nd Brigade (BDE). He tasked his 1st BDE to move into Qayyarrah to control the area south of Mosul and directed his 3rd BDE to move to the Tal Afar Airfield to gain control of the western portion of the region (Lundberg, 2006). As stated before, MG Petraeus positioned his HQ in the city of Mosul in order to be closer to his units and maintain control over all operations in the province. This careful positioning of forces is a demonstration of the Direct activity of the operations process. Although the task of stabilizing the Nineveh Province was a difficult one, MG Petraeus was up to the challenge. He identified specific actions needing to take place and began working to rebuild the region. His first task was developing a well-defined command and support relationship with the local ministries. They needed to understand who was in charge and whom they could go to with suggestions or concerns. To provide the command aspect, MG Petraeus worked directly with the Governor. To provide support to the ministries, he assigned specific subordinate commanders. The Division Support Command worked with the Youth and Sports Ministry; the Signal Battalion worked to rebuild the Communications Infrastructure; the Division Chaplain worked with the Ministry of Religious Affairs; the Division Engineer Battalion worked with the Ministry of Public Works; and the Staff Judge Advocate worked with the Justice Ministry (Lundberg, 2006). By establishing these relationships, MG Petraeus was able to direct his subordinates, both military and civilian, to carry out his established