'Pressure' Is a Great Movie With the Wrong Eisenhower

The D-Day invasion's success critically depended on an accurate weather forecast, a factor often overshadowed by combat narratives. Eisenhower faced immense pressure to launch on June 5th, but a British meteorologist predicted a severe storm, forcing a risky postponement to June 6th based on a narrow weather window. This decision highlights the commander's burden of balancing strategic imperatives with environmental realities and the lives of hundreds of thousands of troops.

The movie 'Pressure' focuses on this specific, true story. Eisenhower also had to manage alliance politics, strong personalities like Montgomery and Patton, and the lessons from the failed Exercise Tiger rehearsal where hundreds of Americans died due to U-boat attacks and communication failures.

The failed 1980 rescue attempt of American hostages in Tehran (Operation Eagle Claw, or Desert One) was a multi-faceted disaster. It involved massive distances, multiple aircraft types, night flying, mechanical failures, and severe dust storms ('shamals'). Crucially, a lack of communication and integration between Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine elements led to the mission's abort and a fatal collision during withdrawal. This failure was a direct catalyst for the creation of the Joint Special Operations Force (JSOC) and the United States Special Operations Command, transforming future special operations capabilities.

The podcast discusses the complexities of the operation, including helicopters encountering severe dust, equipment problems, navigation issues, and the ultimate collision between an RH-53 helicopter and a C-130 aircraft, killing eight service members. This disaster underscored the need for integrated special operations.

The events depicted in 'Black Hawk Down' illustrate how military missions can drastically change on the fly. What began as a humanitarian mission (Operation Restore Hope) to distribute food in famine-stricken Somalia quickly escalated into a manhunt for warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who was co-opting relief supplies. When two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, the mission fundamentally shifted again into a desperate rescue operation amidst chaotic urban combat, highlighting the unpredictable nature of conflict and the challenges of command and control in a fluid environment.

The host notes the mission's evolution from humanitarian aid to stopping warlords. The guest emphasizes that 'the mission you deploy for isn't always the mission you end up executing' and that the helicopter crashes immediately changed the objective to a rescue operation.

The Benghazi attack, as portrayed in '13 Hours,' exemplifies a crisis where commanders faced an 'unknown unknown'—a complete lack of real-time intelligence and situational awareness. Critical decisions about reinforcement and rescue were hampered by extreme distances from command centers, uncertain information, and the inability to assess ground dangers (e.g., shoulder-fired missiles for F-16 flyovers). This intelligence void and communication breakdown led to tragic delays, underscoring the paralysis that can occur when commanders lack fundamental information to act.

The guest, a former US Army Europe commander, recounts the challenges: a small group fighting for their lives, radios failing to describe the situation, no intelligence on the ground, long distances from headquarters, and unanswered questions about enemy capabilities or friendly forces, leading to the deaths of personnel before help could arrive.