This monograph examines the transformation of military forces, the development of military doctrine and the influence of previous wars. It is an attempt to identify the driving factors of military transformation in general, to look into the role...
Proceeding from the means and ways they use to overcome the problems within their specific domains, the Army and Air Force have developed different operational perspectives. The differences would not matter if each conducted operations...
This study assesses the validity and general utility of selected instances of physical metaphor in tactical military theory and doctrine. An analytical framework is built upon the curriculum of the Advanced Military Studies Program, US Army Command...
This monograph directly addresses the problem posed when considering the question 'Who says what right is?' or 'Justice according to whom?' The relative nature of the term 'justice' creates a problem for military ethics, particularly when soldiers...
Throughout human history, people have migrated from one place to another across the globe. Since the creation of nation-states, the migration of people has been seen as emigrating from one country and immigrating to another. Immigration has...
Based on experiences with long-duration operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States Army recognizes the need for commanders and their staffs to have new tools and ways of thinking to deal with complex problems. The specific approach the...
This paper will describe the significant events and experiences that shaped the Powell Doctrine and affected the manner in which General Colin Powell applied those principles during his tenure as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS)...
Joint Doctrine, explicitly, and Army Doctrine, implicitly, recommend that military commanders and staffs exercise systems thinking in operational planning and execution. However, current Military Doctrine fails to fully explicate and apply a...
This monograph examines how the U.S. Army can restructure the decision making process to release initiative on the battlefield. Army tactical units execute missions on a chaotic, uncertain, and disorderly battlefield. Leaders' actions are guided by...
Military effectiveness is a common goal among military forces. But it is an ill defined concept. Two divergent theories cover the ground of military effectiveness. One looks at the interaction of social structures, whereas the other looks at the...
This monograph offers a way of thinking about counterinsurgency tactics. There are five salient propositions that bind the paper. First, tactical success in a Phase II insurgency (such is the nature of the Salvadoran insurgency) is defined as the...
As the United States Army stands in the midst of a transitional period, it must determine what type of Army it will be. In doing so, the Army must come to grips with new realities of the strategic context that demand a capability to use...
The United States Marine Corps developed Operational Maneuver from the Sea in the 1980s and codified it as a Marine Corps concept in 1996. In brief, Operational Maneuver from the Sea seeks to exploit the sea as maneuver space to defeat access...
This study investigates the effect organizational turbulence caused by frequent changes in task organization has on the company sized elements resident in the sustainment brigades. The study identifies the modular structure of the sustainment...
This monograph develops a framework for focusing military operations at an adversary's decision making processes by developing the concept of decision space, analyzing theories pertaining to decision making (specifically, Boyd's...
This monograph describes a possible technique to allow military planners to identify key objectives that may be affected in gaining control of a city without destroying it. This technique involves viewing a city as a complex "system of systems"...
Many Americans associate the fall of Rome with Alaric and the Visigoths and other warrior peoples from the north, but serious students understand that Rome’s decline was slow and from within. Ralph Peters writes, “In its confident years, the...
The United States Military has been conducting joint, operational-level deep operations for over a century. This is the point where U.S. Armed Services have found a common ground to focus their joint efforts. The American Civil War established a...