Small Wars Journal

A Tale of Two Manuals

Tue, 11/23/2010 - 9:26pm
A Tale of Two Manuals by Raphael S. Cohen in the current issue of the Center For Complex Operations' Prisim Journal. From the introduction: This article is a tale of two manuals, FM 3--24 Counterinsurgency and the U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide, and their relative impacts. It briefly tells how each document came into being. Next, it wrestles with how we measure the impact of doctrine. Third, it explores a series of possible reasons for why the two had dramatically different impacts. Finally, it asks what this indicates for the future of complex operations within the whole-of-government approach and interagency counterinsurgency doctrine.