God bless the Australians. Through almost five and a half years of war now, they have been a steady, stalwart ally while others have wavered. The Australian armed forces are small but very effective in what they do, and they do it with little fuss and lots of professionalism.
One of Australia's quiet professionals has had a big impact on United States counterinsurgency strategy. He is Lt. Col. David Kilcullen, who through various turns of fate is now a part of Gen. Petreaus' "brain trust" in Iraq. Kilcullen served 21 years as an Australian Army infantry officer and still maintains his reserve. He led counterinsurgency operations in East Timor, advised Indonesian Special Forces, taught the British Army, advised the U.S. State Department, and earned a PhD in anthropology along the way.
As our military has struggled to learn (or relearn) the principles for successfully fighting a counterinsurgency war, Kilcullen's ideas have gained currency in the right circles - particularly among U.S. Army and Marine officers formulating a new manual for counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. In March of 2006, Kilcullen authored an 11-page memo in which he outlined his lessons learned and counterinsurgency best practices. It has become known as "Kilcullen's 28 points," and you can find it on the web with a quick Google search on that phrase...
Kilcullen Leads Counterinsurgency
Originally Posted by SWJED
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