ARRC JOURNAL
UTILISING CULTURE AS AN
ENABLER TO ACHIEVE TACTICAL
ACTIONS THAT HAVE POSITIVE
STRATEGIC EFFECT
Lieutenant Colonel Per Mikkelsen, Danish Army
In August 2006, by the invitation of the Iraqi Government, a Danish battlegroup was
deployed to the Basra region of Iraq with my role being commander.
stemmed from the fact
that the civil environment
was the source of the
manpower for the security
forces, as well as the
workforce for all key civil
infrastructure. Added to
this complex and multi-
layered problem, it also
became apparent that
there were numerous
socio-political challenges
within the civil environment
itself, emanating from
the local tribal structures,
which were in dispute
more than agreement and
often violent dispute at
that.
The author’s battlegroup on patrol in 2006.
I remember we arrived with a solid grasp
of the military events that had preceded
our deployment, as well as a clear
understanding of our orders, which was to
deliver security via protection of key civil
infrastructure, oil production facilities,
electrical grids and, most importantly,
to build up and train the fledgling Iraqi
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ALLIED RAPID REACTION CORPS
Security Forces. What I also recall is that
we only had a narrow understanding of
the civil environment itself, which, during
our pre-deployment analysis, seemed
inconsequential. However, within days
of our arrival we found that we faced not
just a complex security challenge, but
a complex civil/security situation. This
In the area of operations
allocated to me there were
approximately 72 tribes.
Of these, two major tribes
– the Garamsha and Halaf
– had an on-going, bitter
internal war. This was
not a war of words, but
a conventional, almost daily, exchange
of fire. The war and the disbursement
of the national army had provided the
population with a huge ‘take your own
weapons for free’ option, which obviously
had been a great success. Everybody
had at least one Kalashnikov rifle and a
matching RPG or mortar system as well.