that this thread has died off.

-The distinction beween COIN & FID will continue to come up. I was involved in discussions in two separate commands regarding the ambiguity.

-My personal opinion is that the US hasn't been involved in COIN since the Philippine Insurrection(s). To me COIN is what a government/nation-state does to rid itself of an insurgency. And, frankly, given a literal interpretation of the Posse Comitatus Act it is quite possible that US uniformed services (less National Guard and Coast Guard) are legally barred from COIN. Yeah; I know that's a ridiculous extreme, but read the law.

FID is NOT a combat unit mission, it is a national undertaking using various US agencies for their normal mission parameter purposes to assist the host nation. Support of COIN operations of the host nation is a combat unit mission -- and so is mentoring and pairing with host nation units to impart skills (and values...).
-I'll agree that FID is not an exclusively combat unit mission but combat units can do and have done FID. One of the elements of the Partnership for Peace program was mil-to-mil contact which included US/NATO units going to PfP nations and doing combined training. Isn't that FID?

-There is also a problem with FID and the Whole of Government Approach: besides the State Department, government departments are NOT chartered or funded to support foreign governments. They don't have the manpower either.

-I think the critical question is whether or not US troops can conduct unilateral combat operations in FID.

-Sampler's Taxonomy raises another question; that of the primacy of FID or IDAD. Years ago, when we had an IDAD course, it was taught as a part of FID. I suppose that could have been because the FID department already existed and IDAD was a new course, or it could have been because "we" saw FID as primarily military while IDAD was done by other guys. I don't know but I've always seen a large non-military component in FID and what we called IDAD certainly used quite a bit of the host nation's military with US Title 22 support.

-As has been noted elsewhere discussions about definitions are pretty much pointless. Maybe we don't really "do" COIN and maybe what we really do is FID but I don't think it makes any difference.