Human Terrain & Anthropology (merged thread)

[marct]

The Human Terrain System. Dr. Jacob Kipp, Lester Grau; Karl Prinslow; and Captain Don Smith

[wierdbeard]

i just finished reading the article, interesting read. Although besides the difference in officers vs enlisted what are the differences between these Human Terrain Teams and Tactical Humint Teams? It seems the key products that the HTT provide to units seems like the same type of information that THT's regularly develope on the AO's they work in. From my experience THT's that made sure they cultivated a good working relationship with the action elements in their AO. As well as having had good relations with the other MI/S2/OGA operating in an AO.

[marct]

Hi Weirdbeard,

i just finished reading the article, interesting read. Although besides the difference in officers vs enlisted what are the differences between these Human Terrain Teams and Tactical Humint Teams? It seems the key products that the HTT provide to units seems like the same type of information that THT's regularly develope on the AO's they work in. From my experience THT's that made sure they cultivated a good working relationship with the action elements in their AO. As well as having had good relations with the other MI/S2/OGA operating in an AO.

We had a fairly long discussion on them when the article came out (here). As to the differences, after cooling down , I think the main difference is in spin and purpose. The basic idea behind the HTTs is that you would have an Anthropologist or Sociologist doing active research that would have both an immediate and a long term benefit in terms of better "understanding".

Now, I'll admit to being biased and thinking that getting Anthropologists (and occasional Sociologists) into the field is a good idea. I think we have a lot to offer in the current war effort, despite what some of my <shudder> colleagues may say .

To actually answer your question, I think the real differences between HTTs and THTs is in the temporal dimension - we (aka Anthropologists) think in a very different time horizon from Intel people - ours tends to be in millenia even if it has immediate applications.

Marc

[wierdbeard]

thanks Marc, I appreciate the feedback and the link to the other thread, on a personal note if could have a Anthropologist or Sociologist handy in theater i would glady take them, as it always seems to me that there's never enough information out there when i'm getting my guys up to speed, but that's probably just me as I tend to be an information junkie.

I always seem to acquire at least a footlocker or three of books on a given area while i'm in theater, humpin all that around gets to be umm problematic to say the least.

Wierdbeard

[marct]

Hi Weirdbeard,

thanks Marc, I appreciate the feedback and the link to the other thread, on a personal note if could have a Anthropologist or Sociologist handy in theater i would glady take them, as it always seems to me that there's never enough information out there when i'm getting my guys up to speed, but that's probably just me as I tend to be an information junkie.

Well, you know how to contact me if I can ever help out .

I always seem to acquire at least a footlocker or three of books on a given area while i'm in theater, humpin all that around gets to be umm problematic to say the least.

Damn! That's what cheap laptops and DVDs are for! Man, I've got 1/2 my library in pdf format, which beats the other half (way too many books and articles!).

Marc