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Chain of Command Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
8 Episodes 2018 - 2018
Episode 1
By, With & Through
Mon, Jan 15, 201845 mins
The reconquest of Mossul was a key phase in the systematic allied effort to deal with the caliphate of ISIS, the Middle East-based heart of jihadist terrorism after the defeat of Al-Qaeda. On the Iraqi front, US Army officers act mainly as advisers to the Iraqi forces, which they also train, and observers to guide air attacks by drones and Air Force planes. Each has its rules of engagement a hierarchical chain of command, within the US military up to the Pentagon and the White House, and in coordination with some twenty allied countries, mostly NATO of Arab, with local militias. Strategies must be devised and allies chooses carefully, considering the tactical urgency as well as long-term consequences, taking account of military and diplomatic intelligence.
Episode 2
Perception & Reality
Mon, Jan 15, 201847 mins
After the taking of eastern Mossul, ISIS troops make an even grimmer last stand in the western town quarter, laying traps and using human shields so surviving civilians are extremely traumatized, even after liberation, and lost about everything, so Washington must think about rebuilding Iraq as to prevent another Jihadist cycle. Other troops are deployed on the Afghan nightmare front, against the equally heinous Taliban, without prospect of an impending military break-trough. Meanwhile the virtual war continues for the recruitment of radicalized Muslims globe-wide, even on Antillian holiday island Trinidad.
Episode 3
Shoulder to Shoulder
Mon, Jan 22, 201847 mins
While the siege and bloody close combat conquest of the last ISIS warriors in their West Mossul stronghold continues, the sic regional commands under the Pentagon collaborate with civilian security services, like Homeland Security and DEA, to tackle possible recruits, infiltration and financing of such terror notably by human trafficking and drug trade, in the Southern case especially on the migration routes from Latin America, especially trough Colombia and Panama, to the US. Bases there are mainly involved in training men, some of whom will train local forces in allied countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, which is the theatre of longest continuous overseas Marines deployment, each time a challenge to fort the families at the home front. The senior enlisted officer advises the Pentagon from troops perspective.
Episode 4
The End of the Beginning
Mon, Jan 29, 201847 mins
With ISIS troops in Mosul constrained to the old town of the 'caliphate seat', where they started the invasion and installed intensive defenses while reducing its monuments to rubble, the Iraqi troops incur further losses with the regional goal in sight, just when the US advisers CO captain Mark Zwirgzdas must be relieved, finally rejoining his family, but higher up one realizes the focus must be preventing a new cycle by making the locals associate the allies with hope and reconstruction, not further endurance. Other troops leave he home front for Afghanistan. ISIS recruits all over, even on Antillian state Trinidad and Tobago, where the economically backward Muslim community became revolution-receptive, yet the initial Jihadist-recruiter-imam and his son are key to turn that around by teaching pacific jihad.
Episode 5
Generations
Mon, Feb 5, 201847 mins
While the fight against ISIS looks near being won, the Afghan war, already the US's longest, still offers no final perspective. The most deadly province Helmand was left to the Afghans and Army advisers before, only to be completely lost to the Taliban, so the Marines return in 2016 to thoroughly train Afghans and see to their proper equipment before deployment. While the CO general's teen son Cody (17) opts for the military, a front soldier gets a day off to witness his latest kid's birth by Internet.
Episode 6
Crossroads
Mon, Feb 12, 201847 mins
The endless allied war in Afghanistan keeps causing varied problems, requiring constant but problematic coordination notably with Afghan troops, police, authorities and traditional tribal elders, as well as the military challenges posed by the formidable Taliban adversary, who strikes al over the country. The Stuttgart, Germany based US Africa command coordinates efforts to monitor countries on the black continent and help fight terrorist threats, notably jihadists such as al-Shabaah in East Africa, Boko Haram in Nigeria, IS in Central Africa, Al-Qaida in Chad, and possible connections, especially in central Niger. Latin America, the gateway to the US, with bottlenecks like Darien, Panama, requires monitoring the influx of migrants, often fleeing poverty and violent misery especially from terror-regions, but among the regular refugees and fortune-seekers are terrorist infiltrators.
Episode 7
War Without Borders
Mon, Feb 19, 201847 mins
On top of allied basis all around ISIS, US carriers like the George W. Bush are used to strike the caliphate by air. In Afghanistan, especially the Taliban heartland province Kandahar, much effort goes into seeking effective cooperation with the natives, such as the traditional tribal elders, proper supplies for troops and police and fighting endemic corruption. In Eastern Africa, the spread of jihadist terror group Al-Shabaab is countered from the continent's only US base, Djibouti, seeking to counter recruitment of the dirt-poor in countries torn apart by decades of civil wars.
Episode 8
Why We Fight
Mon, Feb 26, 201847 mins
As U.S. Marines get set to leave Afghanistan, reminders of the problems there continue. Meanwhile in Niger, Special Forces endure a tragic loss.
