Knowing the enemy as well as one's self and knowing those who one works with as been always the core of SF UW training---my point has always been while we tend to most of the time get the indigenous side right---it takes us awhile but we tend to get there in the end ---we fail though completely at understanding the enemy. Like Bill M stated if the enemy acquired ATGMs, beam riding weapons and secure Comms we would be looking a much more lethal conflict ecosystem - to put it mildly. [xli] If SOF is to be successful at the operational and higher tactical levels, absent a personnel system that allows for flexibility and mission focus, we must incorporate at the very least a rigorous testing and experimentation program to assist us in finding the right tools and philosophical approach for operating in the human domain. Then came the UW moment from my SF past when I asked him to explain what he meant by his comment even though "I already knew". The fires warfighting function as defined by the Army includes the following tasks: Deliver fires, integrate all forms of Army, joint and multinational fires, and conduct targeting. MCDAPO Team; MCDAPO Current References; MCDAPO Studies; Contact Us; MCDAPO 101; Resources; Headquarters and Service Battalion. We must introduce at least our SOF soldiers to the concepts of the critical realist[i] philosophy and to the practice of forming multi-paradigmatic views. Those two things are our inability to clearly articulate what it is we do within SOF and the afore-mentioned continued struggles in Afghanistan. So while our enemy understands us, I believe that we have a hard time understanding them insofar as we dont know how to defeat them. I agree with your assessment, the way we use technology largely replaced our use of the M1E to gain a true understanding of our operational environment, so while we have better battle field awareness on a T.V. What keeps them in the fight is they are observant and patient and both of those come free. The protection warfighting function is the related tasks and systems that preserve the force so the commander can apply maximum combat power to accomplish the mission (ADP 3-0). If war is the pursuit of one's political objective by other means, then soldiers and statesmen -- long before the enemy -- must know, acknowledge, plan and prepare specifically as relates to this political objective. I seriously doubt it. A warfighting function is a group of tasks and systems (people, organizations, information, and processes) united by a common purpose that commanders use to accomplish missions and training objectives. machines to improve warfighting capability across the spectrum of military operations. [xxxiv] White, Curtis, 7. Grant---I think part of the current issue inside SF is a distinct lack of UW experience passed on from the 60/70s to the Groups having to just survive in order to rebuild. Ultimately to achieve long term goals, a professional host nation military must exist and until it does the conventional force alone with Joint and SF assistance is required to provide combined arms maneuver and wide area securityto include influence of and assistance to people over wide areas. Carefully read the passage and choose the best answer for the question that follows. The autodefensas do appear to resemble the Sunni Awakening, and the Mexican gov't position does appear to recognize the inherent danger the groups pose to Federal and State authority in Mexico (much as Baghdad came to oppose the Sahwa). This is most likely well and good when SOF is engaged in doing the so-called surgical strike missions of which our nation (and our government to a large extent- to include USSOCOM) is enamored with as of late. The identification of the need for this information and subsequently coordinating its collection is therefore a part of the Int WFF. Thru the same lens they would have recognized what events indicate discipline and control and what events reflect anxiety, panic, fear and hysteria. Youve got to start it early, and thats one of the things Special Operations forces do very well build a small footprint. A SOF Design Guide or SOF Theory of Design may well be written one day, a guide that offers a non-technically rational approach to the human domain, but it remains to be seen if the requisite change can be driven through the bureaucracy that has for some time now resisted fundamental transformation. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The function includes tasks associated with force projection related to gaining a positional advantage over an enemy. This goes back to your comments concerned SW vs what I call the glorious kick down the door mentality. In the old days of SF UW when the mission was given to us during isolation the first thing a team did was to kick back and go into what one would call the "what if" mode---regardless of how crazy some of the comments or ideas where we went completely through until that was nothing left that could have surprised us ---then the true conversations started and all ideas reviewed and tossed until we were comfortable with the remaining one or two. MS 301: Training Management and the Warfighting Functions Revision Date: 31 March 2022 Lesson 20,23,26,29,32: Branch Orientation Briefings Student Handout 1 Information Briefing Sheet Cadets will prepare and present an information briefing concerning an assigned branch. Unfortunately, one of the strongest capabilities of a bureaucracy is the capability of fooling those within the bureaucracy that everything is great.