Military operations are complex and chaotic phenomena. Current theoretical models inadequately deal with the increasing complexity and inherent uncertainty of modern warfare. Relying on mechanistic paradigms and reductionist methods of analysis,...
What caused the agricultural manpower shortage in World War II? Historians have proffered a variety of explanations that attribute linear causality to a handful of independent variables. No scholar, however, has attempted to study the manpower...
Years of U.S. Army involvement in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have underscored the complexity of contemporary operating environments. This complexity within the current operating environment requires U.S. Army leaders not to make simple...
Do Information Operations (IO) contribute to success in counterinsurgency campaigns? What IO measures of excellence exist to demonstrate achievement of success in counterinsurgencies? These questions currently challenge U.S. military forces...
The realist paradigm is the USG's dominate perspective for conflict analysis. Historically, this perspective has served the United States well, leading to its ascension from colonial possession to global hegemon in less than two centuries. There is...
The U.S. government states that agriculture is its most important non-security priority in Afghanistan and emphasizes the importance of agricultural development in Afghanistan's long-term stabilization and reconstruction. The extent to which USDA...
While western countries appear to be gradually turning their back to Africa and looking at the leaders of African countries with much criticism, China is stepping in to increase its involvement with many countries. More specifically, China is...
Afghanistan once had a well-developed and productive agricultural sector. As late as 1978, the country was self-sufficient in cereal grains and had a strong export market for horticultural products. It also produced industrial crops such as cotton...
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the grip of
superpower strictures loosened resulting in an increase in complexity and dynamism that marks today's security environment. The rapidly changing and uncertain...
Military officials often utilize the PMESII-PT acronym (Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Environment, and Time) as an analytical start point to assess an operational environment. However, the linear...
American policy in Afghanistan has evolved since the initial engagement of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It has become increasingly clear that strategic focus must include a plan to concentrate upon and continue development of a stable and secure...
While the literature on the size of small groups and teams is extensive, there is little research on design team sizes and no formal research or analysis on the size of a military design team. This monograph investigates the optimal team size and...
A common perspective among U.S. interagency partners today is that any step towards more effective and coordinated responses to contemporary security challenges requires an improved and shared understanding of the nature of the conflict and the...
This monograph analyzes doctrine relating to the creation of Commander's Critical Information Requirements (CCIR) and its role in providing direction to units in combat. It compares doctrine to theory to assess it's doctrine's applicability in the...
The battlefield's rapidly changing environment requires soldiers to make decisions and use initiative to defeat the enemy. This monograph's intent is to explain why training for uncertainty is imperative in cultivating a unit able to adapt to the...
Chaos theory is a poorly understood concept in social science and in military analytical decision making systems. Military decision makers require a multidisciplinary approach of mathematical analysis, modeling and simulation, topology, and...
Military practitioners are often asked to make plans that could have enormous strategic effects without having a good understanding of their operational environment. It is exactly this relationship between the plan, the environment, and the end...
This monograph offers a definition of "military art," discusses military art's relationship to the commander's management of battlefield uncertainty, and uncertainty's relationship to nonlinearity. Using the terms of art, uncertainty, and...
The recognition of the failure at the strategic and operational levels of war during the Global War on Terror, specifically in Iraq, has resulted in a quest for intellectual solutions to complex operational and strategic problems. To date this has...
Cultural awareness is a force multiplier; failure to recognize this can have adverse impacts on operations. Since the first coalition troop deployments to Afghanistan after the events of 9/11, the U.S. Army has received much criticism over the lack...