I still don't get this. FACT: This was done, successfully, in Vietnam by SF. No civilians. Is this not the type of mission SF was created for?The idea behind human terrain teams, or HTTs, is to put a small army of civilian social scientists (ideally anthropologists) and intel-savvy military officers into the field to give brigade commanders a better understanding of local dynamics. The teams are charged with “mapping” social structures, linkages, and priorities, just as a recon team might map physical terrain. By talking to locals the teams might help identify which village elder the commander should deal with or which tribe might be a waste of time; which valley should get a roads project and whether a new road might create a dispute between villages.
I just hope this is a BS article and has totally got the HTT mission wrong.
Now, don't get me wrong. The teams are charged with “mapping” social structures, linkages, and priorities, just as a recon team might map physical terrain. By talking to locals the teams might help identify which village elder the commander should deal with or which tribe might be a waste of time - is a very sound military mission, was was routinely done by the British as a matter of course. It's good military common sense. It's called Reconnaissance - and it should be done by soldiers.
Talking to a village elder and all the other stuff is real time intelligence work. Why does this require anthropologists?
Bookmarks