For all the efforts at "understanding the culture" of the environments we are working it failed and I mean totally failed because we did not "understand the culture of the enemy". The trends within SOF, however, seem to be a growing reliance on process, bureaucracy, and metrics, all obstacles to breaking away from any institutionally-approved ways of thinking. The guerrillas M1E is the one piece of equipment that is just as sophisticated and capable as our own. I tend to agree with your premise and with the trend in the comments below. The Inca Empire shared a fate similar to that of the Aztec, but at the hands of a conquistador more sinister than Cortez. Not always the case. [ii] It is the difference between operating within the physically visible world and the socially non-visible one. This is due in no small part to two incompatible philosophies that our institution is attempting to force together. I am not overly familiar with the Mexico situation (some first-hand experience with Mexican army check points in the Baja California desert a few years ago notwithstanding). That's a good one. This process is ongoing and commanders use tasks in: to obtain this intelligence. The Theory of War (Continued) Offense Contributes striking power. Until we can break away from our own institutionally-encouraged paradigms and consciously understand where our concepts come from and the weaknesses inherent within them, we should not expect to operate any better at attempting change in others than we have as of late. The Human domain that is needed ie how does the enemy think, act, function and communicates with the local population is strangely missing from the discussion being pushed by say the ACoS. I am going to steal that. Just how many deploying BCTs were trained on the strategy and thinking of AQ---they did in fact have a strategy something the Army did not have and still AQ today drives on strategy ---recently updated as released in September 2013---how many CF personnel have read and understood every word of that General Guidance? The exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. (take it, figure out what to do with it, apply it). Conduct targeting. It is often seen as the opposite of Foreign Internal Defense (FID), an umbrella term encompassing COIN. It is this fundamental characteristic that defines land force operations. Coupled with a chain of command that exploits their multi-generational familial ties, tribal ties and 30 years of shared camaraderie the HN practice a tactical and operational methodology they call Jihad and we call Mission Command. This is juxtaposed with an operation like Desert Storm in which the objectives were clear and limited in both scope and time, even if they were limited somewhat artificially and ignoring the obvious connection to Operation Iraqi Freedom. And, I'd add that this was the conclusion of a large group of international officers who were intent on seeking explanation and meaning- and not seeking blame. I hate using this term in the "old days" of SF we had the SORO who published excellent area studies that we inhaled prior to a deployment into those areas---and guess what they were extremely accurate even five years after some of them were published AND by the way CHEAP when compared to the costs of paying six digit incomes for deploying HTS teams in order to gain "human terrain" information. This system of systems relies tremendously on a systematic theory of operations. The alternative, and the militarys current preferred philosophy, is the technically rational approach. That's my working theory and I see a lot of current books on this topic so maybe I'm not totally crazy. Although this is a simplification and perhaps disingenuous, one way of thinking about the two types of domains is to imagine an armored division battle as being one largely within the land domain. [ix] Sacolick, Bennet S. & Grigsby, Wayne W, Jr., Special Operations/Conventional Forces Interdependence: A Critical Role in Prevent, Shape, Win, Army Magazine, JUN 2012, 39-40. This positivist[xviii] philosophy would be bad if we simply believed it consciously. But it all needs to be there, you can't skimp on one part of it. HERE is the issue that was recently discussed with a Robert Bunker over on the SWJ El Centro site. Participatory Observation is the (social anthropological) way, not governance, development, and security, and critical realism is the philosophy, not technical rationality and relying on operational methodologies.". Secondly, by attacking civilian targets, the terrorists strategy was to influence those within the power base? Let me expand on this somewhat by providing a broader context: The goal is to transform the lesser and remaining outlier states and societies along modern western lines; this, so that they might better benefit from and better provide for the global economy. Current doctrine does not adequately address the moral, cognitive, social, and physical aspects of human populations in conflict. RantCorp--just how many hours of any given day did either the AQI, the Sunni IAI or the Shia Iraqi Hezbollah spend just simply watching every move a BCT or Marine Regt made in Iraq---kind of like a pattern of life targeting process just in reverse and just how much times does the HiG or the Taliban spend watching our every move in AFG-----hours, days, weeks? Since instituting the Army Warfighting Functions, the U.S. military has worked in better partnership on joint military operations. The purpose of WFF is to provide an intellectual organisation for common critical capabilities available to commanders and staffs at all echelons and levels of warfare. The 7th Warfighting Function; What We Do; Who We Are; Contact Us; News Room; MCDP 8, Information; MCA Information Awards; Marine Corps Insider Threat Program; Director of the Marine Corps Staff; MCDAPO. QUOTE: In Evaluating Immunities before a Special Tribunal for Aggression Against Ukraine, the Type of Tribunal Matters, Chinas Ferry Tale Taiwan Invasion Plan Is A Legal Nightmare, China Maritime Report No. The problem is that we are attempting to put tacit knowledge- that which is hard or impossible to explain- into the same form (doctrine) as explicit knowledge- that which can be categorized, detailed, and made into a list. This philosophy, for