“…on October 25, 1983, 9,600 U.S. troops were involved in the invasion of Grenada, a small island in the Caribbean Sea. Their mission was to rescue some 600 American medical students who had become hostages of Cuban and Grenadian forces in the wake of a bloodless coup (believed to have been backed by the Soviet Union). Nineteen Americans were killed and 116 wounded in the first deployment of U.S. troops into direct combat since the Vietnam War. The mission ended with the successful evacuation of all the medical students, but a postinvasion analysis determined that the operation was marred by inadequate intelligence, unacceptable interservice rivalry, disorganization, and poor leadership. As a result, the Army revised its training procedures and got serious about achieving joint warfighting interoperability and effectiveness.”
– Ricardo S. Sanchez with Donald T. Phillips, Wiser in Battle, Page 52