By John T. Correll air strikes against ISIS in Iraq 2014 and was superseded by Operation and Syria began in August 2014, but for Freedom’s Sentinel. more than two months, the operation There was some confusion from a did not have a name. The Pentagon reference during the transition ceremony finally settled on Inherent Resolve. in Kabul to Operation Resolute Support, The press wondered why it took so but that turned out to be a NATO desig- long to come up with what the Los nation. By way of clarifi cation, the US Angeles Times called “a moniker so commander explained that “Resolute inherently bland that it sparked jokes Support will serve as the bedrock of an on late-night TV.” The Wall Street enduring partnership.” Journal quoted a military officer who Inherent Resolve, Enduring Freedom, acknowledged the name was “just Freedom’s Sentinel, and Resolute Sup- kind of bleh.” port share a mind-numbing similarity About the same time, a re-naming that makes it diffi cult to keep track of operation was underway in Afghani- which is which. They sound like slogans stan. After a run of 13 years, Operation or something made up by the marketing Enduring Freedom ended in December department. US Coast Guard photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Robert F. Sargent Chief Photographer’s by photo Guard US Coast F. Robert Mate 54 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2016 These operations—and the military Germans used code names primarily to On June 2, 1944, just before D-Day, members serving in them—would have preserve operational security, though the the crossword puzzle compiler for the once had more distinctive designations names were also a convenient way of London Daily Telegraph was visited by that had some chance of being remem- referring to subordinate and successive intelligence agents who wanted to know bered. Unfortunately, naming military operations.” about one of the answers published that operations seems to have become a Among the German operations in day for the May 27 puzzle. The word in lost art. 1918 were Archangel, St. Michael, St. question was “overlord,” the code name The gold standard was set by Opera- George, Roland, Mars, Castor, Pollux, of the operation about to begin. tion Overlord, the D-Day invasion in and Valkyrie. Furthermore, words in other puzzles 1944, Operation Rolling Thunder, the The Germans picked up the practice in past weeks had included “Utah,” and air campaign against North Vietnam again in World War II. The planned “Omaha,” code names for two of the D- 1965-1968, and Operation Desert Storm, name for the amphibious invasion of Day invasion beaches. As recounted by the Persian Gulf War in 1991. England—canceled after the unexpected Cornelius Ryan in The Longest Day, it That was too good to last. The se- victory of the British in the Battle of was simply a coincidence. The puzzles lection process has been taken over Britain—was Sea Lion. had been prepared months before but largely by staff bureaucrats assisted The invasion of Russia was initially did not appear in the newspaper until by an automated system. Sometimes named Operation Fritz, after the son of just before the operation. senior offi cials get in on the act. They one of the planners, but was changed There is some claim that the British make sure operation names have the by Hitler to Operation Barbarossa, the were more diligent than the Americans right political texture and that—above folk name of the Germanic emperor in choosing names that would give no all—they do not offend anyone. Frederick I, who conquered the Slavs hint of the plan. One example cited is in the 12th century. Market Garden, the failed British-led WHERE IT ALL STARTED Both the Americans and the British airborne operation in the Netherlands “Naming operations seems to have named their operations in World War II in 1944. originated with the German General Staff as well, mostly for reasons of security. However, US Operation Matterhorn during the last two years of World War In 1942, the US War Plans Division was at least as opaque. The Matterhorn is I,” said Lt. Col. Gregory C. Sieminski, devised a list of 10,000 words that could one of the highest peaks in the European who explored the history of it in the Army be used without any suggestion of a Alps and there was nothing about it to War College’s Parameters in 1995. “The specifi c purpose or a particular place. suggest the nature of the operation, which Troops disembark at Omaha Beach, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The invasion of Normandy was named Operation Overlord. AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2016 55 was the strategic bombing Berlin Airlift. In Operation of Japanese forces in Asia Haylift in 1949, Air Force