The best suggestion is that of something similar to combined action platoons. We need to take companies, assign them a neighborhood (for large urban areas) or a village, and then send them there to live with the people. Then, the Army needs to give that captain the power to make the difference. The battalion commander's main function would be to make sure his companies are receiving the supply and support they need to succeed. It would suck for the troops, but they could rotate to a "superbase" every one to two weeks for a day to eat hot chow, get a shower, and visit the PX.

The problem with force protection (from the Army's perspective... I don't know how the Marines do it) is that we insulate ourselves from the people. As a PSYOP guy, I have to build relationships. I have a difficult task made MORE difficult when I approach people dressed like a stormtrooper, wrapped head-to-toe in Kevlar (they have us wearing these kevlar shoulder pads now... it's crazy). Patrols roll around in steel HMMWVs and Bradleys. Very little long-distance dismount patrols in which foot soldiers directly interact with people.

The concept of the "superbase" (with power, water, and PX) is very bad for our efforts. We allow locals to work and sell wares on the base, so they see us living in luxury and then have to return home at night to their homes with no running water, maybe a few hours of power a day, etc. What type of perception is this? Think about the statement it makes among the people.

I sit in the BUB and listen to staff officers talk about searches of weapons caches, an occasional insurgent killed, or a school built. We're missing the entire point. It's about the people, stupid. And the force structure we have in place, with our superbases and force protection rules, are simply a barrier between us and the people.

You don't build relationships based on a few hours spent weekly in one of many towns in a battalion AO. You have to live among the people, suffering their hardships, and showing them you GENUINELY give a #### about them.

I think, at this point unfortunately, we're beyond the point of being able to fix things and make it nice. Too much water under the bridge and all that. But, I hope we LEARN from this war so we won't make the same mistakes next time.