(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)Tom Ricks has a must-read today over at Foreign Policy. Conventional forces are simply not qualified to conduct the COIN operations asked of them. While senior DoD officials and cheerleading generals say otherwise, they must do exactly that to preserve the chain of command.
From the Marine Gunnery Sergeant that wrote to Ricks:
Doesn't matter if you like the people or not. Don't really care if you think their ideology is bullshit. Fact is if you want to win, the people have to believe that you are sincere and convincing them that it is in their best interest to support you vice your enemy is a key part. Winning is what matters and the only way to do that is getting better at COIN and IO, regardless of how much we hate it.What really captured my attention was in the comments section:
It is unrealistic to think that the average soldier/marine is going to have the cultural sensitivity to deal with the local population they way that COIN doctrine requires. Better to have specialists on-board who are dressed differently from the the rest of the troop, who might speak the local language (although Americans are notoriously dim when it comes to this skill), and whose MO it is to make friends and gather intelligence. Isn't that what the CIA is supposed to be doing?Can't argue with that.
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