This vivid narrative about an extraordinary American officer in Afghanistan presents two stories, both of interest to military professionals.
Some of the major “lessons learned” by ISAF while conducting Counterinsurgency and Stability Operations in Afghanistan
Interoperability is a function of leadership, hardship, and time. To quickly achieve it, focus on individual personalities, understand that everyone has value, and exercise mission command.
The “U.S. in the Lead” COIN approach usually fails where security force assistance could succeed.
The Civilian Irregular Defense Group was one of Special Forces’ greatest success stories and by far the greatest example of how to fight unconventional warfare with an economy of force approach.
Do the terrain and the friendly and enemy situations allow stability operations at the village or district level?
If the coalition consolidates on major bases along the ring road and attempts a Soviet-style hub and spoke concept, the result will be the same: defeat.
Times of crisis can be a brief window of opportunity for large institutional bureaucracies to overcome jurisdictional boundaries and make changes to business as usual.
Operators must understand local culture and must harness the power of local institutions to fight an irregular enemy. A proposed method to do so.
The most frustrating moment for the J2 occurs when the operations summary contains more useful intelligence-producing data than the official intelligence reporting.
