Just a quick reminder that the SWJ team, in Gettysburg, is providing live coverage of the TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference in this forum at the Small Wars Council.
Blog Posts
SWJ Blog is a multi-author blog publishing news and commentary on the various goings on across the broad community of practice. We gladly accept guest posts from serious voices in the community.
by Marc Tyrrell | Wed, 08/19/2009 - 1:28pm | 1 comment
The briefing on the TRADOC Campaign Plan, centering around Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN), has created the most discussion to date. Listening to the questions and comments, I was struck by several observations. One early point that was made was that the principles underlying ARFORGEN were not clearly communicated while the model was. There are, to my mind, several observations that can be drawn both from that process -- communicate the model but not the principles -- and from the questions / comments.
First off, ARFORGEN is a radical change from previous forms of force generation. In many ways, from what I can see of it, it is moving towards, although certainly not reaching, an Information Age style of force generation (e.g. the right person in the right place at the right time), at least in principle. The model, however, appears to have been presented more in the genre and forms of an Industrial Age style of force generation (office based, standardized training). This form and genre is not surprising given the hierarchical organizational form of the US Army. In fact, it is organizationally imperative that that form and genre be used in order to tie it in with the political and economic resources (i.e. sell it in DC).
by Marc Tyrrell | Wed, 08/19/2009 - 12:54am | 4 comments
There is a curious quality that overcomes the mind during a visit to sacred space. Today, I rode along on the staff ride at Gettysburg and saw that quality of mind slowly come into being as we moved from site to site on the battlefield. The manifestation that arose was not one of what lessons can we learn from the battle and campaign but, rather, one of what questions should we ask.
by Robert Haddick | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 7:42pm | 2 comments
I am attending the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Senior Leaders Conference in Gettysburg, PA.
Today I went on a "staff ride" of the Gettysburg battlefield with a group of about 20 generals, sergeants major, and Senior Executive Service employees of TRADOC. Leading the staff ride was an Army historian who is also a retired Army officer.
Why would the Army waste the time of the senior leaders of its training and doctrine command with a guided tour of a 19th century battlefield? What does Gettysburg have to do with Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other conflicts the Army is likely to face?
The answer is "quite a bit," if you prepare the staff ride properly. And this the TRADOC staff and the Army historians did.
First, the historian used the events of the 1863 battle to illustrate military problems common to all campaigns regardless of era or variety. These included discussions of such matters as national grand strategy; an assessment of ends, ways, and means; adaptation to unforeseen circumstances; decision-making under conditions of uncertainty; assessing the strengths and weaknesses of subordinates; command styles; collegiality among commanders and staff; and many other such universal factors.
Second, the TRADOC leaders were not passive students -- they were tasked to make presentations during the day, discussing their functional expertise as it related to the Gettysburg battle and what lessons from that experience were relevant to today's problems. While standing in the woods on the 20th Maine's position on Little Round Top, a question about the Army's transition from a small force geared to irregular warfare on the frontier in 1861 to a very large force focused on major combat operations sparked an energized discussion among the generals about how TRADOC can improve the matching of its resources to its priorities.
At the end of the day, while looking over the ground of Pickett's Charge, a lieutenant general led his commanders and staff in an after-action review that again focused on lessons for the Army's future.
History is not dead, when you can get it to work for you.
by Dave Dilegge | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 12:09pm | 39 comments
While Woodstock Rocked, GIs Died - Richard K. Kolb, Veterans of Foreign Wars magazine - an excerpt follows:
With the 40th anniversary of the '60s cherished rock concert, the so-called "Sixties Generation" remembers fondly those four days in August 1969. Instead, VFW magazine commemorates the 109 Americans killed in Vietnam then.
Newsweek described them as "a youthful, long-haired army, almost as large as the U.S. force in Vietnam." One of the promoters saw what happened near Bethel (nearly 40 miles from Woodstock), N.Y., as an opportunity to "showcase" the drug culture as a "beautiful phenomenon."
