| Small Wars Journal

Task Force Kingston, a reinforced platoon of K Company, 32d Infantry, 7th Infantry Division, crossed cruel North Korean terrain and braved brutal winter weather en route to the Yalu River in November 1950. The Task Force Commander was 2d Lt Bob Kingston, my best friend for 50 years, whose bobtailed rifle platoon of 20 Americans comprised the nucleus. Attachments eventually included a few additional U.S. infantrymen; two tanks; three Jeep-mounted machine guns; three quad 50s and four twin 40 antiaircraft guns on half tracks; heavy mortars; an engineer platoon; an artillery forward observer; a tactical air controller; and a bulldozer to help clear road blocks. Task Force Kingston maxed out at 111 men, including one major, three captains, and five first lieutenants, with a cherubic 22-year-old shavetail in charge.

The 32d Infantry Regiment had only one relevant map, because its fast offensives after landing at Inchon had outrun available supplies. Bob's pick-up team therefore left for the Yalu on 22 November, guided only by one hand-drawn strip map, which unfortunately covered only the first 10 of 32 miles. Calls for tactical air support were tricky, because Bob's map lacked coordinates, so the best he could do was tell carrier-based Marine Corsair pilots, "The bad guys are in rock piles 500 meters beyond my point man on the road and 50 meters to his right. Go get 'em." Mortarmen and artillery relied on Kentucky windage.

Enemy infested vertical cliffs flanked the narrow route on one side and dropped off abruptly on the other, which made cross-country movement infeasible. Even unopposed progress was slow, because drivers struggled to keep from sliding off the slippery, snow-covered road into a gulch. Temperatures that averaged more than twenty degrees below zero chilled men, threatened to immobilize transports, and made many crew-served weapons malfunction - - crystallized mortar base plates cracked and artillery shells often failed to detonate. Snow crackled under foot. Whoever coined the term "Frozen Chosin" scored a bullseye.

Task Force Kingston reached the Yalu gorge on 28 November 1950, after taking heavy casualties. All hands wanted to pee in the river, but feared they'd frost family jewels. They watched Chinese Communist cavalry festooned with ammunition belts trot south across the rock solid Yalu on little long-haired Mongolian ponies, followed by light armor - - the vanguard, they later learned, of more than a million men that Chairman Mao called "volunteers." Vastly outnumbered and soon surrounded, Bob and his men slipped through enemy lines, rejoined their parent battalion, then fought their way southeast to safety at the far distant port of Hamhung, where defeated U.S. forces conducted an amphibious departure.

Please see Task Force Kingston by Martin Blumenson in Army Magazine for much more.

War Stories on the Border: The Third Front

During the holiday season, Americans gather with their families to give thanks and remember their blessings. At a time when so many of America's finest men and women remain overseas fighting for the freedom we enjoy today, it is especially important to remember their sacrifices. But too often Americans forget about the sacrifices of those closer to home -- the men and women putting their life on the line to protect our borders.

This Saturday, Nov. 27, Lt. Col. Oliver North, bestselling author of the newly released American Heroes in Special Operations, gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the men and women on America's "Third Front," the Southern Border, in his latest critically-acclaimed "War Stories" installment on Fox News Channel. Since 2006, more than 26,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence that regularly spills over to the United States' side of the border. With vicious drug cartels monitoring the passageways into America, it is left up to federal agents, Border Patrol officers and regular Americans to fight back against this rising onslaught.

Lt. Col. North and his "War Stories" team travels into the heart of the conflict -- from California's Pacific coast to the deserts of Arizona and the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas -- where he meets with everyday Americans who say they are under siege in a war that has gone unnoticed. As he talks to these embattled Americans, Lt. Col. North brings the same intimate portrayal of the faces behind the conflict as he did his bestselling book, American Heroes in Special Operations, which chronicles the personal stories of America's fiercest warriors.

Please join Lt. Col. North this Saturday at 9:00PM EST on Fox News, where he will uncover the real people and the real stories from America's "Third Front."

