Since it was mentioned earlier, I was just going to jump in here with something crazy in regards to procuring equipment for HIC and COIN.

It seems to me that, contrary to what would be intuitive, armor requirements for COIN work can exceed those of a HIC.

Why were we able to conduct OIF I with so many units in unarmored vehicles, or lacking SAPI plates, then all of a sudden when we settle in to the nation building effort personal and vehicle armor become a huge issue? Why does the MBT continue to have a valuable role in stabilization operations, long after conventional wisdom would suggest that its use had reached the point of diminishing returns?

In HIC, you have options, concealment and mobility play a huge role in force protection. You can blitz the enemy and get inside their OODA loop with overwhelming force. But in Phase IV, where do you move to? Where do you hide your guys when you are guarding a conference of tribal elders? In a dumpster? Your stuck, exposed, whether it's at a checkpoint or a reconstruction project, everyone knows where it is, and that they might get a chance to shoot at Americans if they show up.

For COIN I want armored everything, Abrams with TUSK upgrades, up armored HMMWV, the Strykers can come play if they've got their cages on, etc. They have to be able to shrug off a ton of hurt when they're stuck watching an intersection.

For HIC I want light and deployable. Recent HICs have been absurdly fast, measured in days. If we wanna play in those we gotta be able to get in there fast. Not maritime prepositioning fast, C-17 fast. Or else it'll be settled in the UN before we even get there.