Army at crossroads, facing budget cuts and uncertainty about future role

[BMT (RIP)]

“We are at a crossroads right now, and I don’t get the sense that we know what we are doing,” said Maj. Fernando Lujan, a Special Forces soldier who has served multiple combat tours. “I am worried about the Army.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/army-at-crossroads-facing-budget-cuts-and-uncertainty-about-future-role/2012/11/22/567c1190-3405-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

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[Dozer523]

A few comments on portions of the article:
On COIN
"Meanwhile, many mid-level officers are voicing new doubts about the Army’s battlefield performances in Iraq and Afghanistan. A few years ago, Army officers almost universally celebrated the service’s freshly minted counterinsurgency doctrine and its ability to adapt to a new kind of warfare.. . .Today Iraq, which is still wracked by violence and influenced by Iran, seems like less of a victory than it did only a short time ago. In Afghanistan, a surge of more than 30,000 U.S. troops has produced a stalemate that leaves soldiers counting down to withdrawal at the end of 2014.
So basically, COIN doesn't work . . . because?
Because it was a bastardization of Guerrilla Operations that was executed by people who did not have the training, or mindset of Special Forces. When it got tough and the results took too long for the PP slide metric ("why isn't that green?") hearts and minds went away conventionals reverted to grab em by the balls.

And this is sort of a pet peeve,
“Our learning curve has been much too slow,” ...
Learning curves are not fast or slow, they are steep or shallow.
The x axis is how long it take the y axis is how much you learn. Steeper is better.

[Badger52]

When it got tough and the results took too long for the PP slide metric ("why isn't that green?") hearts and minds went away conventionals reverted to grab em by the balls.Yup. Management of the chiclet, prisoners of the plan.

[Trapper John]

“We are at a crossroads right now, and I don’t get the sense that we know what we are doing,” said Maj. Fernando Lujan, a Special Forces soldier who has served multiple combat tours. “I am worried about the Army.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/army-at-crossroads-facing-budget-cuts-and-uncertainty-about-future-role/2012/11/22/567c1190-3405-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

BMT

If you don't mind the perspective of SF VN era vet - we have been through this before. In the post-VN era, the very existence of SF was in jeopardy. The issue was leadership or I should say the lack of leadership. Just as today. The result then was a revolution in Iran, the rise of radical Islam, taking of US hostages, and botched rescue mission (a real CF). Sound familiar?

Missed opportunities with the Arab spring, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's Morsi bastardizing the democratic process, Turkey calling Israel a terrorist State, the Benghazi tragedy..... History repeats.

The emergence of the SOF command structure, the acceptance and incorporation of the SOF mission as military doctrine was a direct result of the persistence of few SF leaders then.

Today the issues are deeper societal issues and the cynic will argue that we no longer value exceptionalism and have replaced it with egalitarianism. A case can be made that we have passed the "tipping-point".

I believe that we can change the course of events and write our history. That will not be quick and it will not be easy. We are no strangers to those challenges - the only easy day was yesterday.