Killebrew on US Defense Thinking

[Rob Thornton]

questions that I think needs to be asked, are: what is the better way to get these skill sets into the mainstream force (assuming we want them there)? what is a better vehicle for preserving those skills and knowledge (again with the DOTMLPF gears)? and what does it buy us in terms of related skill sets?

The last one has been bothering me since a planning excercise where a COA was adopted that depended on how much of a FID and how much of an unconventional warfare capacity we could field as part of an Irregular Warfare campaign. I think some of the skills that can be picked up conducting TAA can enhance our capabilities and capacity in like areas by extending them into the GPF/MPF or Full Spectrum Force realms - expanding our being able to move between mindsets (Conventional/Unconventional, Regular/Irregular, Insurgency/Counter-Insurgency) - the agile, adaptive and innovative mantra we pursue. It also helps with understandng how our potential enemies may operate against us by exposing us to people and military forces not so much like ourselves in conditions removed from those we normally associate withourselves.

Best, Rob