COIN, Complexity, and Full-Spectrum Warfare

COIN, Complexity, and Full-Spectrum Warfare:

Is it possible to have Center of Gravity given all the Fog and Friction?

by Grant M. Martin

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The United States Army uses a concept called the Center of Gravity (CoG) to help determine where the focus of efforts should be during warfare. For instance, during recent U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) practical exercises, students many times identified an enemy’s most powerful corps or armored division as the Operational CoG that must be defeated in order for U.S. forces to be successful in a conventional fight. In counterinsurgency exercises the CoG was usually identified as “the will of the people”, in fact many instructors stifled debate by insinuating there was no alternative. Students took hours to debate CoGs and usually arrived at a consensual conclusion that was widely regarded as wrong by the students. This follows statements made by senior-ranking field grade guest instructors such as, “CoG analysis has never helped me understand a problem” and “getting the CoG right isn’t important, doing the thinking is.” The possibility that CoG analysis may offer no greater understanding of the true nature of a conflict should cause military professionals concern.

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MAJ Grant Martin is a U.S. Army Special Forces officer assigned to the NATO Training Mission- Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.

Editor’s Note: This article first debuted in SWJ Vol 6, Issue 10.