Latest news with #VanRiper
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
That time a Marine general led a fictional Iran against the US military
In 2002, the U.S. military tapped Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper to lead the opposing forces in the most expensive and expansive military exercise in history up until that point. He was put in command of an inferior Middle Eastern-inspired military force – essentially a fictional Iran – and his mission was to go against the full might of the American armed forces. In the first two days, he sank an entire carrier battle group. In fact, he had achieved such great success that it prompted the U.S. military brass to cry foul. The exercise, called Millennium Challenge 2002, wasn't just big. It was huge. It was designed by the Joint Forces Command over the course of two years to include 13,500 participants and numerous live and simulated training sites. The idea, mandated by Congress, was to pit an Iran-like Middle Eastern country against the U.S. military, which would be fielding advanced technology that the United States had not planned to implement until five years later. It would begin with a forced-entry exercise that included the 82nd Airborne and the 1st Marine Division. When the Blue Forces issued a surrender ultimatum, Van Riper, commanding the Red Forces, turned them down. Since the Bush Doctrine of the period included preemptive strikes against perceived enemies, Van Riper knew the Blue Forces would be coming for him. And they did. But the three-star general didn't spend 41 years in the Marine Corps by being timid. As soon as the Navy was beyond the point of no return, he hit them and hit them hard. Missiles from land-based units, civilian boats, and low-flying planes tore through the fleet as explosive-laden speedboats decimated the Navy using suicide tactics. His code to initiate the attack was a coded message sent from the minarets of mosques at the call to prayer. In less than ten minutes, the whole thing was over and Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper was victorious. How did 19 ships and some 20,000 U.S. troops end up at the bottom of the Persian Gulf? It started with the opposing forces' leadership. Van Riper was the epitome of the salty Marine Corps general officer. He was a 41-year veteran, both enlisted and commissioned, serving in various capacities from Vietnam to Desert Storm. Van Riper attended the Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, the College of Naval Command and Staff, the Army War College, and the Army's Airborne and Ranger Schools. In fact, the three-star general had been retired for some five years by the time he led the Red Forces of Millennium Challenge. He was an old-school Marine capable of some old-school tactics and has insisted that technology cannot replace human intuition and study of the basic nature of war, which he called a 'terrible, uncertain, chaotic, bloody business.' When Van Riper told the story of the Millennium Challenge to journalist Malcolm Gladwell, he said the Blue Forces were stuck in their mode of thinking. Their vastly superior technology included advanced intelligence matrices and an Operational Net Assessment that identified OPFOR vulnerabilities and what Van Riper was most likely to do next, selected from a predetermined range of possible scenarios. They relied heavily on the technology. When the United States took out the fictional Iran's microwave towers and fiber optics, they expected Van Riper's forces to use satellite and cell phones that could be monitored. Not a chance. Van Riper instead used motorcycle couriers, messages hidden in prayers called over the muezzin, and even coded lighting systems on his airfields, all tactics employed during World War II. In fact, Van Riper hated the kind of analytical decision-making the Blue Forces were doing. He believed it took far too long. His resistance plan included ways of getting his people to make good decisions using rapid cognition and analog yet reliable communications. 'I struck first,' he said in 'Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,' Gladwell's 2005 book. 'We did all the calculations on how many cruise missiles their ships could handle, so we simply launched more than that.' The other commanders involved called foul, complaining that a real opposing force would never use the tactics Van Riper used — except Van Riper's flotilla used boats and explosives like those used against the USS Cole in 2000. 'And I said 'nobody would have thought that anyone would fly an airliner into the World Trade Center,'' Van Riper replied. 'But nobody [in the exercise] seemed interested.' In the end, the Blue Forces were all respawned, and Van Riper was prevented from making moves to counter the Blue Forces' landing. The fix was in. Fictional Iran had no radar and wasn't allowed to shoot down incoming aircraft that it would have otherwise accurately targeted. The rest of the exercise was scripted to let the Blue Force land and win. Van Riper walked out when he realized his commands were being ignored by the exercise planners. The three-star general wrote a 21-page critique of the exercise that was immediately classified. Van Riper spoke out against the rigged game anyway. 