The Army Capstone Concept: the Army wants your comments

[Bob's World]

Ok, I am going to take a serious look at this, but must confess, I couldn't get past the title.

Operating under Conditions of Uncertainty and Complexity in an Era of Persistent Conflict

Or, said another way:

Employment of Military Power to Force Compliance with an Obsolete Foregin Policy in a Era of Strategic Uncertainty and Social Change

We can keep trying to build the perfect hammer at Defense, or we can draft a better blueprint at State. I look forward to reading this, and hope it strongly suggests the importance of the latter.

[William F. Owen]

We can keep trying to build the perfect hammer at Defense, or we can draft a better blueprint at State. I look forward to reading this, and hope it strongly suggests the importance of the latter.

OK, but Armed force serves policy. The Army has to provide what the Policy maker requires - NOT provide what would work if the policy was easier to fulfil by military means. Armies are contractors, not clients.

[Bob's World]

OK, but Armed force serves policy. The Army has to provide what the Policy maker requires - NOT provide what would work if the policy was easier to fulfil by military means. Armies are contractors, not clients.

Take the following quote from a General following his command tour in Afghanistan for example:

"We have nothing to fear from Afghanistan, and the best thing to do is to leave it as much as possible to itself. It may not be very flattering to our amour propres, but I feel sure I am right when I say that the less the Afghans see of us the less they will dislike us. Should Russia in future years attempt to conquer Afghanistan, or invade India through it, we shold have a better chance of attaching the Afghans to our interest if we avoid all interference with them in the meantime.


When General Frederick Roberts published that statement upon his return to Britain from the 1879 campaign it was because British policy toward Afhganistan was a matter of tremendous debate, and I suspect that as the recent commander on the ground there he felt he had some worthy insights for the policy types to take into account.


It is a bit chilling at how easy we could replace "Russia" with "AQ" and this insight would remain quite valid today.