On the Aesthetics of Doctrine

by Jason Fritz, Small Wars Journal Op-Ed

On the Aesthetics of Doctrine (Full PDF Article)

It will come as no surprise to the readers of the Small Wars Journal that there is a heated and vigorous debate ongoing over the future of the U.S. military -- both in its structure and in the missions it will execute. Much like the counterinsurgency conflict it debates, this discussion has highly-opinionated small minorities at each pole with a large population in the center whose loyalty is yet to be won. This paper focuses on those poles, those groups who have been named many things: Crusaders, Conservatives, COINdinistas, and anti-COIN, as a few examples. Instead of yet another treatise on the merits and detractors for each argument, this paper will attempt to frame the rationale behind these disparate positions by considering the world view of these actors. Put another way, this is a discussion of aesthetics with regard to counterinsurgency doctrine.

Aesthetics might seem an odd concept when contemplating any type of doctrine, but it should come as no surprise. Basic-level military science classes often discuss the balance of science and art in military operations, indicating that the intangibles are often as important as the measurable knowns. Doctrine, in and of itself, provides the science, but it is the master who exercises that doctrine in a maestro-like way who defeats his enemy and earns immortality in historic tomes. By defining military matters in terms of art, then the use of aesthetic ideals should not be entirely foreign as a descriptor for such matters. What student of military history does not see the beauty and sublime (as well was the horror) in the battles of yore?

On the Aesthetics of Doctrine (Full PDF Article)