Quote Originally Posted by MikeF View Post
Thanks MarcT. That's exactly the questions/comments that I was hoping for. I'm gonna work on a tentative syllabus and then post it on this thread as a working document for further discussion. I'll make sure that I send you and Dr. Fishel a PM.

As you review this, keep in mind that I'm not teaching college students. I'm talking to Company Grade officers and NCOs. Many of them will have multiple tours. So, I want to keep the reading light and no tests. I guess that's best called a seminar.

As I'm working on my syllabus, here's the required reading/case studies I'm considering....MTF...

- Zaganiyah- clearing denied rural areas
- Ramadi- Cavguy's ventures into the Sunni Awakening
- Mosul- Y'alls case study on SFA.
- Basilan, Phillipines- JSOTF-P initial entry and use of the McCormick Diamond Model
- Afghanistan- Jim Gant, "One tribe at a time"
- Colombia or El Salvador- need a good paper for this one.

Mike
Less the Latin America scenario, these are 5 campaigns in one war to protect the populace of the United States from terrorist attacks.

You can talk tactics: What was the situation, what worked, what didn't work, etc. That is intersting and helpful for those at Company level and below.

Or you can talk Operations, how each of these campagins contributed and fit into the larger campagins for their respective theaters. Good for the Field Grade level types

Or you can talk strategy. How did these campagins contribute or exacerbate the threat of terrorist attacks on America? etc.

As an aside, I realize you are coming from Monterey, home of the "McCormick Diamond," but I am pretty sure any serious application of the "diamond" to that operation is post facto. The operations there were shaped far more by the simple fact that we had no authorities to do anything other than the things we did. Which is a lesson in itself. "When conducting FID in support of another country's insurgency, are ones operations more effective when forced to subjugate themselves to the governance of that country and operate through their security forces and within the guidelines of their laws and rules; or when you invade, take out the existing government, and do whatever you damn well please."