Jane's Defence Weekly (subscription) reports that the U.S. Army and Marine Corps are putting the finishing touches on a new counter-insurgency manual that is designed to fill a crucial gap in U.S. military doctrine.
Military leaders describe the new manual as part of a larger cultural shift that will affect the way the services train, equip and fight. The growing emphasis on counter-insurgency will require more language training and cultural awareness, skills traditionally the domain of special operations forces.
"What we are trying to do is point out to leaders in particular - to staff officers and to leaders at all levels - that some of the conventional thinking does not necessarily translate to unconventional operations, stability operations, irregular warfare or counter-insurgency," said Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general of the Combined Arms Center and Commandant of the Command and General Staff College.
The curriculum at the Command and General Staff College now focuses much more heavily on counter-insurgency, with instruction in this area for about 200 hours. The number of masters' theses being written on counter-insurgency topics has jumped dramatically following U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Military doctrine is only one part of a broader commitment to counter-insurgency within the U.S. government. The State Department is committing funds to counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq and is putting together a national counter-insurgency conference in September that will draw together representatives from various government agencies.
Comments