Small-Ldr's Guide to COIN MCIP 3-33.01

[slapout9]

Marc, it used to be in the SWJ library. However try a thread search for COIN manuals and it should come up there. I tried to copy for you but no luck. It is listed as small unit leaders guide. You will like it!

[marct]

Thanks Slapout! I got it from http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/coin.pdf

Marc

[marct]

I don't know if people are aware of this tool or not, but the CDC has an open source tool called EPI INFO developed to rack epidemiological outbreaks that could prove useful here. It is free, and information on it is available at

http://www.cdc.gov/EpiInfo/

Marc

PS. It's already used in at least one anti-terrorism project - see http://www.cdc.gov/epo/dphsi/8city.htm

[Jedburgh]

Thanks Slapout! I got it from http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/coin.pdf

....that link didn't work for me - but there is an alternate:

Small Unit Leader's Guide to COIN - Jun 06

...and here's a link to resources to go along with it provided by the USMC Warfighting Laboratory:

Small Unit Leader's Guide to Counterinsurgency (Charts & Graphs)

[marct]

Since they deal with kinship, here are a few links to way too much information on kinship types and charts.

Kinship and Social Organization: an interactive tutorial - Produced by an old acquaintance of mine, Brian Schwimmer at the University of Manitoba, this is probably the best online resource for learning about kinship networks and types of families. It's basically the equivalent of an Introduction to kinship course.

Essential Information & explanations, latest texts & monographs on Family.

David's Relationship Chart - There's a downloadable program and a massive number of links.

Marc

[marct]

I'm about half way through it at the moment and I just came to a comment that really bothered me:

Regardless of the agencies involved, this is your AO and you must stay involved with all upcoming and ongoing efforts. Remember, you are the one that will have to live with whatever happens in your AO, everyone else is just a tourist. (page 64-65)

While I can understand the issue of "owning an AO", it strikes me that the "everyone else is just a tourist" comment really strikes against the entire heart of COIN ops. Let's face it, the troops are, really, just tourists on extended visas (to carry on with the analogy). Maybe I'm being overly picky, but it strikes me that this is a somewhat skewed attitude to take.

Marc

[Tom Odom]

Marc,

You are misinterpreting the "you" and "everyone else". These remarks are toward the COIN forces, NGOs, etc. not the locals.

I try to teach the very same point: that the pointy end of the COIN spear is also the point of greatest knowledge when it comes to situational awareness and its growth into situational understanding. That happens of course if the small unit leaders take that objective to heart: that SU is their goal and that waiting for headquarters to explain what is happening outside the wire is a certain formula for disaster.

best

Tom

[marct]

Hi Tom,

You are misinterpreting the "you" and "everyone else". These remarks are toward the COIN forces, NGOs, etc. not the locals.

I figured I was . The reason I posted about it was that I had a specific emotional reaction to the comment - i.e. it really bothered me (I'm still trying to nail down the exact whys of it) and I was wondering if it bothered anyone else.

I try to teach the very same point: that the pointy end of the COIN spear is also the point of greatest knowledge when it comes to situational awareness and its growth into situational understanding. That happens of course if the small unit leaders take that objective to heart: that SU is their goal and that waiting for headquarters to explain what is happening outside the wire is a certain formula for disaster.

You know, I'm wondering if "the pointy end of the COIN spear" is the best metaphor. It's certainly accurate in most of the current situations, but I'm wondering if a "shield" metaphor or an "interface" metaphor mightn't be better. I think it's time for me to go back and reread Ginzburg on metaphor and analogy...

Marc

[RTK]

Marc,

You are misinterpreting the "you" and "everyone else". These remarks are toward the COIN forces, NGOs, etc. not the locals.

I try to teach the very same point: that the pointy end of the COIN spear is also the point of greatest knowledge when it comes to situational awareness and its growth into situational understanding. That happens of course if the small unit leaders take that objective to heart: that SU is their goal and that waiting for headquarters to explain what is happening outside the wire is a certain formula for disaster.

best

Tom

To add to that point for Marc, many times you'll have a major road network through your AO. Many will use that road network but none will have to deal with the 2nd and 3rd order effects like the "owner" of the AO if those outside agencies come into contact, return fire, inflict collateral damage, or any other contingency that occurs. They come and go. The owner stays and deals with it.