This monograph departs from the premise that the US Army's counterinsurgent doctrine is radically different than its conventional doctrine. The monograph suggests that the doctrines and tactics used by an army to prosecute war must be congruent...
This paper examines the applicability of the theories of the 19th Century military theorist, Baron Antoine Henri Jomini, to modern 20th century mid- to high intensity conflict. To do this it briefly reviews the core of Jomini's most famous work,...
This paper analyzes the relevancy of the terms center of gravity and decisive points at the operational level of war in communist insurgencies. It begins by proposing acceptable meanings for the terms center of gravity, decisive points, subversion,...
United States Special Forces have established a well-deserved reputation as experts in direct action operations to kill or capture high-value targets over the course of the Global War on Terror. In doing so, they have neglected their core mission...
The issues confronted by Britain and the U.S. early in the last century regarding their emerging air power capabilities were hotly debated, and the final decisions for the creation of independent Air Forces was made based on several factors, not...
This Infantry School document contains reports by General Grant, Commander Henry Walke, U.S. Navy, and other commanders, generals, and officers during the Civil War. There are additional private accounts as well (i.e., from a member of a battery,...
Prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07, 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery was activated and prepared for deployment within 12 months. The unit had a variety of nontraditional missions and was successful in all of them. The 2nd Battalion, 77th...
On the night of Wednesday, 28 April 1965, at approximately 1900 hours, the Sixth Marine expeditionary unit commenced operations in the Dominican Republic. For the first time since 1924 the United States Marines were back in that troubled nation....
Determining the causes of insurgency is important to military studies and social sciences because of the pervasiveness of insurgency and its impact on regional stability and governmental legitimacy. The moderating influences of the Cold War are...
This monograph addresses the employment of conventional military force against insurgency. First, it provides a model to analyze insurgency in terms of Clausewitz's "paradoxical trinity." Secondly, the monograph assesses this model's validity by...
This monograph studies the meaning behind the infamous Clausewitzian concept of the trinity. He uses this concept to describe the essence of warfare in book one of his treatise “On War”. This concept permeates his discussion of warfare...
The purpose of this monograph is to determine a conceptual framework for the analysis of the problems involved of integrating irregular and conventional forces into the same theater of operations. The problem is considered from the perspective of...
If the United States is to provide viable options to its civilian leaders, it must change the way it organizes and employs its military power. Its current construct revolves around functional specialization where services provide self-contained...
The end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union ended forty-five years of containment policy for the United States. For the duration of the Cold War the U.S. security strategy was to deter communism everywhere it threatened to break out....
This monograph examines a concept considered an abomination to some airmen - operational air reserves. The study is exploratory in nature: searching applicable theory, historical examples, and contemporary developments for insights on air reserves....
This monograph provides a definition of military geography as it relates to the application of operational art, and a recommended framework for the assessment of the influence of military geography in operational level planning. Its focus is the...
Several theoretical and doctrinal problems limit current US Army understanding of conflict, war and operational art. Those problems include confusion between conflict and war, ambiguity of theoretical terms such as "center of gravity" or...