instance, leaves us enamored with metrics and attempting to quantify the unquantifiable. Because the underlying social rules and mechanisms are created by humans, they are constantly evolving over time and geography. The autodefensas do appear to resemble the Sunni Awakening, and the Mexican gov't position does appear to recognize the inherent danger the groups pose to Federal and State authority in Mexico (much as Baghdad came to oppose the Sahwa). (Thus as one might, in my day, have been required to explain one's ideas and proposals within the context of containing communism, likewise today might one benefit from explaining one's concepts and proposals within the context of promoting the Western way of life and governance?). This fact is the real ball-breaker. It accomplishes this by supporting the force to ensure it has the capacity to act and continue to act until successful achievement of the mission. Easy stuff we were good at. [xxxviii] USDA, Special Operations, ADP 3-05, 2012, 8. Everything indicates that as the world becomes more complex, unpredictable, uncertain and fragile, many of the institutions, such as formal democracy, the market, centralized justice, the banks, will become obsolete. Most preferably, however, we would waste no time in adapting to the philosophical approach of the vast majority of the rest of the scientific world, to include most of the social sciences- and that is to a critical realist philosophy. WHAT it takes is as you correctly note a national strategy and a SOCOM that fully understands UW/SW and SF teams that can practice. Sustainment provides the support necessary to maintain operations until mission accomplishment. LTC Grant M. Martin is a Special Forces officer in the U.S. Army. However, the Sustainment WFF includes the delivery of facilities-related activity, Health Service Support (HSS), operational Personnel Support, and financial and contractual support. Its language is one of math and formulaic metaphor,[xvii] its logic is the scientific method, and its philosophy is of the Enlightenment Period. He has been published in theInternational Journal,Military Review,OODA.com, and theSmall Wars Journal, in addition to contributing to chapters in two textbooks on Design Thinking. Other reasons include the drawdown in manpower and money as well as the way the military institution uses concepts to try to align disparate and bureaucratic organizations towards a common goal.[xv]. In terms of our personnel system, at the tactical level we make up for the lack of flexibility by being able to rely on young, uninstitutionalized NCOs and officers who, because of the way they are normally deployed, we fortunately find it very difficult to micromanage. And all this still ignores the fact that none of this has anything to do with the general idea that the officers leading these organizations, conventional or otherwise, have to be educated. For all the efforts at "understanding the culture" of the environments we are working it failed and I mean totally failed because we did not "understand the culture of the enemy". When we went into Iraq we were there to dethrone a despot and remove his ability to build or use weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps the tools used to understand the world change but the basic overlying concept is the same, the need to decipher situations and people and trends. Logistics 6. I know this may sound conspiratorial- but it is largely emergent and unconscious- so it isn't insidious in a malicious way (no intent). IMO the failure to understand the simple basics of the fighting culture or fighting motive-sets of our opponents undermines every aspect of our effort in Afghanistan. As I said in my comment above, Kilcullen's ecosystems seems to me to be another way of saying "this is the world as I understand it," which isn't really a new concept. In this manner, it is believed, we can continue to work to "transform" others, even in these times of austerity and achieve "staying power" through the training up and use of surrogates. Personally, I disagree. If, as is posited by many military leaders and commentators, the human domain is a different domain than the Army has focused on in the past (the other domains being more physical: land, sea, air and cyber), then it would seem to follow that the tools and philosophy we use might not be the most effective when acting in another, arguably very different, domain. Ah, now I see where we are talking past one another. The M1E multiplier is based on M1Es proximity to the target (inside the wire a max and diminishing with distance beyond the wire) times the number of days your M1E is eyes on. CF was so wrapped up in getting the cultural thing correct they knew nothing about swarming, AQI/IAI strategy which was coupled to their fighting tactics and the interrelationships between the various insurgent groups. I suggest that the central reason we are not be able to "win friends and influence people" is because of our extremely well-known national objective, which is, outlier state and societal transformation. To illustrate how the MIE multiplier might augment the guerrillas effectiveness lets take a senior Haqqani Network (HN) commander who has designs on attacking a position in or near Khost, Paktia AF. Certainly a Bronx jihadi was unusual but most inhabitants of Afghan villages consider Taliban fighters with their Pakistani accented Pushto the mark of a foreigner for sure not a reason for immediate dislike such as an Arabic accent or a NY accent perhaps - but nonetheless in their minds eye they have little in common and even less respect for the landless refugees of Pakistan-born Afghans. A WFF is a group of tasks and systems (people, organizations, information, and processes) united by a common purpose that commanders use to accomplish missions and training objectives (FM 3-0). And it goes to the point that one must understand one's enemy within that specific event as they are an agile portion of the population that one is concerned about and they have their reasons which we might not even begin to understand. Totally crazy influence those within the power base, Special operations, ADP 3-05 2012! The hands of a conquistador more sinister than Cortez my working theory I. 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