Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
Which brings us full circle back to "FID."
I'm far from being an "expert" in this, but if you look at the current "phases" of a military operation, and overlap them with the D-I-M-E construct of the instruments of national power (Diplomatic, Informational, Military, Economic), big M really only comes into play in the middle phases (Seize the initiative, Dominate, and to a lesser extent, Stabilize), not the ones at either end (Shape, Deter, Enable civil authority). All other phases need to have D-I-m-E as their driving forces, not M. Does the military conduct Shape, Deter, and Enable civil authority activities? Sure we do, but again, it should be in a little M, not big M, construct. I think FID would fall into the Shape/Deter/Enable civil authorities bucket of activities, and should be done with the minimum number of military resources required.

As for "nation-building" and "transformation", the U.S. military clearly is out of our lane in those areas. We could provide for a secure environment for those activities to initially take place, but we should NOT be conducting those activities themselves, and certainly not be providing long-term security.