Quote Originally Posted by Gian P Gentile View Post
...On this one Ken, I have to tell you respectfully that I believe you are wrong. I think the notion that the US Army fumbled at Coin from 2003 to 2006 until rescued by the Surge is chimera...
At no point did I mention the word surge and if you'll recall, I have long agreed with you that the surge didn't change what had been going on for the previous 18 months.

The time of foolishness in denying reality was from 1975 until late 2003, 28 years of denial. In 2003 we figured out that had been a mistake and started corrective action -- and some units were doing all the right things from even earlier. From late '03, it took 18 month to get the idea of COIN embedded in this huge bureaucracy and most units were on board mid way or even earlier in that year and a half. It was an embedded technique by late '04 across the board. You and your Squadron were doing it before the surge started in January, 2007. So was the rest of the Army.
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What we have come to with the Surge Matrix is a fulcrum point where the past is viewed with a certain prism that shows failure and "not getting it" until the Surge begins, and then at that fulcrum point pivoting to a better present and new future. Problem is that the present in Iraq might be a bit better but for reasons primarily other than the Surge, and more troubling is that the vector to the future is filled with an over-emphasis on coin and irregular war to the detriment of our conventional capabilities which places us in my mind in strategic peril.

gian
There is no question that there is a risk in our -- to my mind necessary at this point -- emphasis on COIN. We differ in that I have more confidence that the Army can recalibrate quickly when it wants to in order to cope with conventional threats. Is there an almost certain risk of higher casualties? Probably -- but ignoring COIN for those 28 years caused more casualties than needed in Iraq. that is the unhappy fate for Armies in democratic nations, always has been and that's unlikely to change.

You place a lot of emphasis on the so-called Surge. For example, you said and I repeat: "...where the past is viewed with a certain prism that shows failure and "not getting it" until the Surge begins, and then at that fulcrum point pivoting to a better present and new future." That may be true but you are one of the few people I see stating that. I don't see it that way, do not personally know anyone who does and my perception is that most here do not.

None of my business but it seems to me your efforts to personalize your disagreement with the 'COIN strategists' by denigrating them on occasion and the overemphasis of the Surge as the root of all evil may disrupt receipt of your otherwise valid message. My two mils -- I have no sense...