The Importance of Building Local Capabilities

[Jedburgh]

...how many times do we have to be told what successful COIN entails?

Several times a day it seems. Between the media, think tanks, bloggers, and our own peers in the military, it seems everyone is continually reinventing the wheel as regards COIN, irregular warfare and terrorism. Refurbished ideas, both good ones that have worked and bad ones whose past failures are ignored, have been gone over ad nauseum in the past couple of years.

I know many on SWC, and many others on active duty, clearly understand the timeless tried and true principles of COIN in reference to their application in today's context - but there are still way to many at the senior decision making levels who even today just don't get it. Even worse, at the national level, domestic politics and vested interests interfere with effective prosecution of successful COIN across the spectrum. So, although we may get frustrated at reading or hearing the same thing in a different format over and over again, there are others who just sit there not comprehending, like a pig staring at a wristwatch.

Mobility,Vigilance and Justice: The US Constabulary in Germany 1946-1953

Looks interesting. I'll sit down and read it as soon as I get a chance.

[SWJED]

Good comment Jed...

[slapout9]

Steve Blair, yes i could tell from your posts that you new alot about the cavalry. I am abig fan of the air cav as it was supposed to be but never was. I met General James Gavin at his house before he died and had a long discussion with him about the air cav and his theory of there use in COIN. He actually called them "sky" cavalry. He was President Kennedy's ambassador to France because he new DeGaulle form ww2 and had many contacts with the French army during the Algiers situation. Sadly his theory has never been tried completely. He so opposed the war in Vietnam he turned down chief of staff after General Maxwell.

He was friends with Sen. Fulbright and had him start hearings on the war in about 1966 I think. I have read the transcript of the hearings, he wanted to try the Enclave Strategy with Forts to let the people INSIDE the fort and separate the vc from them. He would use the Air Cav to chase them down and kill or capture them or put them on RESERVATIONS and try to change their beliefs and join the good guys. Any way do you have any research papers you can share??

Tom Odom, thanks for help with the links I was out there in Cyber Space and I got lost. As a former fire team and squad leader in the 82nd I very much agree with a three fire team squad. Tom didn't you know Fullbright?? The transcript of the hearings was revealing to say the least.

[Stan]

Office of WRA's humanitarian mine action programs and conventional weapons destruction programs

... With so much progress being made, the need for Afghan humanitarian deminers is decreasing, leaving a growing number of them unemployed.

To help these unemployed deminers find suitable work, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA), in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, is sponsoring a training program. The program established a vocational training center in Kandahar to impart new civilian skills (carpentry, electrical work, painting, plumbing, and masonry), and discourage unemployed deminers from working for anti-government elements. The first class of 120 deminers from the Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA) graduated in January. A new class of former deminers from DAFA and from the Mine Clearance Planning Agency have begun training in peacetime skills at the vocational center. Like the first class, they will eventually enter the civilian workforce and help to shape Afghanistan’s future.

This remarkable indicator of success in clearing so many of Afghanistan’s “hidden killers” is thanks to the hard work of thousands of Afghan deminers, who are renowned for their courage, dedication, and expertise. Some gave their lives in the process. It is also due to the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian mine action assistance that the United States has extended to Afghanistan since helping to launch humanitarian demining there in 1988. The generous support of other donor nations, non-governmental organizations, and the United Nations over the years has also been essential.