The newsmagazine wrote of "wounded hippies" sent to impromptu hospital tents. Some 400,000 of the "nation's affluent white young" attended the "electric pot dream." One sympathetic chronicler recently described them as "a veritable army of hippies and freaks."
Time gushed with admiration for the tribal gathering, declaring: "It may well rank as one of the significant political and sociological events of the age." It deplored the three deaths there—"one from an overdose of drugs [heroin], and hundreds of youths freaked out on bad trips caused by low-grade LSD." Yet attendees exhibited a "mystical feeling for themselves as a special group," according to the magazine's glowing essay.
That same tribute mentioned the "meaningless war in the jungles of Southeast Asia" and quoted a commentator who said the young need "more opportunities for authentic service."
Meanwhile, 8,429 miles around the other side of the world, 514,000 mostly young Americans were authentically serving the country that had raised them to place society over self. The casualties they sustained over those four days were genuine, yet none of the elite media outlets were praising their selflessness.
So 40 years later, let's finally look at those 109 Americans who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam on Aug. 15, 16, 17 and 18, 1969...
... So when you hear talk of the glories of Woodstock—the so-called "defining event of a generation"—keep in mind those 109 GIs who served nobly yet are never lauded by the illustrious spokesmen for the "Sixties Generation."
by SWJ Editors | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 11:20am | 0 comments
As Afghanistan Votes, Will the Taliban Win? - New York Times opinions. With Afghanistan's second-ever presidential election coming on Thursday, the Op-Ed editors asked four Afghans to report on the moods of voters in their communities.
Apathy Among the Educated - Hassina Sherjan
A "fair and transparent election," even if one were possible, would not be enough to set Afghanistan on a path toward stability. Only when democracy is combined with a legitimate process of truth and justice will we achieve peace.Phantoms at the Polls - Atif B.
Demoralization and despair have reached such a level in my city, Kandahar, this summer that most people tell me they will not participate in Thursday's presidential election. They doubt the transparency of the vote, disbelieving that President Hamid Karzai's corrupt administration will allow another candidate to win.Waking Up to Terror - Mirwais Ahmaddzai
The "night letters" have been coming for a while now. I saw my first one last week, posted on a door in Kunar Province, on the Pakistani border. But its message was no different than the ones that, according to press reports, have been popping up overnight in most of the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, whether posted on mosques or government buildings, or at busy road intersections, or simply scattered onto streets: do not vote on Thursday, or we will punish you. Signed, the Taliban.Hopeful in Panjshir - Ahmad Wali Arian
Last Friday I was in the Panjshir Valley, about 50 miles north of Kabul, talking with a dozen of my relatives about their perceptions and expectations of the presidential election. Our discussion was all about the candidates' platforms, promises, teams and abilities. This was a huge change from the last vote, in 2004, when nobody was talking about ideas. That election consisted mostly of ethnic groups and political parties trying to show their strength.As Afghanistan Votes, Will the Taliban Win? - New York Times
by SWJ Editors | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 9:55am | 0 comments
Obama Defends New Tack in Afghanistan - Michael D. Shear, Washington Post.President Obama on Monday defended his administration's new approach to the fierce fighting that rages in Afghanistan, calling it "not only a war worth fighting" but also one that "is fundamental to the defense of our people."Speaking to the annual gathering of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Obama praised the American troops in Afghanistan who are helping to secure the country ahead of elections there this week. "As I said when I announced this strategy, there will be more difficult days ahead," Obama said. "The insurgency in Afghanistan didn't just happen overnight. And we won't defeat it overnight. This will not be quick. This will not be easy." The president said that he would continue to increase the size of the military to confront problems around the globe, but he added that he rejects wasteful spending on technology that commanders insist they no longer need...
