Intelligence 5. I don't mean to sound cryptic but I don't want to open up a can of worms now when I plan to do some fishing later. Thus, "knowing one's enemy" seems to be taking a back seat to building partner trust and building partner capacity during this new period of peace. 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. In the dynamic environment of LSCO, self-reliance and aggressive action are key. advise/assist, sabotage) are no longer the realm of SOF. If our adversaries had that capability our TTPs in Afghanistan would have to rapidly and drastically change. The goal, re: the human domain generally and participatory observation specifically, has less to do with "knowing one's enemy" and more to do with developing and maintaining relationships with indigenous personnel; this, so as to be able to (1) defeat the enemy (a resistant standing government or a resistant population group as the case may be) and (2) achieve our objectives without (3) the use of large numbers of U.S. trooops. This may include information from groups that are not the focus of military intelligence, such as allied forces, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations. Flip it over and consider how much time ALQ/Taliban spend studying small town USA in an effort to understand how to best engage the US Army and USMC? The movement and maneuver warfighting function is the related tasks and systems that move forces to achieve a position of advantage in relation to the enemy. The seven warfighting functions are command and control, fires, force protection, information, intelligence, logistics, and maneuver. Any armed group of men funded by anyone can do the ally part. [i] Ana Purna gives a good description of critical realism on ehow.com (http://www.ehow.com/info_8770255_critical-realism.html): The major themes are these: A reality exists independent of human conception and perception. It is ironic that the Aztecs grew flowers because. Will any of these concepts help us to (1) separate the native from his native way of life and native way of governance and help us to (2) attach him and make him dependent upon our way of life and governance? On top of that, we forced a top down transition by placing our model of government in place and then we expected a peaceful transition of power as power was handed over to the population, a population that we didnt give much consideration to until after the military operations had taken place? It was the application of human nature to a military situation. Last but by no means least the BCT can access the entire conventional arsenal of the US Armed Forces. He graduated from The Citadel, has an MBA from George Mason University, and an MMAS from the School of Advanced Military Studies. If war is the pursuit of one's political objective by other means, then soldiers and statesmen -- long before the enemy -- must know, acknowledge, plan and prepare specifically as relates to this political objective. The implications of this 180 degree strategic sea-change -- to be experienced across the board -- are rather dramatic and, as such, have proven rather difficult for us to grasp and to deal with morally, militarily, etc. What is then the difference in the use of human terrain teams say from the term human domain recently used by the ACoS? or so it seems. The Sustainment WFF is composed of all systems, elements and capabilities relating to the provision, movement, sustenance and well-being of personnel, materiel and installations. The human domain![vi] This conversation happened, supposedly, in the context of a discussion about the Armys Seventh Warfighting Function (WfF),". Writing a handbook to assist in the sublime is almost impossible, how does one tell a promising painter how to be a da Vinci? Well done. 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. b. The U.S. military has become more professional, more centrally-managed, more technologically-enhanced, and more regimented since the ramp-up for the Cold War saddled the American people with a relatively large professional force. 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. most important function is to build and maintain a complete, up-to-date copy of the blockchain database. What the population of a nearby town thinks about the battle, however, and, more importantly, what they will do that could affect ones objectives, fall more into the social realm. What matters is what organized military forces do in their country, not what the people who comprise those forces do in their spare time or what they do at home. the applies not only to AQ but to most of the worldwide Sunni insurgent groups. Commanders, assisted by their staffs, integrate numerous processes and activities within their headquarters and across the force through the command and control functions. The personnel system promotes, evaluates, and selects SOF personnel for command under the same construct as the conventional force personnel. b. The other article about the Montagnards illustrates that no matter how well intentioned and capable the SF community and USAID is, they simply lack the numbers and self-security to make a large impact over large areas. The danger to SOF does not lie simply with the publication of the handbook: this is simply a symptom of a larger problem. A warfighting function (WFF) is a group of tasks and systems united by a common purpose that commanders use to accomplish missions and training objectives. The precise, intricate stonemasonry of