25 November SWJ Roundup

Korean Peninsula

White House Seeks Chinese Help With N. Korea - New York Times

S. Korea Boosts Security as N. Korea Issues Warning - Associated Press

South Korea Strengthens Military Near Border After Attack - Reuters

Four Dead in N. Korean Attack, U.S. Carrier Group Deploys - AFPS

U.S. Aircraft Carrier's Arrival Also Sends Message to China - Washington Post

China is Loath to Condemn North Korea - Los Angeles Times

Analysis: China Keeps Pressure Off North Korea - Associated Press

U.S., S. Korea Reply to Pyongyang Attack with New Military Exercises - VOA

South Korea Says Joint Military Drill to Send Message - Reuters

U.S. Calls North Korean Artillery Strike Armistice Violation - Voice of America

South Koreans Uncertain on Response to North Korea's Attack - VOA

Mullen Cites North Korea's Unpredictability - AFPS

North Korean Leader And Son Visited Artillery Site - Reuters

North Korea Will Never Play Nice - New York Times opinion

The U.S. Should Work with China on Reunification - Los Angeles Times opinion

Afghanistan

Afghan Commission Releases Final Poll Results, Minus One Province - VOA

'Final' Afghan Election Results Announced - Los Angeles Times

Problems Delay Results From Afghan Elections - Washington Post

Karzai Government Challenges Election Results - New York Times

Afghan Prosecutor Announces New Election Probe - Associated Press

Officials Confirm Taliban Leaders' Death - AFPS

Canada Military Families Receive Fake Death Calls - Associated Press

Iraq

Maliki Must Now Work to Form Cabinet - Washington Post

Iraq's PM to Begin Forming New Cabinet - Associated Press

Iraq-Deployed Louisiana Guard Troops See Gains - AFPS

NATO

Stavridis: NATO Summit Results 'Excellent' - AFPS

United States

GOP Senators Detail Objections to Arms Treaty - New York Times

U.S. to Drop Color-Coded Terror Alerts - New York Times

U.S. May Replace Color-coded Terror-alert System - Washington Post

TSA Chief Bucks Up Employees and Defends Tactics - New York Times

Passengers Unmoved by Protests Against Scan - New York Times

Africa

Future of Somali Government in Doubt as Cabinet Debate Stalls - VOA

6 Peacekeepers in Somalia Arrested in Civilian Deaths - New York Times

Somali Pirates Convicted in Virginia - New York Times

Five Somalis Convicted In U.S. Court For Piracy - Reuters

5 Somalis Guilty of Attack on U.S. Ship - Associated Press

U.N. Mulls 2, 000 Extra Troops For Sudan Vote - Reuters

E.U. Slams Ivory Coast Poll Commission For "Obstruction" - Reuters

Americas and Caribbean

South American Leaders Envision Democratic Charter - Associated Press

Mexico Sending More Troops to Violent Border Zone - Associated Press

Brazil: Police Raid Gang-Controlled Slums in Rio; 14 Dead - Associated Press

Brazil: Rio Drug Gangs Battle Police, 13 People Killed - Reuters

Venezuela Says Nuclear Reactor for Peaceful Uses - Associated Press

Venezuela: U.S. Harboring Fugitive TV Executive - Associated Press

Cuba Deal Boosts China's Latin American Oil Plans - Reuters

Costa Rica's FM to Talk With UN on Nicaraguan Dispute - Associated Press

U.N.-Backed Prosecutor: Guatemala Impeding Justice - Associated Press

Haiti Rebuilding Effort Slowed by Complexities - Washington Post

U.N. Estimates Cholera Could Affect 400,000 Haitians - Voice of America

U.N.: Cholera-Hit Haiti Needs Nurses, Doctors - Reuters

Asia Pacific

Chinese Dissent Crackdown Shrinks Nobel Turnout - Associated Press

Report Issued on Deadly Cambodia Stampede - New York Times

Europe

Ireland Unveils Austerity Plan to Help Secure Bailout - New York Times

Irish Government Faces Election Backlash After Fiscal Pain - Reuters

Middle East

Egyptian Court Orders Halt to Parliamentary Vote in Alexandria - Voice of America

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Finds Going Hard in Race for Parliament - VOA

Egypt Activists Struggle to Monitor Election - Associated Press

Egypt's Vote Ushered In by Crackdown on Dissent - Associated Press

Cairo Police Clash With Christian Rioters, 1 Dead - Associated Press

Suicide Attack Strikes Shiites in Yemen - New York Times

Palestinian Official: Western Wall Not Jewish - Associated Press

Lebanon's PM Voices Support For Hariri Tribunal - Reuters

Al Arabiya: Saudi King Has Undergone Successful Surgery - Reuters

South Asia

Ruling Coalition Wins in Indian State - New York Times

India Hit by Growing Banking Scandal - Reuters

Read more about 25 November SWJ Roundup

Leadership and Accountability, Sometimes

Leadership and Accountability, Sometimes by Raymond Pritchett (Galrahn) at USNI Blog. Well worth the read, as are all of Galrahn's posts at Information Dissemination. BLUF: "I believe it is fair and important to question the absence of public accountability of leadership ashore at a time when the strict standards of accountability for job performance at sea happens to coincide with brilliance in execution and effectiveness in operations at sea."

Read more about Leadership and Accountability, Sometimes

Home for Thanksgiving

Many thanks to all of you, from all of us at SWJ.

Read more about Home for Thanksgiving

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