I wouldn’t have thought the Brit army that small that you need to start considering specialising. (Where would that leave us?) There has been a lot of mention over many threads that the over-commitment in the sandbox over the last decade has blunted the more traditional capabilities. I should think that to a point that is understandable and should probably, again to a point, just be accepted, with all the risks involved. But to use that as a reason, or in fact an excuse, to specialise and drop those other capabilities seems to me a bit short sighted. Better to still have those capabilities, blunted as they may be, than to be entirely and irreversibly caught with your pants down. Because Murphy will make sure that that will happen. In fact, the initial move into Iraq was pretty conventional and heavy, no COIN at that stage.
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