Inca pyramids, fortresses, and walls commands the respect of even modern masons. "This was true for the SF of the 60/70s---the ability to "understand the mission, understand your enemy and understand yourself" before one is dropped in with no support from the outside world.. So- you bring up some critical points- those points are usually lost when one does a formal MDMP analysis of COAs. These kinds of things defy logical analysis.. In this book Dr. Paparone explains how the military thinks institutionally and links it to the technically rational mindset. For over 30 years he or one of his senior Staff will have observed the effects of any weapon system/platform we care to mention within the Khost conflict ecosystem. -- was to undermine and eliminate the way of life and way of governance (communism) of our great power rivals and to replace these with ways of life and governance which were more similar to our own. [xxii] Doctrine applied to the world of tacit knowledge makes little sense and I would argue makes things more confusing. When Sun Tzu noted that Armies move like water he was noting that it is human nature to take the path of least resistance to move along open routes and advance downhill is easier than to move uphill. [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. Identify the six war-fighting functions 1. When someone asked him a difficult question, Walt _____ because he did not know the answer. [xl] Although I think it is terrible to see war in terms of three levels: tactical, operational, and strategic, I use these terms for communication purposes. I'm not so sure the world is a safer or better place than it was 12 years ago. Similarly, what is Marine Corps doctrine? SW forces would be engaged in social influence and, if savvy enough, they would be engaged in internalization efforts through participatory observation (encompassing action, observation, learning, and influencing- influencing both the observed and the observers). 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. He is a Ph.D. candidate at North Carolina State Universitys Public Administration program with special interest in researching the organizational obstacles within SOCOM and DoD to effective Irregular Warfare. [xxxiv] White, Curtis, 7. In plain English, the 7 th WfF is all of the tasks and systems that military units would need to do or have to influence people, taking into account the "socio-economic, cognitive, and physical aspects of human activity". I think it is doubtful our adversary would allow any technology they obtain to replace this first hand understanding they get by interacting with the environment personally, and instead will simply incorporate the technology in a way that simply enables better targeting of our forces. Herein, would I be wrong to suggest that: The goal re: the human domain generally and LTC Martin's participatory observation specifically is to first achieve and then maintain excellent relationships with the local people; this, so that we might be able to establish and field indigenous forces to: a. Finally, how to understand "the oppressed" in terms of our political objective. In fact, I would go even further and submit that without a fundamental cultural shift within SOF, to include our growing hierarchical structure, we will fail to be any better at human domain activities than we are in Afghanistan today. The Pushtoon Secessionists fighting the Pak Army across the border in Pakistan are a good fit but a similar approach to Counter UW is IMO a dead loss at best and dangerously ruinous at worst. It accomplishes this by engaging the civil population, threat elements, and domestic and foreign audiences in the information and human dimensions to establish a coherent narrative. It is very difficult to do: one must sacrifice ease of communication and planning as well as take on some threat to ones career. 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. It is akin to saying "go be an ally to X against Z, but make sure X isn't the only power/influence game in town when you leave". Bill C---is not human domain really a substitute term for Kilcullens' "conflict ecosystem". This next comment sums it up; [x] Of course, that does not leave too much left. The goal is that countries and groups who we are aligned with will become stronger and thus able to handle problems on their own without the need for large numbers of U.S. troops, which arguably get in the way of long-term progress anyway. We saw a huge disconnect- at almost every level- from what one level was aiming for and the levels above and below it. Indeed, in any stability op or war scenario beyond covert support/sabotage of an indigenous government it is the CF that will lead the main effort and take the majority of the blame for screwing it up (rightfully so). For them, uncertainty is a threat; its admission a sign of weakness. It was designed to break the will of the population and force the Churchill to sue for peace. [xx] Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, Free Press, 1968. Secondly critical thinking ie asking all those points you mentioned above used to be the core of a SF that was based in the world of UW or what you refer to as SW. UW by the way can be boring as well as extremely hectic and then boring---whereas DA is so "in"----the thing of movies--whereas training and living with your troops on a daily basis and trying to move the ball forward just three centimeters is something that is of no interest to movie makers. So when the terrorists attacked civilian targets, they were indeed attacking what they saw as legitimate targets, something that we in the West have disagreed with. The Sublime: The Paradox of the 7th Warfighting Function, (Or why SOF cannot eat our function and have it too). One example is moving forces to execute a large-scale air or airborne assault. What Is a Mass Grave? 