We’ve Been Here Before: The U.S. Military and Jungle Warfare –
Editor’s Note: SOFREP would like to offer military writer Christian P. Martin a warm welcome and many thanks for submitting this piece to our site. We hope to see plenty more of his work in the future. — GDM
Introduction
Between 2001 and 2021, the Global War on Terror (GWOT) saw the U.S. military preoccupied with major combat operations in Iraq, with a focus on urban warfare, and Afghanistan, with its rugged mountainous terrain, isolated forward operating bases, and routine patrols. By 2018, with the release of the National Defense Strategy, the focus was firmly on competition with and deterrence of America’s adversaries, namely Russia, but primarily China.
The Communist Party of China is wholly focused on dominating Asia and turning its regional neighbors into its vassals. Two of the greatest friction points in the region, which have the possibility to draw the U.S. into a large-scale war, are the situations with Taiwan and the Philippines. If China invaded Taiwan for unification or launched a punitive naval strike against the Philippines to assert its baseless maritime claims, the U.S. would be compelled to defend both states.
One aspect of the preparations being made for a confrontation with the armed forces of China is a renewed focus on Jungle Warfare training for both the Army and Marine Corps. This training will be essential for containing and, if need be, engaging in combat operations with any forward-deployed elements of the Chinese military.
An Historic View of U.S. Military Operations in the Tropics and Jungle Warfare
To many U.S. military personnel, the jungle may conjure up images of a dark, humid, foreboding, and even mysterious environment, full of both picturesque beauty and lurking natural dangers. This would be logical as most of our warfighters hail from large and small towns across America, a world away from the stifling equatorial jungles where they may be called to operate.
Despite a dearth of recent large-scale operational deployments to such regions, the U.S. military has a solid foundation of combat or security operations in tropical or jungle environments. Between 1814 and 1933, U.S. Marines and Army personnel were deployed approximately 39 times to Central America, South America, and the Caribbean islands (Torreon & Plagakis, 2023). These deployments were undertaken to protect U.S. interests, property, or expatriates during various insurrections.
Preparatory Training for the Pacific Theater
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army and the Marines again found themselves deployed to the jungles, this time in the Pacific islands. The Marine and Army units operating in the Pacific Theater of Operations were tasked with engaging and neutralizing the entrenched Imperial Japanese ground forces. An example of the intense preparation prior to combat operations is exemplified by the Ninth Marine Regiment in late January 1943. Ahead of their deployment to the Solomon Islands, specifically Guadalcanal and Bougainville, the Ninth Marine Regiment steamed to New Zealand for training exercises. Once in Aukland, the Ninth Marines engaged in “… jungle warfare training, several 60-mile hikes…further jungle conditioning and patrol work to ready its men for the fighting to come” (Strobridge, 1967, p. 3).
Editor’s Note: SOFREP would like to offer military writer Christian P. Martin a warm welcome and many thanks for submitting this piece to our site. We hope to see plenty more of his work in the future. — GDM
Introduction
Between 2001 and 2021, the Global War on Terror (GWOT) saw the U.S. military preoccupied with major combat operations in Iraq, with a focus on urban warfare, and Afghanistan, with its rugged mountainous terrain, isolated forward operating bases, and routine patrols. By 2018, with the release of the National Defense Strategy, the focus was firmly on competition with and deterrence of America’s adversaries, namely Russia, but primarily China.
The Communist Party of China is wholly focused on dominating Asia and turning its regional neighbors into its vassals. Two of the greatest friction points in the region, which have the possibility to draw the U.S. into a large-scale war, are the situations with Taiwan and the Philippines. If China invaded Taiwan for unification or launched a punitive naval strike against the Philippines to assert its baseless maritime claims, the U.S. would be compelled to defend both states.
One aspect of the preparations being made for a confrontation with the armed forces of China is a renewed focus on Jungle Warfare training for both the Army and Marine Corps. This training will be essential for containing and, if need be, engaging in combat operations with any forward-deployed elements of the Chinese military.