More at The Washington Post. Bolded emphasis ours.
by SWJ Editors | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 9:45am | 0 comments
The Afghanistan Strategy Dialogue: My Thoughts - Andrew Exum at Abu Muqawama.When I started the rather grandly titled Afghanistan Strategy Dialogue a week ago, I decided that after listening to and reading the thoughts and opinions of the readership, I would then weigh in with a few thoughts of my own to close out the exercise. Some of the readership was a bit impatient for me to offer my own thoughts, but if you get one thing out of this exercise, remember this: the war in Afghanistan is complex, as are the consequences of any policy choice, and anyone who wades into this discussion full of confidence in his or her own assumptions is not to be trusted. I wanted to hear the thoughts of my readership before I offered my own. The people who have contributed to this debate thus far have advanced propositions for discussion -- and that is how it should be. I would hope that you would all take what follows to be in the same vein...
Much more at Abu Muqawama - to include seven days of the Afghanistan Strategy Dialogue.
by SWJ Editors | Tue, 08/18/2009 - 8:06am | 2 comments
17 August Small Wars Council / TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference non-virtual meet-up at the Garryowen Irish Pub, Gettysburg, PA. National defense issues solved. Did anyone take notes?
by Robert Haddick | Mon, 08/17/2009 - 12:31pm | 6 comments
Last Friday, the Los Angeles Times covered a crackdown by U.S. authorities on a Mexican drug cartel's cell that operated in the suburbs of San Diego. San Diego County prosecutors have charged 17 people, some of them U.S. citizens, with a wide variety of crimes, including nine murders.
Mexico's drug war is another example of an irregular war showing no regard for a formal nation-state boundary. At first, the U.S.-Mexican border suited the purposes of several interests. It sheltered much of the U.S. population from Mexico's problems. And some of Mexico's cartel members used U.S. territory for a sanctuary.
But such protection could not last long. Where cartel members move, criminal commerce and violent competition have followed. And that has brought Mexico's drug wars into America's suburbs.
by SWJ Editors | Mon, 08/17/2009 - 7:42am | 0 comments
Social Media Allows the Public to Participate in TRADOC Senior Leader Talks - Stand-To!
What is it?
During the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) semi-annual Senior Leaders Conference (TSLC) TRADOC leaders discuss emerging issues and chart the way ahead. Now for the first time, TRADOC will make the conference transparent and seek public interaction by allowing anyone to follow the conversation, contribute comments and ask questions via a Small Wars Journal (SWJ) discussion board. At the August 18 to 20 conference, two editors and a moderator from SWJ will blog live, providing readers observations and ongoing commentary about the proceedings.
What has the Army done?
TRADOC conducts these conferences to facilitate seminal discussion among senior Army leaders, but now you don't have to be general officer to get a front-row seat. The inclusion of social media in this year's TSLC provides a near real-time interactive public dialogue that offers an opportunity for the outside community to understand and even participate in the conversation by reading and writing on the SWJ discussion board. Also, TRADOC Public Affairs will guide followers through the many planned conference events using Twitter, Facebook, blog posts via TRADOC Live, and web updates.
The "Next Battles" conference theme emphasizes the future as our Army returns to a 1:2 BOG/DWELL (Boots on the Ground dwell time in unit rotations out of theater to home-station). This TSLC will address institutional adaptation; synchronizing and aligning the TRADOC Campaign Plan (TCP), merging the TCP with the Army Enterprise effort, and replicating the complexities of combat in Army training.
What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?
TRADOC envisions far more interaction between everyday people and senior Army leaders; and social networking tools make this possible. Public feedback from this TSLC will help drive the discussion forward and shape future TSLC events that will include more military bloggers, an expansion of TRADOC Live active-duty contributors, and a Facebook fan page devoted to TSLC issues. Soon, the Army will implement a new social networking policy, formally opening the door to even greater transparency and interaction between the Army and the public.
Why is this important to the Army?
The participation and interaction with the social media community allows the Army and TRADOC the opportunity to tell its story in a transparent, thoughtful manner, while offering the public community a stake in the future of their Army.
