The US military operation against ISIS in Iraq and Syria officially has a name: “Operation Inherent Resolve.” If you think this is a stupid name, you’re not alone: the Pentagon allegedly rejected it in early October as “kind of bleh” (that’s a direct quote from an officer). The name was initially supposed to be just a placeholder, but it seems like the military ran out of other ideas and it stuck.
The 17 most ridiculous names for military operations, ranked
Zack Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers ideology and challenges to democracy, both at home and abroad. His book on democracy, The Reactionary Spirit, was published 0n July 16. You can purchase it here.
But this is far from the first bizarrely named military operation. Here are the 17 most ridiculous, ranked:
17) Operation Ortsac (USA, 1962 plan to invade Cuba — spell the name backwards)
16) Operation Red Bean (Belgium, 1978 Zaire airport intervention)
15) Exercise Steadfast Jazz (NATO, 2013 training exercise)
14) Operation Inherent Resolve (USA, 2014 ISIS war)
10, tie) Operation Dragon Blanc (Belgium, 1964 Congo intervention)
10, tie) Operation Dragon Noire (Belgium, 1964 Congo intervention)
10, tie) Operation Dragon Rouge (Belgium, 1964 Congo intervention)
10, tie) Operation Dragon Vert (Belgium, 1964 Congo intervention)
9) Operation Grand Slam (Pakistan, 1965 India-Pakistan war)
8) Operation Lucky Alphonse (United Kingdom, 1956 Cyprus counterinsurgency)
7) Operation Nimrod (United Kingdom, 1980 storming of Iran’s embassy in London)
6) Operation Unicorn (France/UN, 2002 Côte d’Ivoire peacekeeping operation)
5) Operation Power Pack (USA, 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic)
4) Operation Eager Glacier (USA, 1988-1989 aerial spying operation in Iran)
3) Operation Golden Pheasant (USA, 1988 Honduras intervention)
2) Operation Paul Bunyan (USA/South Korea, 1976 mission to chop down a tree in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea)
1) Operation Pig Bristle (Australia, 1946 air force operation to smuggle pig bristle out of China in order to solve Australia’s housing crisis)
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