I'm a believer that "war" is "war" is "war" and that all talk of counterinsurgency, hybrid, multi-modal, etc. should be unnecessary. However, I see all too often that many in the U.S. military think of "war" only as Gettysburg, the Battle of the Bulge, the seige at Khe Sanh, Desert Storm, initial push during OIF-I, etc. We all know that "war" involves much more. This is why I'm often a fan of using terms like "3 or 4 block war", COIN, "hybrid" war, etc. Much good comes out of the discussions and debates about the validity of these terms and thus forces many in the military to truly think about the characteristics of the wars we've fought and those that we'll fight in the future.

Semper Fi,
Scott