Small Change
U.S. Army Spc. Nathaniel Small, 29, from Rockland, Maine, of 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, based at Fort Drum, N.Y., smokes before a joint patrol with Afghan soldiers in the Jalrez Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
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A little CI comment gleaned from one small AP photo:
How can an artilleryman without his artillery piece be of any consequence in a Counterinsurgency environment? These individuals are not trained for COIN, nor do they understand it.
The number of new soldiers being assigned to Afghanistan is meaningless if those soldiers are not trained for in-theatre considerations. Numbers do not always yield the result one expects.
If it's a true COIN war, let's stick with Special Operations Forces. Saying these actions are COIN is a fiction, however, which is why artillerymen are being employed.
The Army lacks the assets to achieve its elusive goals.
How can an artilleryman without his artillery piece be of any consequence in a Counterinsurgency environment? These individuals are not trained for COIN, nor do they understand it.
The number of new soldiers being assigned to Afghanistan is meaningless if those soldiers are not trained for in-theatre considerations. Numbers do not always yield the result one expects.
If it's a true COIN war, let's stick with Special Operations Forces. Saying these actions are COIN is a fiction, however, which is why artillerymen are being employed.
The Army lacks the assets to achieve its elusive goals.
Labels: COIN. counterinsurgency
posted by rangeragainstwar at 11:20 AM
8 Comments:
goals?
what are the goals you keep talking about?
it's like reagan's famous "plan" for the cold war...."we win, they lose."\
unfortunately, that wasn't a plan, it was a slogan.
we live in a very strange time, scheming is confused with vision,
we are expected to mistake volume for sincerety.
we will be burying two more young men from the arizona guard in yuma next week.
honor will be rendered, pipes will be played, the harp strummed.
while we are doing that, they are going to be running around washington figuring out the "spin" or how to sell their next "plan."
my plan? keep the harp tuned, the pipes oiled, and i guess i'll need to keep my shovel handy too.
i fear the only thing to be accomplished is employment security for grave diggers.
the closest i ever heard master chief norr come to philosophy was when he talked about how most folks have a misconception about the tasks of a soldier. he said "we dig. before the fight we dig our holes and trenches. after the fight we dig the graves. we are diggers."
"Diggers" -- interesting. Strange days indeed. I heard an NPR broadcast on FL employment recently which listed prison work as our one reliable growth industry.
AOL news this morning lists Arby's and other fast food restaurants as possible employers . . .
deja vu all over again.....
You know I was thinking along these lines the other day. Why isn't Afghanistan turned over to SF? It seems their skillset is best suited for this conflict. We don't need Big Army running around trying to refight the Battle of the Bulge. We need to use trainers, teachers, welldiggers, doctors. We need people that will creep around in the dark with brass knuckles and bowie knives and aren't afraid to cut a few throats.
barcalounger,
Maybe you're funnin' me but the problem with COIN is that we're figuratively cutting too many throats.
Yes SF is the tool to use but as you point out they also are emphasizing direct action over internal defense and development and population and resources control.
Whatever tool we use will be unsuccessful b/c there is not a nation to build, only people to be killed, and they aren't even a threat to America.
Thanks for writing.
jim
MB,
Dylan said it best in Blowing In the Wind.
How many have to die before we realize that too many have already died.
It's an extremely soldierly thing that you do by playing at the funerals. I salute you.
jim
GD,
Poignant tune.
BTB: MilPub picked up your Will Ferrell You Tube.
thanks Lisa... I saw it over there and left a comment...
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