Resources / Background:
TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference - General Martin Dempsey
Training and Doctrine Command Web site
SWJ's Small Wars Council - TRADOC SLC forum
TRADOC Live
by SWJ Editors | Mon, 08/17/2009 - 1:16am | 9 comments
The Land of 10,000 Wars - Ganesh Sitaraman, New York Times opinion.As General Stanley McChrystal's 60-day strategic assessment is wrapping up, he poised to recommend a new approach for Afghanistan, one grounded in counterinsurgency's strategy of protecting the population.This is an important step, but for the new strategy to succeed, it must recognize that there isn't just one Afghan war - there are thousands of Afghan wars, each differing in motivations, organization, regional strength and possibilities for resolution...The challenge for General McChrystal is creating a comprehensive and integrated strategy for Afghanistan out of the hundreds, if not thousands, of peoples, identities, and conflicts in the country...
More at The New York Times.
by SWJ Editors | Sun, 08/16/2009 - 8:52am | 7 comments
Why We Need More Troops in Afghanistan - Frederick W. Kagan, Washington Post opinion.... I recently returned from second trip to Afghanistan. Having studied the demographics and potential effects of a surge in Iraq as well as here, I think those who resist sending more troops must answer a question: Why would counterinsurgency in Afghanistan be easier? It seems pretty hard. Afghanistan is significantly larger and more populous than Iraq, for example. Its compartmentalized terrain hinders the movement of forces and resources. The fragmented nature of Afghan society keeps "ink spots" of security success from spreading. The enemy's attacks are not as spectacular as they were in Iraq, but its operations are sophisticated and effective. US Army doctrine calls for one counterinsurgent for every 50 people. The Afghan insurgency is confined to the Pashtun and some mixed areas of the country - perhaps 16 million people requiring about 320,000 counterinsurgent troops. US, international and Afghan forces will total around 275,000 by the end of this year, or roughly 45,000 below the doctrinal norm. In reality, most of the Afghan police are ineffective at best, and several thousand coalition forces are legally prevented from fighting. The actual gap between the forces we have in Afghanistan and what doctrine recommends is significantly higher...
More at The Washington Post.
How Many Troops for Afghanistan? - Washington Post opinions. Ed Rogers, Scott Keeter, Dennis Kucinich, Meghan O'Sullivan and Andrew Natsios debate the politics of sending more troops to Afghanistan.
by SWJ Editors | Sun, 08/16/2009 - 8:21am | 2 comments
US Plans a Mission Against Taliban's Propaganda - Thom Shanker, New York Times.The Obama administration is establishing a new unit within the State Department for countering militant propaganda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, engaging more fully than ever in a war of words and ideas that it acknowledges the United States has been losing.Proposals are being considered to give the team up to $150 million a year to spend on local FM radio stations, to counter illegal militant broadcasting, and on expanded cellphone service across Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project would step up the training of local journalists and help produce audio and video programming, as well as pamphlets, posters and CDs denigrating militants and their messages.Senior officials say they consider the counterpropaganda mission to be vital to the war...
More at The New York Times.
by SWJ Editors | Sun, 08/16/2009 - 8:15am | 0 comments
GI Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier as War Evolves - Lizette Alvarez, New York Times.... Before 2001, America's military women had rarely seen ground combat. Their jobs kept them mostly away from enemy lines, as military policy dictates.But the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, often fought in marketplaces and alleyways, have changed that. In both countries, women have repeatedly proved their mettle in combat. The number of high-ranking women and women who command all-male units has climbed considerably along with their status in the military."Iraq has advanced the cause of full integration for women in the Army by leaps and bounds," said Peter R. Mansoor, a retired Army colonel who served as executive officer to Gen. David H. Petraeus while he was the top American commander in Iraq. "They have earned the confidence and respect of male colleagues."Their success, widely known in the military, remains largely hidden from public view. In part, this is because their most challenging work is often the result of a quiet circumvention of military policy....
More at The New York Times.
by Bing West | Sat, 08/15/2009 - 7:23pm | 54 comments
I came back from my latest month in the field in Afghanistan disquieted about our basic military mission. Is the military mission to engage, push back and dismantle the Talbian networks, with population protection being a tactic to gain tips and local militia, or is the military mission to build a nation by US soldiers protecting the widespread population, with engagements against the Taliban as a byproduct?
