The end of the Cold War did not bring about the grand peace that was hoped for during four decades. Instead, the world has become more dangerous, with multiple complex problems. Military institutions worldwide must learn to adapt to the...
Understanding an adversary’s culture has had positive effects on counterinsurgency tactics. By developing new training standards that incorporated cultural awareness, COL H. R. McMaster prepared the 3rd ARC for success in Tal Afar. They gained...
The Vietnam War and Operation Allied Force are two examples of coercive strategy characterized by gradual escalation of violence. They both involved significant discord between policymakers and the military leaders called upon to execute the...
Historically a distinct cultural and operational rift has evolved between Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Conventional Forces (CF) that devalued the need for SOF-CF integration and for developing common operating procedures and doctrine. This...
The information revolution seems to hold a lot of promise to the U.S. economy and the U.S. military, but rigid bureaucratic hierarchies make it extremely difficult for effective integration of operational fires and information operations (IO). As...
he transformation of the United States Army from the Current Force to the Future Force is ongoing and will affect every aspect of the Army as it is known today. The ability to see first, act first, and finish decisively, also known as the ...
The Australian Army has commenced a process of transformation to meet the demands of the increasingly complex operational environment in which it is currently operating, and will continue to operate in the foreseeable future. The Australian...
With information technologies increasingly shaping the environment in which U.S. military forces operate, Joint Vision 2020 and other recent DoD literature highlight the fundamental importance of achieving "decision superiority "--essentially, ...
Many authors have begun to write that the heavy force has no role in the future contemporary operating environment – especially where internal political-militia groups rely on guerrilla tactics. The US heavy force is an integral part of...
In August 2010, the U.S. Army published The United States Army Operating Concept 2016-2028 (AOC). The AOC attempts to forecast the Army's future capability requirements based on analysis of possible threats. In past and current deployments, the...
United States. Army. Engineer Center and Fort Leonard Wood.
The Guidon came into being as a weekly publication in 1966 under the title Fort Leonard Wood Guidon. Between 1966 and 1987 the title was simplified to Guidon before becoming Essayons in 1988. The name reverted back to Guidon in 1999. It has been...
Throughout the past 15 years, both the Western allies and the Russians have entered into a series of military engagements that have in one way or another spectacularly failed to achieve the results intended, namely a decisive military victory which...
The ownership of vast quantities of military power and the ability to project that power globally does not ensure the achievement of the 'ends' desired from a war. Since 1945, the United States and her Western allies increasingly fail to realize a...
Successful civil-military relations pose an enduring dilemma for the professional officer. When civil-military relations fail, the negative implications are far reaching. Professional officers who understand their role within the structure...
In the wake of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, T.E. Lawrence's description of counterinsurgency (COIN) analogous to "eating soup with a knife," has new meaning in our contemporary military. It describes our kinetic conventional army (the knife)...
General Abrams presents a sound historical example of the practical application of operational art as viewed through the lens of the Army Design Methodology. When General Abrams' assumed command of Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), he was...
In the years since Operation Desert Storm, there has been a significant restructuring of the United States Army that has had an enormous impact on the structure of the cavalry at brigade level and above. It began by ensuring the existence of a...
Propaganda and disinformation characterized indispensable components of nineteenth and twentieth century warfare. Examples such as Leni Riefenstahl's “Triumph of the Will” or Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series made no attempt to honestly...
The United States Army’s transformation from the Army of Excellence design to the Modular design had profound changes for the corps organization. Armored cavalry regiments under the Army of Excellence design provided reconnaissance and security...
On 12 October 1999, the U.S. Army began a journey down a new path to innovation, when General Eric Shinseki presented his vision of Army Transformation at the 45th annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army. In this speech, General...