Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
We need to get over the myth that COIN and allied efforts are exotic efforts requiring special training, education, practices or people. It is simply a part of the job. A part we elected to ignore for years because it's dirty work; more importantly to that neglect, it's also tedious work and does not provide instant feedback (bad ju-ju for impatient Americans who like quick results...). Effective training will produce people competent -- and willing -- to do what the job requires.
I actually don't mind parts of the myth IF it actually spurs changes in the way we train and (more importantly, IMO) retain the results of that training. From what I've seen of the American military historically, I remain (sadly) very skeptical of their ability to do that without major changes in a number of areas (starting with the personnel system). I also (sadly) don't see those changes coming from within.

Vietnam is only the most recent example of the Army shedding knowledge and experience as soon as they were done. If the 'myth of COIN' forces them to retain knowledge, improve training, and fix a personnel system that hasn't worked properly for at least 50 years (and I'm being generous there), it's worth it in my view.