It appears our strategy is nation-building, with fighting and dismantling of the Taliban a secondary consideration. Thus, the number of enemy killed will not be counted, let alone used as a metric. This non-kinetic theory of counterinsurgency has persuaded the liberal community in America to support or at least not to vociferously oppose the war. But we have to maintain a balance between messages that gain domestic support and messages that direct battlefield operations...
by Marc Tyrrell | Sat, 08/15/2009 - 4:59pm | 8 comments
Lynddie England and Free Speech
Originally posted at In Harmonium
Yesterday, Friday August 14th, was to have seen a talk given by Lynndie England at the Library of Congress on her new biography Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs That Shocked the World. The talk, however, sparked a very strong reaction from Morris Davis, a veteran and employee of the Library of Congress that was posted at the SWJ Blog here.
The post itself is in the genre of "Shocked and Appalled" style, letter to the Editor. Davis notes that:
by Dave Dilegge | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 5:49pm | 24 comments
As reported by the Associated Press. I really should respond - but why bother - or should I?A lecture by the woman who became the public face of the Abu Ghraib scandal was canceled Friday at the Library of Congress after threats caused concerns about staff safety...David Moore, a Vietnam War veteran and German acquisitions specialist at the library who organized the event, said he had received several e-mails threatening violence and that he shared them with police and the library's inspector general...He said he was disappointed by the cancellation but supports the decision because of safety concerns. "We can't have an event here that's going to develop into a brawl like a town hall meeting," he said.He added, "Free speech in America is pretty well dead."He blamed an essay decrying the event [link added] on the Small Wars Journal blog for stirring up much of the opposition. The site focuses on war politics and strategy...
Nah, he said it all and opened himself up to severe criticism by those better versed than I. Moore is quoted as saying - "I'm just fed up" - welcome to the club Mr. Moore - you are in select company.
He never contacted us - nor did any officials concerning the so-called threats - and obviously he has some sort of agenda. Might as well preach to a wall than try to reason with the unreasonable - you can quote me here - I'm just fed up.
by Robert Haddick | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 5:32pm | 1 comment
Here is the latest edition of my column at Foreign Policy:
Topics include:
1) Drones are taking over the Air Force,
2) Maybe the state is the problem, not the solution.
by SWJ Editors | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 11:41am | 0 comments
Via e-mail from our long time and dear friend Jack Holt, now we know what he has been up to during his long silence;-)
The Department of Defense (DoD) Web 2.0 Guidance Forum is a new initiative to solicit input from the public that has been undertaken in the spirit of President Obama's Open Government Directive. President Obama issued a memorandum on 21 January 2009 entitled, "Transparency and Open Government," which emphasized the need to ensure public trust and to establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. We are using this blog as an approach to engage the public in Department of Defense (DoD) considerations of web 2.0 capabilities, and are excited to participate in this new facet to the President's openness and transparency efforts.
The blog posts will be written by a number of different DoD participants. The primary moderators will be Noel Dickover, a contractor supporting the DoD CIO, and Jack Holt, Senior Strategist for Emerging Media. In some cases, we may post blog entries for other participants. This will be annotated by the author's name listed at the bottom of the blog post.
by SWJ Editors | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 10:08am | 0 comments
Social Media Allows the Public to Participate in TRADOC Senior Leader Talks - Stand-To!
What is it?
During the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) semi-annual Senior Leaders Conference (TSLC) TRADOC leaders discuss emerging issues and chart the way ahead. Now for the first time, TRADOC will make the conference transparent and seek public interaction by allowing anyone to follow the conversation, contribute comments and ask questions via a Small Wars Journal (SWJ) discussion board. At the August 18 to 20 conference, two editors and a moderator from SWJ will blog live, providing readers observations and ongoing commentary about the proceedings.
What has the Army done?
