S6: The Eighth Army did not realize that a hole eight miles deep and six miles across was penetrated in the front lines until two regiments were “disintegrated.” Why was there a lapse in communication between the front lines and the Eighth Army mission command? With these defeats, the Mission Command commanders under General Walker became profoundly “defeatist.” How does this attitude affect MDMP?

There are several factors that weigh into why the communication was poor during this fight. I believe the primary reason was because of lack of discipline. The soldiers were told they were just performing a “police” mission. They were ready to get in and get out as fast as possible and move back to Japan. Once they started to see the realities of war, they retreated to save themselves and equipment (including comms) were left in the enemy’s hands. These soldiers weren’t ready for a war. Secondly, the equipment itself was terrible. They were even given weapons without ammo. All of these things contribute to the overall planning and execution that must take place in order to be successful. When discussing MDMP, the overall logistics weren’t in place, the soldiers weren’t prepared to fight, and we weren’t capable to fight back against the NKPA with the equipment on the battlefield. With the overall morale thrown into the mud along with all the equipment, the process of planning for any mission was extremely difficult.