'Nothing was learned from this,' he told the Guardian in 2002. 'A culture not willing to think hard and test itself does not augur well for the future.' We Are The Mighty is a celebration of military service, with a mission to entertain, inform, and inspire those who serve and those who support them. We are made by and for current service members, veterans, spouses, family members, and civilians who want to be part of this community. Keep up with the best in military culture and entertainment: subscribe to the We Are The Mighty newsletter. 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USA Today
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Will we need a bigger boat? Martha's Vineyard awash in 'Jaws' at 50 mania
Will we need a bigger boat? Martha's Vineyard awash in 'Jaws' at 50 mania Amid a feeding frenzy of interest in the 50-year movie milestone, the island is celebrating and educating on all things sharks. Show Caption Hide Caption Athlete marks 'Jaws' 50th anniversary with 60-mile swim Swimmer Lewis Pugh circumnavigated Martha's Vineyard to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie "Jaws" and draw attention to the plight of sharks. In the summer of 1974, A. Bowdoin Van Riper had just gotten out of school when Hollywood came to town. Van Riper, then 11 years old, went down to the beach on Martha's Vineyard with a friend to watch the filming of what would become Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws." When a crew member called out for volunteers, the two raced into the water and pretended to panic for a scene in which two kids frighten swimmers using a cardboard fin. 'It was a very, very short brush with Hollywood, but it is still − after 50 years − cool to know that I played a very, very, very small part in helping the film get made,' Van Riper said. Like many locals who helped create the first summer blockbuster, Van Riper is now gearing up for an elaborate, summer-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of "Jaws." Upon its release on June 20, 1975, 'Jaws' struck fear in the hearts of beachgoers nationwide, leading to an increase in shark phobias and trophy hunting that helped decimate shark populations. Though viewers say the movie scared them away from beaches, pools and even bath tubs for a time, that fear has become an American fascination. 'Jaws' fandom has become a huge tourism draw for the island and some proprietors are expecting their biggest summer ever. As the population − and reputation − of sharks off the coast of Massachusetts has begun to rebound, many are using the 50th anniversary of "Jaws" to remind the public how important sharks are and how to stay safe as beachgoers increasingly find themselves in close proximity to the predators. 'At the time 'Jaws' came out, we virtually knew nothing about sharks and nobody knew how important of a role they play in their ecosystem,' said Megan Winton, a scientist at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on nearby Cape Cod. 'We're still honestly learning new things about that every day, but learning how to live with great white sharks is tough.' 'Jaws' scared swimmers out of the ocean: See the real locations of Amity's terror 'Jaws' fans flooding Martha's Vineyard On Martha's Vineyard − the real-life version of Spielberg's fictional Amity Island − planning for the 50th anniversary of "Jaws" has been in the works for years. There will be screenings of the film and a documentary about its production, a live performance of the movie's famous score, and parties where fans can meet some of the cast and crew, said Erica Ashton and Alessandra Hagerty, executive and deputy directors of the Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce. Most shops and restaurants are decked out with "Jaws"-themed merchandise from custom-poured shark candles to a bloody-looking cranberry sweet treat at Murdick's Fudge. Even the local baseball team − the Sharks − will be playing this weekend. 'There's like 'Jaws' mania, pretty much,' Hagerty said. In the peak summer months, the island can see as many as 200,000 visitors, according to the Chamber of Commerce. But with hotels fully booked and anniversary weekend events nearly all sold out, officials are expecting a surge of visitors that could be tens of thousands higher than normal, far exceeding previous events related to the film. Michael Currid said he has already had 'exponentially more' advance bookings for his 'Jaws' walking tour than he has in the past 15 years. 'I'm confident that, at least from the 'Jaws' side, this will be my biggest season ever,' said Currid, owner of Edgartown Tour Company. Currid leads groups on walking tours of Edgartown that mirror the path taken by one of the film's protagonists, police chief Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider. On his full island tour, he takes visitors to filming locations farther afield such as the fishing village of Menemsha, where Brody and grizzled shark hunter Quint, portrayed by Robert Shaw, set sail. Often, Currid pulls up clips from the movie on his iPad to show tourists just how little has changed on the island since the film was shot. 