Counterinsurgency and Gender: The Case of the Female Engagement Teams
Since 2009 the U.S. Marines have deployed Female Engagement Teams as part of its COIN effort. How does this relate to the gendering of COIN?
Morality and Pragmatism in the Obama Doctrine
Speculation remains as to what sort of foreign policy captain President Obama is and whether the president has articulated foreign policy doctrine specific to his administration.
Military Ethics and Cultural Knowledge
Each approach has its own inherent limitations. The human terrain approach was a ‘quick-fix’. But maybe the US Air Force’s model of cross-cultural competence offers more promise.
Identimetrics: Operationalizing Identity in Counterinsurgency Operations
Identimetrics adds identity to the operational and strategic context of counterinsurgency, which must be considered when operating in foreign environments and within foreign cultures.
HTS Redux: A “Halfie” Calls for an Anthropology of the Military
If we insist on using our military as a tool of diplomacy then it is essential that cultural training be a core part of the military skill set.
The Human Terrain System: Clashing Moralities or Rhetorical Dead Horses?
Do the military need socio-cultural knowledge in order to complete their missions? Yes. Is this only provided by the HTS? No.
Air-Minded Considerations for Joint Counterinsurgency Doctrine
An effort is now under way to draft a joint COIN doctrine informed by an air-minded perspective to reflect the range, speed, and capabilities of aerospace forces.
Understanding the Human Terrain in Warfare: A Clash of Moralities
Proof of concept programs are, by their very nature, cutting edge experiments funded to enhance the efficiency and morality of the warfare the U.S. Army is charged with conducting. It is unreasonable to assume that these programs will come out of the box perfect.
AMERICA’S NEXT WAR
The American public is tired of war. Soon there will be no US forces in Iraq and the scheduled drawdown of troops in Afghanistan is being accelerated. In both cases American field commanders objected to the withdrawals, hoping to preserve tenuously held gains in those conflicts by retaining on site American combat capabilities.
