Defining, shaping, and evolving definition(s) of spaces

[AmericanPride]

Slap - agreed on all points. Though I have this question: if the operational environment is a combination of cyber war, direct action, and nuclear deterrence, what function does the uniform have in modern war? As the Big Army returns to its garrisons, isn't the uniform just another self-licking ice cream cone?

[slapout9]

Slap - agreed on all points. Though I have this question: if the operational environment is a combination of cyber war, direct action, and nuclear deterrence, what function does the uniform have in modern war? As the Big Army returns to its garrisons, isn't the uniform just another self-licking ice cream cone?

AP, its a really good question. Martin Van Creveld has written that future uniforms may be nothing more than "arm bands". Not sure myself but as I said it is vary good question.

[AmericanPride]

I think there is something to be said about the uniform as 'infrastructure', as you stated, for internal consumption and organization.

[AmericanPride]

So - I finished the book. Although I would give it mediocre ratings at best, as I felt it could have been far more sophisticated in its analysis, I do think the analytical framework could be appropriated for political-security studies.

In particular, I think it could be use to guide a form of 'structural targeting' in COIN environment in which the state aims to manipulate/construct the underlying economic and social base of a given operational environment. This departs from the reactionary form of counter-terrorism targeting that aims to neutralize threats that have already manifested. The U.S. effort at 'clear-hold-build' or any of its derivatives was rather haphazard at best without any credible understanding of the political-economic structure informing the operational environment.

With a kind of 'structural targeting' the state aims to not only dominate and occupy space, but to actively define and shape it in a way conducive to its objectives. The Coalition did this unwittingly tactically - from checkpoints and counter-IED grates to building clinics and schools and establishing parliamentarian governments. None of these really served to alter the nature of power/conflict in the OE, but really to redirect the undercurrents of conflict in other directions; i.e. fueling sectarianism rather than mitigating it. That's because IMO the U.S. did not have a strategy to connect tactical operations with the political object.