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Four modern military myths
These are four military myths according to US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley:Myth 1: Wars of the future will be short. Our founding fathers did not intend to fight a six-year war for independence, nor did President Lincoln envision the length and cost of the American Civil War. World War I was supposed to last six weeks. In our contemporary setting, our national leaders never envisioned a war in Iraq or Afghanistan that spanned more than 15 years. Although there have been some short wars in history, most have taken much longer than originally thought. We cannot assume wars of the future will be short. Myth 2: Wars can be won from a great distance using advanced technology. It is seductive to think that our precision stand-off munitions can alone win a war. Wars are a function of politics, politics is about people and people live on the ground. To impose political will by war, ultimately, it must be done on the ground. [Which calls to mind what military historian T. R. Fehrenbach wrote in This Kind of War, that, "you may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life--but if you desire to defend it, protect it and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men in the mud."] Myth 3: Special operations forces can do it all. Our special forces are the best in the world, but their mission is narrow and they are not designed, trained, manned, nor equipped to win wars between nation states. No one service or group can. Nations win wars and it takes the full joint force to do so. Myth 4: Armies are easy to regenerate. Enlist a few Soldiers, train a few leaders and you have a unit ready to fight so the myth narrative goes. Leaders take years to develop the competencies and skills our Army needs in combat. A platoon sergeant requires 15 years of training and experience to be effective. A battalion commander may take 17 years. As a unit, they must also execute tasks across a range of missions, and train on those tasks with great repetition to build the synergy and cohesion needed to be the best Army in the world. Competent armies are not at all easy to generate; it takes considerable time. Worth pondering. I think these numbers are, just a bit, exaggerated Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-10-28 |
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