Stabilization is essential to set the conditions for strategic success in post-major combat operations environments. A great deal of effort is expended in planning and executing combat operations. However, surprisingly less effort goes into the...
The year 2001 began with the inauguration of a United States (US) president deliberately aiming to shift the use of the military away from the numerous humanitarian and peacekeeping interventions of the 1990s toward responding to and defeating...
Disrupting an insurgent's access to sanctuary and safe-haven is a critical aspect of operational planning for counterinsurgent forces. By denying an insurgent's access to safe-havens early in the conflict, the counterinsurgent will gain a marked...
Iraq and Afghanistan have proven that achieving victory in today's ideological conflicts is a task beyond the capabilities of any single U.S. agency. It demands that the efforts of multiple agencies be brought together and coordinated in a whole of...
Disrupting an insurgent's access to sanctuary and safe-haven is a critical aspect of operational planning for counterinsurgent forces. By denying an insurgent's access to safe-havens early in the conflict, the counterinsurgent will gain a marked...
From February through July 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Major Ayo Lawson served as a plans officer with the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. In this interview, he discusses his wartime support to the V Corps ADA element, his...
In January 2003, Major Doug Brinson - at the time the commander of Bravo Company, 317th Engineer Battalion, supporting 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division - deployed to Kuwait and began intensive training for what soon became Operation Iraqi...
From March through September 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Major James Swift commanded the 426th Forward Support Battalion's supply company - part of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. In this comprehensive interview,...
One of the most complex challenges facing the U.S. military today is the problem of imposing stability over the chaos that follows major combat operations. Despite the U.S. military’s predilection to distill warfare into the linear, Newtonian...
Phase III Operation Iraqi Freedom has shown our military’s propensity to focus on major combat operations (MCO) often at the expense of post-MCO security and reconstruction. Without clear doctrinal guidance of how to establish effective security...