This monograph examines the usefulness of defensive culmination to the operational level planner. A working definition of the theoretical concept is advanced and then examined against the backdrops of historical campaigns, current doctrine, and...
The United States Government established provincial reconstruction teams (PRT) in early 2003 with the intent of spreading ISAF effects throughout Afghanistan. The mission of the PRTs was and is to increase economic and governance capacity in a...
In 742, a predominantly Turko-Mongolian steppe nomadic tribe known today as the Uyghurs migrated eastward from eastern Turkey towards the oases of modern-day Xinjiang province of China; they have remained there for the last 1,268 years. Throughout...
The United States today finds itself in an era of persistent irregular conflict, the root cause of which may be illegitimate governance within failed or failing states. The resulting instability will likely require future U.S. military and civilian...
The United States conducts Host Nation Police Advisory (HNPA) missions, as a subset of Security Sector Reform (SSR), to improve the rule of law and legitimacy of failing and failed states. To develop a more effective HNPA program, the U.S....
Historical examples are an expedient way to develop an understanding of operational art theory and concepts. A historical illustration of both operational success and failure is the Korean War. Several aspects of the Korean War remain relevant to...
Throughout its military history, the United States has demonstrated poor institutional memory resulting in a tendency to reinvent the wheel. The development of counterinsurgency doctrine in Vietnam, for instance, yielded valuable knowledge about...
This monograph is an examination of the transition of the Iraqi Saddam Fedayeen militia into a guerilla organization in an attempt to draw out methods that might be used against the Niruyeh Moghavemat Basij (Mobilisation Resistance Force) militia...
This monograph studies the law of occupation, historical case studies on occupation, and the current U.S. doctrine on occupation. An analysis formed from the current international law, Hague Convention Number IV Respecting the Laws and Customs of...
Joining the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment as its operations officer in the summer of 2003, Major James Gallivan recounts in this interview some of his experiences during Operation Iraqi Freedom, particularly those relating to that...
In support of Operation Iraqi Freedom I, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Beckert served in three important capacities. First, he was the lead maneuver planner in 1st Armored Division for a working group that was tasked by the V Corps commander General...
This thesis portrays a history of the civil governmental support provided to the 12th U.S. Army Group's refugee and displaced persons operations by the Allied governments of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg from 6 June 1944 through 15 January 1945....
The Palestine Campaign of the First World War exhibited a fighting style that brought with it various challenges in mission command. While General Allenby, commanding the Allied Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), gained several victories in the...
Evolving operations in the twenty-first century suggest a continued value for historical study of previous counterinsurgency operations. Study of such operations tends towards a degree of research into operational theory of security forces against...
In 2003, the United States led a Coalition force into Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein 's repressive Ba 19ath Party regime. Under the provisions of the Hague Regulation of 1907, the Coalition became an occupying power with all of the attendant rights...
This monograph examines the concept of tactical-surprise and its use by raiding forces in Operations Other than War (OOTW). It discusses the nature of the OOTW environment and its relationship to the creation of tactical surprise. Surprise is...
This monograph examines the conduct of operations of the United States' Eighth Army under the command of General Matthew B. Ridgway in the Korean War. During the period of Ridgway's command, from late December of 1950 through April of 1951, the...
Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States (US) has waged a Global War
on Terror (GWOT) based upon the flawed strategy of countering a tactic, terrorism, as opposed to a strategy built on understanding and identifying its enemy. By...
The attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, originating from Afghanistan, and the earthquake in January 2010 that devastated Haiti illustrate the different dangers that weak and failed states represent to the international...
First introduced into U.S. Army doctrine in 1982, the operational level of war developed to remove politics from an inherently political process. American writers absorbed Soviet writing on the subject and translated it into existing doctrine...