'One home may have added bay windows,' he said. 'On one street that I show, the biggest change is the color of the fire hydrant.' Cape Cod's white sharks: The new stars of eco-tourism 'Jaws' events urge tourists to 'respect the locals' "Jaws" fans have already begun flocking to the Martha's Vineyard Museum to check out memorabilia and movie props such as the one-eyed head of a fisherman attacked by the shark in the film. The exhibition, which dominates the museum's entire second floor, has been five years in the making, according to Cathy Mayone, the museum's managing director. 'We've been very busy ever since Memorial Day, when we opened up the exhibit, and we are seeing a lot of people,' she said. 'Every day I walk through the museum and I talk to people that are visiting the island for the first time.' Though much of the programming focuses on the islanders who helped make the movie, the museum will also hold a lesson on sharks for kids and a talk by ocean conservation advocate Wendy Benchley, widow of "Jaws" author Peter Benchley, Mayone said. Both the late Benchley and Spielberg have expressed regret for the impact the book and the film had on real sharks. 'Part of our exhibit about 'Jaws' is a room devoted to teaching people more about sharks as a species, and efforts to understand them, protect them,' said Van Riper, the museum's research librarian who is gearing up to deliver a three-hour deep dive on the film to a sold-out crowd. 'So we hope we can do our bit to promote that whole 'respect the locals' attitude toward them.' Locals aren't the only ones using the anniversary to draw attention to the threats facing sharks. Lewis Pugh, a long distance swimmer from England, braved the island's chilly waters in just a pair of speedos, a swim cap and goggles in a bid to raise awareness. Pugh embarked on a brutal 12-day swim around Martha's Vineyard not long after the first shark sighting of the season in the area. Though he didn't spot any sharks on this journey, he did feel wary in the water after breaking the unspoken rule among swimmers by talking so frequently about the animals. 'I saw ("Jaws") when I was about 12 years old. I haven't seen it again. I'm frightened of sharks. I'm normal, OK?' he said with a laugh. 'But I'm terrified of a world without sharks.' Though more than a third of Americans say they're afraid of sharks and some attribute that fear to "Jaws" directly, Pugh said sharks are the ones in real danger. Sharks bite just a few dozen people each year, but humans kill millions of sharks worldwide. Pugh − who celebrated finishing the swim with an ice cream on the beach before heading to a U.N. conference on oceans in France − called the killings 'an ecocide.' 'We need to, No. 1, educate ourselves about them. No. 2, we need to respect them. And then lastly, we really need to protect them.' Shark research and conservation still has 'a long way to go' Great white shark populations in the Atlantic may have declined by as much as 70% before they were designated as a prohibited species in most American waters in 1997, said Winton, of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Populations around Massachusetts began to rebound as protections increased for sharks and seals, their preferred prey, Winton said. 'What we're seeing on Cape Cod, really is, it's a huge conservation success story,' she said. With that success comes new challenges. The animals spend about half their time hunting for seals in shallow waters offshore, and when swimmers and surfers get in their way, deadly encounters can occur, Winton said. In the summer of 2018, one man narrowly survived after being bitten by a shark on the Cape Cod National Seashore, and another died after a shark bit him while he was boogie-boarding. 'People were scared. They wanted to do something about it, and so there were calls for lethal control measures,' Winton said. Winton said conflicts with humans remain the biggest threat to white sharks in the waters of Massachusetts, adding that researchers have increasingly come across sharks with boat strike injuries. White sharks are still considered 'vulnerable,' one step below endangered, by the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. And though "Jaws," particularly actor Richard Dreyfuss' portrayal of oceanographer Matt Hooper, has inspired many marine biologists to study white sharks, Winton said researchers still don't have answers to basic questions about their biology, such as where they mate and give birth. 'We've come a long way since 'Jaws' in terms of shark conservation and our understanding of sharks and our appreciation for them and how important they are to the health of our oceans,' Winton said. 'But we've still got a long way to go.'
