This thesis uses case studies to explore lessons learned from historic military withdrawals. Case studies included the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia. Although literature...
Can the United States successfully impose democracy by force without resorting to the same level of total warfare it waged on Germany and Japan in the Second World War? The hypothesis for this research is that the U.S. can successfully force...
This monograph examines the role of initiative in AirLand Battle doctrine as contained in the 1986 edition of Field Manual 100-5 Operations. It concludes that although the tenet of initiative is clearly defined as setting the terms of battle by...
Threats to peace, violations of security and challenges to world order, which led to the creation of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 will continue. States and state-like entities will continue to approach the UN with their grievances. The...
Operation Iraqi Freedom introduced the phrase of "Shock and Awe " into the general lexicon of US officers and the press alike. As a term it is an undefined and as an effect poorly understood, especially within the realm of asymmetric warfare. This...
One of the most complex challenges facing the U.S. military today is the problem of imposing stability over the chaos that follows major combat operations. Despite the U.S. military’s predilection to distill warfare into the linear, Newtonian...
The current U.S. Army Transformation process has experienced several changes due to operational commitments in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and different perceptions about required military capabilities among political and military authorities....
This monograph explores the problem of mission creep. The trend toward ethnic and regional unrest has characterized the world security environment since the breakup of the former Soviet Union. The United States has struggled to find its place in...
The Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) is a significant part of the U.S. Army's planning process. The IPB is a methodical process that reduces the enemy and the environment into its component parts at an instant in time and finite...
A Sergeant First Class tests positive for marijuana on a unit urinalysis. He has 19 years in the U.S. Army. During the same unit urinalysis, a Major tests positive for cocaine. He has almost 20 years in the U.S. Army. The Sergeant First Class is...
Counterinsurgency is in the eye of the beholder. The American Revolution, with all its implications of freedom, liberty, and independence, was actually a counterinsurgency conducted by a minority of the colonists against a sovereign government. Our...
The United States imposed an embargo on Cuba in 1959. Has the time come for the United States to lift the 44-year-old embargo? The embargo on Cuba was part of America's cold war strategy against the Soviet Union; imposed on the basis that Cuba was...
An examination of Joint Pub (JP) 5-00.1, Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Campaign Planning, reveals two major disconnects. The publication asserts that the essence of operational art lies in protecting and maintaining the integrity of...
The lack of coordination between the executive departments of the United States government is impeding the nation’s ability to fight the Global War on Terror. No solution to the problems facing the United States can be the exclusive...
The full power of America’s combat capability has been restrained in a variety of forms since World War II. Restrictions on the use of military force as a political instrument have characterized each confrontation. The purpose of this paper is to...
Recent years have seen the US, UK and other ISAF and Coalition nations enmeshed in protracted, complex and intense campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Resilient and highly adaptable opponents have operated asymmetrically, and amongst the people, to...
The 1993 version of FM 100-5 advertises itself as concentrating on the operational level of war. It defines several terms that are used in operational art, but inadequately explains how they relate to one another. The terms and definitions...
Certain characteristics of the Information Age both pressure and tempt commanders, in powerful ways, to exert greater control over military forces during the execution of operations. As examples, real-time communications with political leaders and...
Modern communications, data processing systems, and the complexity of modern land warfare have led to the explosion of information in tactical combat organizations. The commander must use this information within a decision process to exploit its...