TRADOC conducts these conferences to facilitate seminal discussion among senior Army leaders, but now you don't have to be general officer to get a front-row seat. The inclusion of social media in this year's TSLC provides a near real-time interactive public dialogue that offers an opportunity for the outside community to understand and even participate in the conversation by reading and writing on the SWJ discussion board. Also, TRADOC Public Affairs will guide followers through the many planned conference events using Twitter, Facebook, blog posts via TRADOC Live, and web updates.
The "Next Battles" conference theme emphasizes the future as our Army returns to a 1:2 BOG/DWELL (Boots on the Ground dwell time in unit rotations out of theater to home-station). This TSLC will address institutional adaptation; synchronizing and aligning the TRADOC Campaign Plan (TCP), merging the TCP with the Army Enterprise effort, and replicating the complexities of combat in Army training.
What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?
TRADOC envisions far more interaction between everyday people and senior Army leaders; and social networking tools make this possible. Public feedback from this TSLC will help drive the discussion forward and shape future TSLC events that will include more military bloggers, an expansion of TRADOC Live active-duty contributors, and a Facebook fan page devoted to TSLC issues. Soon, the Army will implement a new social networking policy, formally opening the door to even greater transparency and interaction between the Army and the public.
Why is this important to the Army?
The participation and interaction with the social media community allows the Army and TRADOC the opportunity to tell its story in a transparent, thoughtful manner, while offering the public community a stake in the future of their Army.
Resources:
Training and Doctrine Command Web site
Small Wars Journal discussion board
TRADOC Live
by SWJ Editors | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 8:26am | 2 comments
A very good read by Mark Safranski at Zenpundit - On Afghanistan and Strategy.
by SWJ Editors | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 4:13am | 15 comments
US Boots On Congo Ground - Michael O'Hanlon, Washington Post opinion.... Yet how can the US military, so overstretched in strategically crucial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, spare any troops for this type of primarily humanitarian venture? The dilemma is similar to that faced in recent years in Darfur, where we wanted to do something but did not have the forces.Admittedly, there may not be a solution tomorrow. But by tapping into President Obama's call for a new spirit of volunteerism and national service, there may be a way to make a difference sometime in 2010. The idea involves a new type of military unit that the Pentagon should propose during its ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review.For crises like those in Congo and Darfur, the United States should consider a radical innovation in recruiting policy. We should create a peace operations division in the Army with individuals enlisting specifically for this purpose. There would be risks in such a venture, to be sure. But they are manageable and tolerable risks, especially since most such deployments would be legitimated by the United Nations, carried out with partners such as key allies, and backstopped by the US armed forces in worst-case scenarios...
More at The Washington Post.
by Dave Dilegge | Thu, 08/13/2009 - 3:55pm | 12 comments
Welcome to our world Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D. - We at SWJ and those on our left side-bar (blog roll) wish you the best of luck. We'll be watching you;-)
Here's Loren's "beach-side" e-mail press release:
Greetings from New England. Yes, I too am at the beach. But I'm still working, and the purpose of this brief is to tell you about a new project that the Lexington Institute has launched while you were away. It is a defense blog. Yes, yes, I know -- there are already hundreds of defense blogs, and many of them are pretty awful. But that's why we launched our own blog on the Lexington homepage, called Early Warning. It isn't awful. In fact, I'm betting that if you read a few entries, at some point you'll say -- "Gee, I didn't know that."
We all recognize what the main problem is with blogs. The barriers to entry are so low that almost anyone with a laptop can start one, and it's hard to sort out the good ones from tendentious nonsense. For every interesting, competent effort like DoD Buzz, there are dozens of ill-mannered rants masquerading as insight. To say that blogs have lowered the standards of public discourse on policy matters is an under-statement -- there are no standards. Anybody can say anything, with extra points for verbosity.
We are trying a different approach. First, we intend to keep our postings brief. It will be a rare day indeed that a posting on Early Warning runs as long as this brief, and the typical posting will run to two or three paragraphs. Second, we plan to be long on facts -- especially little known, useful facts -- and short on opinions. I mean really, why should you care what I think about the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle or V-22 tiltrotor unless I have inside information to impart? And third, we intend to write about national security in a somewhat more expansive manner than most military analysts. We will frequently look beyond the realm of strategy and tactics, to dissect economic trends, political developments and technology breakthroughs that have a material bearing on national security.
