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... but are instead committed to something resembling a conventional war, inevitably, many of the principles of COIN doctrine will come ... Concept. The document, in my mind, may put the COIN vs. MCO debate to rest or at least reframe the discussion. If you look at ...

Blog entry - Sep 16 2010 - 11:47am - 59 comments - 0 attachments

... in the opposing camp(s). COL Gentile might argue that conventional warfare done right (with the appropriate number and type of ... the allied facts that tasks vary widely (e.g. Desert Storm vs. OIF 1), that conditions vary even more widely (e.e those same two ...

Blog entry - Jan 4 2010 - 12:54pm - 89 comments - 0 attachments

... are bad for US forces but "the ratio of enemy killed vs. security forces killed may tell you how aggressive and confident an Afghan ... Amland and Gian Gentile who might publicly challenge the conventional wisdom in play. Thank you, Mr. Exum for keeping the contrarians in ...

Blog entry - Feb 8 2010 - 1:36pm - 79 comments - 0 attachments

... FM 3-24 lacks that understanding. Talk of development vs counterguerrilla, populace "control" vs populace "separation", etc without ... dudes have taken everybody else off the hook. Time for the conventional forces to close down. COIN was never what was needed. What's ...

Journal Article - May 5 2011 - 8:01pm - 73 comments

... The Vietnam War was never just about insurgency or conventional operations, it was JUST war and the North Vietnamese communists ... Dave Maxwell's point about too much hyping of the Coin vs CT thing, the problem as I see it and as reflected in this Dobbins piece is ...

Blog entry - Oct 27 2010 - 6:28am - 33 comments - 0 attachments

... intimidation and whatnot. This as true in COIN and conventional warfare as it is in criminal policing. Your follow-on ... weeks ago inspired much of this essay. This issue of Pop vs. Enemy Centric COIN (or POP-Centric vs. everything else) isn't as black and ...

Journal Article - May 25 2010 - 2:05pm - 60 comments

... is eroding the military's ability to wage large-scale conventional wars... Col. Gentile is giving voice to an idea that ... that deterrence to air and maritime coercion only vs. the ability to compel on land would be a self-imposed constraint. Such a ...

Blog entry - Apr 7 2008 - 5:02am - 22 comments - 0 attachments

... political benefit. Obama may have concluded that conventional U.S. ground forces in Afghanistan no longer provide much leverage ... interests to align with ours. This is not about COIN vs CT. We've miss-defined this issue and region from the start, and have been ...

Blog entry - Jun 23 2011 - 12:30pm - 64 comments - 0 attachments

... with some experience in the practical side of COIN and conventional operations, but long ago. He believes that while technology ... Failure I disagree that comparing the number of US vs ANA killed is an indicator of whether the ANA could be trusted or useful. I ...

Blog entry - Jul 23 2009 - 11:06am - 52 comments - 0 attachments

... need both a hero and a villan thus you have Abrams (good) vs. Westmoreland (bad). As for the Army it couldn't get more delicious. ... Laos and into North Vietnam. Abrams was fighting a conventional war of maneuver, his political masters were trying to end the war ...

Journal Article - Jul 21 2010 - 3:49pm - 43 comments