NationStates Jolt Archive


US Army Guide to Fighting

Eutrusca
22-11-2004, 19:04
For the First Time Since Vietnam, the Army Prints a Guide to Fighting
Insurgents

By DOUGLAS JEHL and THOM SHANKER

Published: November 13, 2004


WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 - For the first time in decades, the Army has issued
a field guide to counterinsurgency warfare, an acknowledgment that the
kind of fighting under way in Iraq may become more common in the years
ahead.

The Army field manual on counterinsurgency operations is the first since
the early Vietnam era, and the first ever intended for the kind of
regular Army units now embroiled in battles in Iraq, as opposed to the
Special Operations forces who have taken the lead in previous
counterinsurgencies.

Under orders issued in February, the manual was prepared on an
accelerated basis by the Combined Arms Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kan.,
and was distributed to all officers, in Iraq and elsewhere, beginning
last month. An introduction says the "aftermath of instability'' in Iraq
that followed the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime underscored the
need for an updated Army guide to counterinsurgency warfare.

Until now, formal American military doctrine for fighting insurgencies
has been so limited that many Marines were deployed to Iraq with copies
of the Marine Corps' "Small Wars Manual,'' issued in 1940. The most
recent Army guides on the subject, written principally for Special
Operations forces, were prepared in 1963 and
1965, in the early stages of the Vietnam War. Like the Army, the Marine
Corps is also updating its manual.

The new Army guide contains instructions on such matters as searching a
family car and setting up a hasty checkpoint. Other passages address the
role played by "transnational insurgents,'' like the foreign fighters in
Iraq, and emphasize the role of intelligence, rather than Vietnam-era
search and destroy missions, in finding insurgents.

The guide also includes a stark warning about the dangers of prolonged
counterinsurgency operations, saying that the longer American forces
take the lead in such efforts, the greater the resentment they breed
among the host-country population.

"A long-term U.S. combat role may undermine the legitimacy of the H.N.
government and risks converting the conflict into a U.S.-only war," the
manual says, using an abbreviation for host nation. "That combat role
can also further alienate cultures that are hostile to the U.S."

In some ways, military officials said, the guide just reflects tactics,
techniques and procedures that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan already
use, such as armoring vehicles against improvised explosives.

But for a hierarchical organization like the Army, the distribution of
the guide is a sign of the importance being attached to the issue.

Army officers who have recently returned from yearlong duty in Iraq
applauded the doctrine, but said its methods were nothing new to field
commanders, who have been employing and refining such tactics for
months. The guide's distribution in October came nearly 18 months after
the Iraq insurgency began in May 2003, following President Bush's
declaration of an end to major combat operations.

Army officers have acknowledged that the Army was ill-prepared to
contend with the new environment.

"The important point here is that the Army has again, a bit late,
recognized the importance of counterinsurgency, and is working to
improve its capability to fight and win low-intensity conflicts," said
an Army officer who recently returned from Iraq and demanded anonymity
because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

The document is unclassified, but the Army has limited its distribution
to Defense Department personnel, "to maintain operations security," the
document says. A copy of the document, dated October 2004, was posted
Thursday on a Web site run by the Federation of American Scientists.

Officially, the document is a "field manual interim,'' a new designation
that allows the Army to accelerate its normal schedule for preparing
doctrine. The guide's principal author, Lt. Col. Jan Horvath of the
Army, said in a telephone interview that it was completed in just five
months; the Army usually insists on developing new doctrine over a
period of three years.

"The stunning victory over Saddam Hussein's army in 2003 validated U.S.
conventional force T.T.P.," the document says, using an abbreviation for
tactics, techniques and procedures. "But the ensuing aftermath of
instability has caused review of lessons from the Army's historical
experience and those of the other services and multinational partners."

According to the field manual, known as F.M.I. 3-07.22, the impetus for
its creation "came from the Iraq insurgency and the realization that
engagements in the Global War on Terrorism (G.W.O.T.) would likely use
counterinsurgency T.T.P.'s." It says its purpose is to review "what we
know about counterinsurgency" and to explain "the fundamentals of
military operations in counterinsurgency environment."

Even before the document was published, military officers said that the
Army's main training centers at Fort Polk, La., and Fort Irwin, Calif.,
had begun to consider lessons and comments from soldiers engaged in the
Iraq counterinsurgency.

One purpose for the manual, Colonel Horvath said, was to update archaic
language and concepts. The "Small Wars Manual," which many Marines
carried to Iraq, includes sections on the "management of animals'' like
mules, and assertions like a warning that mixed-race societies are
"always difficult to govern, if not ungovernable, owing to the absence
of a fixed character.''

The Army did issue a manual in 1990, F.M. 3-20, on the subject of
military operations in low-intensity conflict, and that document
included a section on counterinsurgency. But Colonel Horvath said that
his commanders, including Lt. Gen. William Wallace, a top Army commander
during the invasion of Iraq who now heads the Combined Arms Center, had
found it to be inadequate.

Senior Army officials said that events on the ground in Iraq and in
Afghanistan made it clear months ago that the service had to revamp its
doctrine for fighting insurgents.

"We needed to update the counterinsurgency doctrine," General Wallace
said in an interview in late summer, as the document's authors were
putting on the finishing touches. "That hadn't been looked at since the
post-Vietnam era."

General Wallace, who commanded the Army's V Corps during the Iraqi war,
said that Army authors worked closely with the Marine Corps and with the
British military, which has extensive counterinsurgency experience in
places like Northern Ireland. But General Wallace cautioned that
successful counterinsurgencies required calibrating the right degree of
force with economic development and political institutions.

"We've got to strike the right balance," General Wallace said. "Security
has to be there for the economy and government to work. But having an
economy and government is essential for security."


Eric Schmitt contributed reporting for this article.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
Utonium
22-11-2004, 19:20
In an ironic twist, the epigraph of this best-seller comes from the Koran:

"Slay them wherever you find them... for persecution is worse than slaughter." -- Sura 2, v.191

Seriously, though, why does this book sound like it was written to tell the field commanders, in no uncertain terms, that "[y]ou guys are so f***ed!"

Long-term U.S. combat breeds resentment!
Mixed-race societies are hard to govern!
Your vehicles need to be extra armored!

I thought it was the protestors who were supposed to ruin our troop morale.
Andaluciae
22-11-2004, 19:20
I wonder why...
Eutrusca
22-11-2004, 19:28
In an ironic twist, the epigraph of this best-seller comes from the Koran:

"Slay them wherever you find them... for persecution is worse than slaughter." -- Sura 2, v.191

Seriously, though, why does this book sound like it was written to tell the field commanders, in no uncertain terms, that "[y]ou guys are so f***ed!"

Perhaps because we learned in Vietnam to overstate the case just a bit so commanders don't become overconfident.
Ogiek
22-11-2004, 20:18
The article forgot to include the addendum to the Army manual, as crossed referenced with the Monte Python and the Holy Grail manual:

"Runaway! Runaway!"
Utonium
22-11-2004, 20:26
Nah, that's only for when TERROR! smuggles a killer bunny rabbit into Iraq. ;)

But... um... are you sure they're overstating the case, Eutrusca? I mean, the place does seem pretty bad to awful. And it's not like humility will help us kill that many more people.
New Kiev
22-11-2004, 20:35
Is CQC (Close Quarters Combat) included in this guide?