The examination of land warfare within the conceptual framework of complex adaptive system (CAS) theory and fourth generation war (4GW) theory offers a unique perspective and provides valuable insight into optimal capabilities and characteristics...
Joint Doctrine, explicitly, and Army Doctrine, implicitly, recommend that military commanders and staffs exercise systems thinking in operational planning and execution. However, current Military Doctrine fails to fully explicate and apply a...
The United States Army can improve the quality of the officer corps by enhancing the understanding of how field-grade commanders are developed. The Army has produced some of the finest leaders in history. The leaders produced have been possible due...
From the Classical Period until the Seventeenth century, the study of warfare was practiced predominantly using the vehicle of history. The scientific revolution, ushered in by Newtonian laws, had a major impact on Western military thinking. By...
This monograph seeks to determine if the U.S. Army adequately prepares company grade officers to interact successfully with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during humanitarian assistance and peace operations. It briefly analyzes the current...
The Global War on Terror (GWOT) requires that the military modify its methodology for conducting global operations. The military is transitioning from primarily lethal-focused offensive and defensive operations to full-spectrum operations that also...
This work proposes a novel approach to military transformation, 'Adaptive Transformation,' that accounts for an inescapable reality in the current and future operational environment: uncertainty. Military planners and decision makers have to face...
The U.S. Marine Corps faces great challenges as it participates in the Long War. To enhance its chances of success in this war, the Marine Corps must institutionalize the importance of cultural awareness in military operations by adopting a...
Causal claims are unavoidable in military affairs. However, causal claims are also insufficient when attempting to understand and intervene in complex environments. Hence, notions of conventional causality must be supplemented with an understanding...
Complexity theory has attracted considerable interest from operational artists in recent times. However, because it is still an emerging field, there are few -- if any -- historical case studies that show how complexity applies to military...
The U. S. Army over the past ten years, has enhanced the ability of heavy brigades to conduct offensive reconnaissance operations, yet brigades have not significantly attained a higher rate of success. Success is defined as the commander receiving...
One of the fundamental causes of war, posit a large number of political scientists, is the lack of communications among nations, as the absence of communications contributes to political polarization. The primary inhibitors to international...
The trends of the operational environment either provide a cause for an insurgency or a means for an insurgency, thus shifting the focus of the scout platoon away from major combat and towards insurgency. This shift to insurgency causes the scout...
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...
Sorrells, William T., Downing, Glen R., Blakesley, Paul J., Pendall, David W., Walk, Jason K., Wallwork, Richard D.
Systemic Operational Design (SOD) is an application of systems theory to operational art. It is an attempt to rationalize complexity through systemic logic employing a holistic approach that translates strategic direction and policy into...
Chaos theory is a poorly understood concept in social science and in military analytical decision making systems. Military decision makers require a multidisciplinary approach of mathematical analysis, modeling and simulation, topology, and...
In the years following the invasion of Iraq, the United States military did not fully realize or understand the complexity of the situation faced by soldiers operating at the tactical and operational level. Coupled with the presence of multiple...
While the literature on the size of small groups and teams is extensive, there is little research on design team sizes and no formal research or analysis on the size of a military design team. This monograph investigates the optimal team size and...
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 purpose of this study is to evaluate the relevance of Adaptive Campaigning to recent Australian Army operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The context for Adaptive Campaigning is set by reviewing Australia's way of warfare and the evolution of...