by B-29s based in India and transports dropped feed and China in 1944-1945. supplies to isolated ranchers Code names for programs in Nevada and Utah where and projects—separate from cattle were stranded and operation names, but relat- starving in deep snowdrifts ed—also came into wide- during the worst winter in spread use in World War II. 60 years. The Manhattan Project, for The first recorded po- example, was the program to litical problem with an op- develop the atomic bomb. The eration name was in Korea first two bombs were Little in 1951, when Lt. Gen. Boy and Fat Man. Matthew B. Ridgway was These names were not cho- chastised by Washington sen randomly. Little Boy and for calling his Eighth Army Fat Man derived from the offensive Operation Killer. relative size and shape of the Unrepentant, Ridgway said, bombs, and the initial base for “I did not understand why the project was the Manhattan it was objectionable to ac- Engineer District of the Army knowledge the fact that war Corps of Engineers. was concerned with killing the enemy.” T H E O D E A E OF U S A F h o t o Something similar hap- N AMI G pened in Vietnam in 1966 British Prime Minister Winston F-105s and an RB-66 on a mission over when Operation Masher was changed to Churchill loved code names and picked North Vietnam. Many operation names Operation White Wing because President during the Vietnam War, such as Line- them personally whenever he got the backer, were ill-conceived. Lyndon Johnson wanted it to sound chance, but one of his most notable more benign. contributions was about an American Argument, also known as “Big Operation names in the Vietnam War operation. Week,” Feb. 20-25, 1944, the coordinated were mostly in the classic tradition. For reasons long forgotten, the mis- attack on the German aviation industry. In addition to Rolling Thunder, they sion to bomb Ploesti in 1943 was Frantic, the shuttle bombing mis- included these: first known as Operation Soapsuds. sions in 1944, launched from Britain Farm Gate, 1961-1963, training Churchill warned President Roosevelt and Italy, landing in Soviet-controlled and support for the South Vietnamese that a whimsical name was “inappropri- territory and launching from there for air force. ate for an operation in which so many the return missions. Barrel Roll, 1964-1973, support of brave Americans would risk or lose their Crossbow, air attacks on German ground forces in northern Laos. lives.” The name was duly changed to V-1 and V-2 rocket launch sites in 1944. Steel Tiger, 1965-1973, interdiction Tidal Wave. Carpetbagger, Army Air Forces of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Some World War II operations were night flights over occupied Europe to Igloo White, 1968-1973, seeding elegantly named, such as Torch, the support partisans. of the Ho Chi Minh Trail with 20,000 North Africa campaign in 1942-1943. Two of the best operation names were acoustic and seismic sensors to detect Some were not, such as Grubworm and not used, scrubbed when the atomic enemy movement, monitored by aircraft Rooster, two US airlift operations to bombs brought the war in the Pacific orbiting overhead. redeploy Chinese army forces and their to an end without invasion of the Japa- Bolo, 1967, the “MiG Sweep,” in equipment in 1945. Operation Chat- nese home islands. Operation Olympic which seven North Vietnamese aircraft tanooga Choo Choo, the air offensive would have been the attack on Kyushu, were shot down in 12 minutes. against trains in France and Germany in projected for November 1945, followed Commando Hunt, 1968-1972, in- 1944, could also have been better named. by Operation Coronet against Honshu tensified air strikes in southern Laos. Among the notable named operations in the spring of 1946. Arc Light, 1965-1973, B-52 strikes in World War II were these: in Southeast Asia. Husky, the invasion of Sicily in O H ER AME , O H ER AR Some of the air operations in Vietnam 1943. The custom of naming operations could also have been better named. Strangle, the aerial interdiction of continued after World War II, but there Linebacker, for example, was an un- Italy in 1944. The US liked Strangle was no need for secrecy in most peace- inspired sports metaphor that did not well enough to use it again in Korea. time actions so the names were often really fit. Linebacker II, the bombing Point Blank, the combined bomber open and direct. The folksy designation of North Vietnam in 1972 that brought offensive in Europe. of Operation Vittles was given to the the peace talks to fruition, was the most 5 6 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2016 USAF photo by TSgt. Fernando Serna F-15s and F-16s fl y over burning oil wells in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm.