Since September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Special Operation Forces (SOF) and Conventional Forces (CF) have be increasingly working together throughout the world against numerous asymmetrical threats. However, operations in Iraq and...
The topic of civil-military relations during the Mexican War resurfaces as an interesting historical study in the aftermath of President Obama's recent decision to relieve General McChrystal of command in Afghanistan. This review of U.S....
Using a methodology consisting of identifying the policy and associated strategy for the initial Afghanistan war period compared to the policy and associated strategy for the current Afghanistan war, the study identifies strategic composition...
Many authors have begun to write that the heavy force has no role in the future contemporary operating environment – especially where internal political-militia groups rely on guerrilla tactics. The US heavy force is an integral part of...
Successful civil-military relations pose an enduring dilemma for the professional officer. When civil-military relations fail, the negative implications are far reaching. Professional officers who understand their role within the structure...
The United States today finds itself in an era of persistent irregular conflict, the root cause of which may be illegitimate governance within failed or failing states. The resulting instability will likely require future U.S. military and civilian...
The purpose of this monograph is to offer some practical solutions to building unity of effort between Special Operations Forces (SOF) and conventional forces using operations in Afghanistan from 2001 until 2009 as a case study. In researching U.S....
Given the importance of security force assistance in an era of persistent conflict and the need for counterinsurgency operations, what makes indigenous police forces effective in counterinsurgency? This monograph proposes that, if the Army faces an...
Military practitioners are often asked to make plans that could have enormous strategic effects without having a good understanding of their operational environment. It is exactly this relationship between the plan, the environment, and the end...
Few insurgencies are resolved by military means alone. Insurgents, by definition, pursue political ends and resolve to accomplish those objectives by means of violence. Today the United States and her Allies are engaged in two distinct...
Airpower is an asymmetric means for the application of government counterinsurgent force against enemies of the state. The high cost of investment in aircraft and the high technology training of maintainers and aircrew make a viable air force a...
This monograph addresses how humans think and make sense of the world, and whether the current logic used by the U.S. military is still useful for understanding and influencing a world where complexity continues to increase. Drawing from elements...
Unified Land Operations: The Evolution of Army Doctrine for Success in the 21st Century. Colonel Bill Benson, U.S. Army; The Army exploits the initiative to gain a position of advantage in unified land operations nested inside joint unified...
Over the past decade, the U.S. government struggled consistently to establish a solid foothold in the global marketplace of ideas. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks and through two persistent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan the...
This thesis argues that the Field Artillery (FA) branch is being marginalized in today's counterinsurgency operations. There are several key factors that have led up to this point, those being, loss of core competency within the branch causing a...
Refighting the Last War: Afghanistan and the Vietnam Template. Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason, America lost in Vietnam because of a failure to establish legitimacy and the inability to protect the people from insurgents. The same failures...
Examination of post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction operations (SRO) planning and execution following Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom has revealed critical shortfalls in the United States’ ability to conduct...
The British and US experience with the use of local, irregular security forces suggest their importance in assisting the host nation government and counterinsurgent forces. Their successful establishment, training, and employment demonstrate the...
The problem facing practitioners of emerging Army doctrine is how to expand the use of assessments beyond detailed planning to support conceptual planning during design. This raises the question, will the use of assessments enable the commander to...