An Historic View of U.S. Military Operations in the Tropics and Jungle Warfare
To many U.S. military personnel, the jungle may conjure up images of a dark, humid, foreboding, and even mysterious environment, full of both picturesque beauty and lurking natural dangers. This would be logical as most of our warfighters hail from large and small towns across America, a world away from the stifling equatorial jungles where they may be called to operate.
Despite a dearth of recent large-scale operational deployments to such regions, the U.S. military has a solid foundation of combat or security operations in tropical or jungle environments. Between 1814 and 1933, U.S. Marines and Army personnel were deployed approximately 39 times to Central America, South America, and the Caribbean islands (Torreon & Plagakis, 2023). These deployments were undertaken to protect U.S. interests, property, or expatriates during various insurrections.
Preparatory Training for the Pacific Theater
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army and the Marines again found themselves deployed to the jungles, this time in the Pacific islands. The Marine and Army units operating in the Pacific Theater of Operations were tasked with engaging and neutralizing the entrenched Imperial Japanese ground forces. An example of the intense preparation prior to combat operations is exemplified by the Ninth Marine Regiment in late January 1943. Ahead of their deployment to the Solomon Islands, specifically Guadalcanal and Bougainville, the Ninth Marine Regiment steamed to New Zealand for training exercises. Once in Aukland, the Ninth Marines engaged in “… jungle warfare training, several 60-mile hikes…further jungle conditioning and patrol work to ready its men for the fighting to come” (Strobridge, 1967, p. 3).
The Choiseul Island Raid
In theater and presumably with supplemental jungle training akin to the Ninth Marines, the Second Parachute Battalion, First Marine Parachute Regiment was tasked with a strategic raid on Choiseul Island (Rentz, 1948/1989). The purpose of this raid was to divert Japanese attention away from the main assault on Bougainville, situated slightly northwest of Choiseul.
By the morning of October 28, at 1:20 am, a majority of the Second Battalion had landed on Choiseul Island, and by 6:00 am, they had established a base of operations (Rentz, 1948/1989). At this point, the commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Krulak (father of General Charles C. Krulak, the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps), sent out numerous reconnaissance parties and began executing his diversionary attack. As an element of the assault, Company E made its way:
…through the mountainous interior of the island, encountered numerous fast-flowing streams and heavy rain forest. Weighed down by heavy rocket ammunition and impeded by trailing lines and slippery footing, the Marines inched their way forward (Rentz, 1948/1989, p. 109).
Once in position, Company E unleashed its mortars and rockets. The Marines inflicted numerous casualties, resulting in a hasty retreat of the occupying Japanese infantry from their positions in the target village. The prize of this operation (in addition to its primary diversionary purpose), was the collection of valuable documents detailing Japanese barge traffic, which was the shuttle service for local inter-island reinforcements and supplies (Rentz, 1948/1989).
The larger purpose of detailing the rigorous training of the Ninth Marines and the Choiseul raid is to highlight the necessary intensive training prior to deployment in extreme environments. Additionally, the Choiseul raid is an example of a mission that today’s Marines and Army soldiers will engage in if called upon to meet the Chinese military in combat. They will be deployed in smaller units to conduct reconnaissance, long-range patrols and deadly assaults to deny or evict Chinese land forces.
Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Fight
Cresson Kearny was a geologist with extensive field experience in Central America. He later joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He was a pioneer of Jungle Warfare and an advocate for developing proficiency in the jungle prior to World War II. He stated:
Each man must think for himself… Each individual must possess superior physical fitness, initiative, resourcefulness, and aggressiveness; the ability to make long marches; the ability to advance, attack, defend, and maneuver in the jungle, individually and in small units; perfection in scouting and patrolling, and in the use of cover and concealment; and the ability to operate in the jungle for considerable periods of time, conserving and using only his initial supplies and rations. Moreover, he must master the elements, learning how to prevent serious illness and ailments through his own application of preventative measures
(Leiter, 2005, pp. 39-40).
Army Preparations for Jungle Warfare
These wise words of Lieutenant Kearney ring true today as the U.S. military readies itself for a confrontation with the Chinese military. The current training regime for the 25th Infantry Division, the Army’s premier jungle combat unit, consists of a 12-day course comprised of 60 to 95 students with 6 to 12 instructors (Lalor, 2012). The training is conducted at the “Lightning Academy” in Hawaii at the U.S. Army’s Schofield Barracks.
