Although this article was largely common sense, and most of the article appears to be ideas already floated in other recent (and not so recent)articles, it is a well written article that explains to those who still don't get it why the population is the center of gravity.

Not sure I concur with the proposal of four man cadre elements, but as the author stated that would depend on a number of variables. He also didn't address how to transition the cadre out, but I would assume the newly formed and vetted host nation security forces would eventually assume the role of the cadre in this situation. Using contractors as cadre members is a touchy area, but perhaps doable if DoD or another government agency had appropriate control over them. I tend to think that the profit motive will tend to over ride the best course of action option if contractors are in charge of the operation.

None the less the author captured the argument well, and it was a point I made a couple of years ago on this council when I argued against using the number of schools built in Iraq as a success metric. My point was it didn't mean anything if the parents didn't feel it was safe to send their kids to school. Later the new metric was the number of kids going to school, which actually means something relevant to the COIN effort. Also key is who appoints the teachers, but that is another class/or post for a later date.