The Battle of Ramadi, 2006

The Battle of Ramadi in 2006-07 is one of the lesser-known but arguably one of the fiercest and the most decisive battle of the Iraq War. This battle marked a change in the US understanding of the war in Iraq and the adoption of highly controversial and effective tactics that reflected that changed understanding. The Battle of Ramadi would become the model for what came to be called “The Sunni Awakening,” and for General Petraeus’s “Surge” strategy which was implemented two years later. It foretold a very sophisticated understanding of counter-insurgency which ultimately led to military success in Iraq.

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Dr. Louis A. DiMarco retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army in 2005 after more than 24 years of active service as an armored cavalry officer. His military assignments include cavalry troop command, instructor at the US Army Armor School, and staff assignments at all levels from Division through Joint Headquarters. Dr. DiMarco’s civilian education includes a Bachelor of Science Degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, a Masters in Military Art and Science from the US Army Command and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth Kansas, a Masters of Arts Degree in International Relations from Salve Regina University, Rhode Island, and a Ph.D. in History from Kansas State University. Dr. DiMarco has authored several important Army doctrinal manuals including FM 3-06, Urban Operations (2002). He was a contributing author to FM 3-24, Counterinsurgency (2006). Dr. DiMarco has written and lectured on a variety of military affairs topics including military government and civil affairs, armored cavalry and reconnaissance, urban warfare, and counterinsurgency. His work has been published by the Association of the U.S. Army, the Combat Studies Institute, and a variety of professional journals including Armor, Military Review, Proceedings, the Small Wars Journal, Parameters, and the Global War Studies Journal. He is also the author of the booklet Military Operations and the Middle Eastern City (Combat Studies Institute, 2003), and two books: War Horse: A History of the Military Horse and Rider (Westholme, 2008); and Concrete Hell: Modern Urban Operations from Stalingrad to Iraq (Osprey, 2012). His most recent work, Concrete Hell, has been translated into numerous foreign languages, used as a text at the US, German and Republic of Korea Staff and War Colleges, is listed on the Army Chief of Staff’s Professional Reading List, and is considered a seminal work on this subject.

Dr. DiMarco is married to retired Army Colonel Joyce DiMarco who teaches leadership at the US Army Command and General Staff College, and they have two daughters, both serving in the military: one is an intelligence officer in the US Air Force stationed at Offit AFB, Nebraska, and the other is an Army Physician’s Assistant assigned to the Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas. He lives on a 56-acre farm in Leavenworth County, Kansas, with his wife Joyce, four dogs, five horses, and a John Deere tractor.