Obviously, we do not expect this vision of a world-class web-log to spring spontaneously from the collective consciousness of the Lexington braintrust onto the Internet. It will take some time to get the blog right, including all the material that surrounds it at www.lexingtoninstitute.org. The blog has actually been up and running for over two weeks, and we are still tweaking features such as how the postings display and are written. But we think we're off to a good start, and are already getting indications that people in the defense community have noticed.
We want Early Warning to be an island of sanity in the chaos of the Worldwide Web. With so many traditional news outlets declining and no new hierarchy of credible sources yet emerged, we'd like to offer a site that is both sensible and engaging. We will never match the resources of the New York Times or the reach of the Associated Press. But we hope that when you read something on the Lexington blog and say, "Gee, I didn't know that," it will be because the information is new and not because it is wrong.
Update:
Defense Industry Consultant Launches Blog, Insults Bloggers - War is Boring
Phib, why did you start blogg'n? - CDR Salamander
Who died and made you king? - USNI Blog
Early Warning—The Pretend Blog - ELP Defense Blog
by Martin Dempsey | Thu, 08/13/2009 - 3:38pm | 3 comments
I first want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss the important issues facing us and to gain your perspectives and insights on the critical task of adapting our institution to more effectively support the nation's national security interests. I view Small Wars Journal as an important gathering place for strategic thought, and I appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most thoughtful minds in our country.
The upcoming TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference (TSLC) in Gettysburg comes at an important time for Training and Doctrine Command and for our Army. We continue to transform TRADOC while simultaneously supporting transitions in both OIF and OEF. Let me offer some thoughts and considerations as we put our shoulders behind these challenges and opportunities over the next 2 years.
If our experience over the last eight years has taught us anything, it's that war and conflict will continue to increase in complexity. We know that conflict will be waged among the population and for influence on the population, and we know our leaders and their soldiers will operate among a diverse set of actors along blurred military, political, economic, religious and ethnic lines with the potential for escalation and spillover in a variety of unpredictable ways.
Hybrid threats--combinations of regular military forces and irregular threats often in collaboration with criminal and terrorist elements--will migrate among operational themes to seek advantage. The operating environment will become more competitive as our adversaries decentralize, network, and gain technological capabilities formerly found only in the hands of nation states.
The challenge confronting us is building balance and versatility into the force by developing our leaders, by designing our organizations, and by adapting the institution. The outcomes we seek are flexibility and resilience to hedge against future uncertainty. Three imperatives are guiding our efforts to align the operational and institutional Army to meet demands and support the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) model:
• Develop our military and civilian leaders• Provide trained and ready forces to support current operations
• Integrate current and emerging capabilities
These imperatives will remain in tension for the foreseeable future, but there are things we can do to bring them into better balance. The TRADOC Campaign Plan (TCP) describes how we'll achieve balance across our priority lines of operation: Human Capital, Initial Military Training, Leader Development, and Capabilities Integration.
The focus of our discussions during the TSLC will be on the TRADOC Campaign Plan (TCP). We will also examine how TRADOC's TCP aligns with and complements the Human Capital Enterprise. We'll demonstrate how the Central Training Database will become the "Training Brain" for TRADOC and provide us the opportunity to enhance training in the institutional schoolhouse.
As you may know, we've asked ourselves how we can replicate the complexity our leaders experience while they are deployed, and we will discuss some emerging opportunities to do just that. I'd like this to generate discussion about how TRADOC can lead innovation in training and education to account for the speed of change in the contemporary operating environment.
I look forward in the coming weeks to a lively, thoughtful discussion with the Small Wars Journal community.
-----
SWJ Editors' note - We will be live blogging from the TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference next week. A discussion forum has been set up at the Small Wars Council. Please feel free to post your questions, thoughts and opinions - engage!