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. It is about endurance, freedom of action, and extending the operational reach. Originally a nomadic society inhabiting the central basin of antediluvian Mexico, the various tribes who identified 252525 themselves as Aztec settled in the marshy region near Lake Texcoco and, in 132513251325, founded the city of Tenochtitlan at the present site of Mexico City. And yet, since the Political Science world has shifted towards Rational Choice Theory- we too have tried to stay edgy and cool, and likewise we have come up with all kinds of elegant models and metaphors to try to make life seem simple to us- turning abstractions into concrete concepts and teaching everyone the language of those abstractions through doctrine- which helps in communication, but does little for us in terms of critically knowing ourselves. But, I would submit ones level- if seeing things that way helps- should be based on the context as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach. If you think that AQI killed a large number of locals in Iraq try even understanding the current numbers in Mexico---if one thought Iraq did not have a functioning governance Mexico is even worse and they claim they are democratic. 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. 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. Kilcullen strangely got it right in his time in Iraq, but Gen. P misused it to establish the he won the surge comments and NOW Kilcullen is coming back to it in his latest book about seven years to late. Win friends and influence people? Since instituting the Army Warfighting Functions, the U.S. military has worked in better partnership on joint military operations. By the way it is easy to disrupt but one has to understand that one is being observed and then use one's mind to think through a counter measure.. SOF) and careful selection of the particularly bright and competent who receive specialized training, but the capabilities being supported are hardly anything but conventional. You build that trustyou cant surge trust. Also let me suggest that our enemies may have a better understanding of our political objective -- and, thus, the war that we and they are embarked upon -- than do many of our leaders and soldiers. Our culture, however (largely influenced by the same hierarchy the early advocates found fault with), refused to entertain the notion that a technically rational approach is the wrong one for complexity. peterborough vs cardiff forebet; blake school uniforms; bacterial speck vs bacterial spot [xxvii] What should concern the American people and those within SOF, however, is how much capability we have lost to act within complex environments (i.e., the human domain) as Special Operations becomes more and more consumed by the exact same bureaucratic pressures that the conventional forces have long suffered from. The second is related to the first. We must continue to plan, synchronize, and deliver sustainment warfighting function capabilities. Do we really believe that metrics, process, the scientific method, and formulae can be the primary guide for us in the human domain- even at the tactical level- and in any domain at the above-tactical levels? [x] U.S. Army, TRADOC Pamphlet 525-3-0, The U.S. Army Capstone Concept, 19 DEC 2012, 15-16. [xxxvi] Surgical Strike is usually associated with Special Mission Units that conduct Counterterrorism and limited strike, short-duration Direct Action hits. The difference is that equipment is easy to count, education is not. Conduct targeting. It discusses the role of the Marine Corps component commander and staff, their functions, and their relationships to the joint force commander and the other Service components. So while our enemy understands us, I believe that we have a hard time understanding them insofar as we dont know how to defeat them. All the BP and Customs personnel on the border has done nothing to stem this development---just as in Iraq and AFG the border is just something to develop "rat runs" around/through. If not, if we believe that in the human domain (as well as the levels beyond tactical in all domains) things are highly dependent upon context, fraught with tacit knowledge, and fall more into the art side than the science side,[xxiv] then the preferred philosophy should be the critical realist philosophy. Human domains, or narratives, or strategic contexts, or ecosystems, or understanding situations, must, of necessity, begin with the self. The key is synchronizing this intelligence with other joint operations. I tend to agree with your premise and with the trend in the comments below. Thus, the tone is one of preparations and preemption -- not participation in ongoing battles and conflicts. How does the textbook's discussion of Anglo-American settlers in the Ohio Valley support or challenge each of the historians' arguments regarding British policy? b. Were learning what their culture is so next time we come back in, they understand who we are, and we understand who they are. 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