Small Wars Journal

The Future Operating Environment is Here. It’s in Syria.

Tue, 10/09/2018 - 8:04am

The Future Operating Environment is Here. It’s in Syria. By Todd South – Army Times

There’s a lot of talk in military circles about future threats, operating environments and shifting the focus to a more complex fight.

But military and civilian leaders, fresh from Operation Inherent Resolve, have brought back a message from the battlefield – the future is now.

Chaotic, asymmetrical warfare, displaced civilian populations, rapidly evolving landscapes from kinetic operations to stabilization missions all while fighting alongside allies with competing aims, state and non-state actors, electronic warfare, weaponized drones and a flood of misinformation and propagand: welcome to the fight in Syria and Iraq.

British Maj. Gen. Felix Gedney, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Leah Lauderback and Mark Stroh with the State Department shared a recap of the OIR mission over the past few years at the annual Association of the U.S. Army Meeting and Exposition. How and what they’re seeing there is coming soon to a combat theater near you…

Read on.