The first week of this training covers such topics as “… land navigation, waterborne operations, rope-based mobility training, and survival skills…crafting ruck rafts for riverine operations and medical evacuations in a jungle environment…” (Lalor, 2012, pp. 5-6).
The second week of training is largely focused on company-coordinated, platoon-level exercises, including raids, long-range patrols, and movement to contact (Lalor, 2012). The latter is designed to initiate or reinitiate contact with an enemy with the smallest unit possible, while the larger force remains on standby, ready to respond once contact is made.
Marine Corps Preparations for Jungle Warfare
The Marine Corps has a similar training regimen to prepare its warriors for the rigors of fighting in the jungle at Camp Gonsalves in Okinawa, Japan. In 2023, approximately 16,000 personnel attended one of the jungle warfare training programs offered at Camp Gonsalves (Ryall, 2023).
Camp Gonsalves offers three courses for Marines or allied partners to sharpen their jungle-combat skills: (1) The five-day Basic Course, (2) the 12-day Infantry Jungle Skills Course, and (3) the 14-day Jungle Tracking Course. The five-day course was created for Marines in noncombat units, and it teaches the Marines about jungle characteristics and provides lessons on patrolling, repelling, and land navigation (Schogol, 2016).
The 12-day Infantry Course builds on the aforementioned course, with intensive lessons in company-level combat tactics and reconnaissance-patrolling techniques, and it peaks with a four-day patrol exercise (Schogol, 2016). Finally, the 14-day Jungle Tracking course is geared towards the leadership of small units. This course develops the individual’s ability to locate an enemy in the jungle over varying distances, utilizing the dynamics of footprint tracking in addition to lessons on antitracking and deception techniques (Schogol, 2016).
Conclusion
Presently, the U.S. military is rapidly preparing to defend its allies in the Aisia-Pacific region and the freedom of navigation in the region from the revisionist, authoritarian Communist Party of China, led by its quasi-emperor Xi Jinping. Under his leadership, the Chinese military, on a daily basis, harasses Taiwan with military aircraft and menacing naval patrols designed to intimidate the island’s democracy. Similarly, the Chinese maritime militia and Coast Guard assault Philippine sailors with water cannons. Additionally, the Chinese ram the Filippino boats on resupply missions to their grounded naval vessel, which serves as a forward outpost. Finally, the Chinese could seize the Japanese Senkaku Islands, which they claim belong to them.
Chinese water cannon attack.
Any of these flashpoints could escalate quickly, requiring the U.S. military to act in defense of these democratic Asian states and U.S. partners. If called to defend these American allies, its Marines and Army personnel would likely have to engage in combat in and around the littoral states of the region, as well as the islands within the South China Sea. Many of these islands contain challenging jungle terrain and possibly entrenched Chinese ground forces. Due to this ongoing Chinese belligerence and American regional commitments, the jungle training that U.S. personnel are undergoing now will prove to be crucial when conducting combat operations in the region.
References
Lalor, M. (2012). The critical role of JOTC in preparing soldiers for combat in a jungle environment. Infantry 112(3), 4–6. https://www.moore.army.mil/infantry/magazine/ issues/2023/Fall/PDF/Fall23_InfMag.pdf
Leiter, J.C. (2005). The soldier must be trained not to fight the jungle: Preparing the U.S. Army for future operations in a jungle environment.
[Master’s Thesis, Northern Michigan University]. Defense Technical Information Center.
Strobridge,T.R. (1967). A brief history of the 9th Marines. Department of the Navy: Historical Branch, G-3 Division (Original Work Published 1961). http://www.hqco9thmarines.com/History/A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 9th MARINES.pdf
Torreon, B.S., & Plagakis, S. (2023). Instances of use of United States Armed Forces abroad, 1798-2023. CRS Report R42738. Congressional Research Service.https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/R42738.pdf
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Author Bio:
Christian P. Martin is a Michigan-based military researcher and writer. He earned his Master’s degree in Defense and Strategic Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso. His professional interests are history, land, and naval warfare, both conventional and unconventional, with a focus on the developing world and an emergent China.
