Manoeuvre -v- COIN & Stability Ops: time spent on

[TheCurmudgeon]

Does anyone have any statistics on the amount of time the US Army (or any other Western Army) has spent deployed in actual maneuver warfare versus time spent in Stability, COIN, or Humanitarian duties.

For example, The Invasion of Iraq lasted from 19 Mach to 1 May (if we use the infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech that touted the end of combat operations as a marker), yet the occupation lasted until 2012(ish).

Curious if there is anywhere this type of data is readily available?:confused:

[davidbfpo]

The Curmudgeon,

Thanks to the website cited I can give an indication for the British military (all arms) post-1945. IMHO there are five non-COIN operations:

Korea 12/9/1950 to 28/7/1953
Suez 31/10/1956 to 22/11/1956
Falkland Islands 2/4/ to 13/6/1982
Gulf War One 18/1 to 28/2/1991 (incl. air ops before ground action)
Gulf War Two 20/3/ to 17/4/2003

There are fourteen major Stability & COIN operations (approx period): India (3yrs), Palestine (3yrs), Malaya (12yrs), Canal Zone (3yrs), Kenya (8yrs), Cyprus (4yrs), Aden (3yrs), Borneo (4yrs), Oman: Dhofar mainly (7yrs), Bosnia (3yrs), Kosovo (less than a yr), Sierra Leone (less than a yr), Northern Ireland (38yrs) and Afghanistan (11yrs). There are thirty other operations, some with less than a company deployed to a division; some lasting days and others years.

Source:http://www.britains-smallwars.com/main/index1.html

From a ret'd British Army contact:
Before 1939 the British Army was engaged on ops every single year. From 1945 to the present day the only year in which the British Army lost nobody due to enemy action was 1969.

[davidbfpo]

Perhaps others could add their national knowledge?

[The Cuyahoga Kid]

But why contribute when nitpicking is so much fun :p

Anyways, just an idle thought. Breaking these conflicts down by something reminiscent to man-hours (man-months/years?) might be a bit more instructive. Of course, that would bring on a host of problems with methodology and definitions, and greatly complicate what would otherwise be a relatively simple task.

[TheCurmudgeon]

I agree, my original thought was Platoon/Days, but I thought that was asking a lot.

I guess, using Hope as my method, that some SAMS genius would have already done this as part of a doctoral thesis, but I guess not.