[xxi]. This function provides Army leadership the means to use a targeting process in relation to indirect fires, missile defense, and joint fires in a way that keeps United States troops safe while delivering fires in support of offensive or defensive operations. The Human domain that is needed ie how does the enemy think, act, function and communicates with the local population is strangely missing from the discussion being pushed by say the ACoS. Decisions need to be made and executed quickly. Sustainment. Will any of these concepts help us to (1) separate the native from his native way of life and native way of governance and help us to (2) attach him and make him dependent upon our way of life and governance? In order for SOF to best contribute to operations within the human domain I assert that we have to do two things: 1) ensure our doctrine and concepts support a more nuanced and dynamic approach to operations at the conceptual level and, 2) mimic at the operational and strategic levels the same kinds of things that make us special at the tactical level. New York: The New Press. Great points, as always Bill. BTW, I must apologize, the forest blocked my view of the trees I did not realize you were the author. If youd like to learn more about this subject, check out the book you see below on Amazon. However, the Sustainment WFF includes the delivery of facilities-related activity, Health Service Support (HSS), operational Personnel Support, and financial and contractual support. I submit that art has a place in war, although many of us military types are a little uncomfortable about the word. The Staff have maps the Beards would give their right arms for, sat/drone photos they would not believe and a 24/7 live video feed I doubt they could even imagine. This publication. We must also firmly ground and continuously educate them in critical and creative thinking. Build and field indigenous forces which can be used to: 1. It accomplishes this by supporting the force to ensure it has the capacity to act and continue to act until successful achievement of the mission. Terrorists were the first to recognize this change. Observation/surveillance is the only tool that allows for any UW cell to survive. Approaching the physical domain in more of an objective and logical manner may work, but approaching the social realm without relying more on multiple viewpoints and critical and creative thinking is a recipe for disaster. Right now it has yet to be named, although some of the early candidates have included Influence, Engagement, and Shape. Again, the enemy, per se, seems to be missing. A warfighting function (WFF) is a group of tasks and systems united by a common purpose that commanders use to accomplish missions and training objectives. This, so as to be able to determine whether any of the ideas/options offered actually (a) address and meet our needs and, if so, (b) whether any one such idea or option might do this better than another. Taken from the www.borderlandbeat.com from today. To add to those types of missions I would include any military operation in which either the objectives are very unclear and abstract or the operation is structured in such a way as to have a high likelihood of being unbounded in scope and time. Instead of ignoring them like a Leave It To Beaver kind of approach to one's higher's OPORD, those things have to be critically investigated. The exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. The Human Factor: The Enduring Relevance of Protecting Civilians in Future Wars. To this was added a few things arguably unique to SOF campaign planning as well as a very explicit link to the Army Special Operations (ARSOF) 2022 vision. Combat Power= mission command+fires+intelligence+protection+sustainment+movement & maneuver+leadership. Let me expand on this somewhat by providing a broader context: The goal is to transform the lesser and remaining outlier states and societies along modern western lines; this, so that they might better benefit from and better provide for the global economy. One example is moving forces to execute a large-scale air or airborne assault. "The goal is not more money, more missions, or more personnel. Lastly, all of these capabilities would be used to develop an innovative approach to complex problems, those problems that are inherent when the military attempts social change. WHAT it takes is as you correctly note a national strategy and a SOCOM that fully understands UW/SW and SF teams that can practice. Going on offense (engagement and enlargement) re: the "different" lesser and remaining states and societies. This largely unconscious effect is to be expected: any large organization experiences it quite naturally. Easy stuff we were good at. If any kind of mission was conducive to a technically rational approach, it would be surgical strike missions.[xxxvii]. [xvi] See Donald A. Schon, The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. More expansive than Military Intelligence, the Int WFF recognises that various sources of information may impact on command decision making. Certainly a Bronx jihadi was unusual but most inhabitants of Afghan villages consider Taliban fighters with their Pakistani accented Pushto the mark of a foreigner for sure not a reason for immediate dislike such as an Arabic accent or a NY accent perhaps - but nonetheless in their minds eye they have little in common and even less respect for the landless refugees of Pakistan-born Afghans. Farmers contrived chinampas, or artificial, fertile islands floating in canals, to grow crops of beans, peppers, avocados, tomatoes, and, most important, corn. Direct fire is inherent in maneuver, as is close combat. [ii] See Stan Wiechniks excellent article, Political Legitimacy and Values in the Small Wars Journal, 17 NOV 2013, for a discussion on the importance of values within the more population-centric missions as opposed to those subjects like governance normally found within our doctrine. Aztecs, Inca, and Maya who escaped the iron swords and gunpowder of the Europeans instead suffered the old world diseases that accompanied the explorers. Can you imagine the reaction of the Indian authorities if you suggested they study Pakistani Punjab village culture in order to counter a repeat of the attack on the Taj Hotel and VT. Who says that a "human domain" warfighting function would solely be the domain of SF? Table. Doctrine applied to the physical domains- made up of explicit knowledge- makes sense in some areas. The role of information in future conflicts is becoming exceedingly important given the explosive rise of information technology. Sabotage can be done by Cyber types. Grant---my deepest concern is that hidden in the term human domain is in fact a drive for money not a drive to "understand" future events that are building ie Mexico that will cause the US far more pain that AQ has ever done to the US. This fundamental characteristic of the social world, characterized by tacit knowledge, is both the key to moving forward in the human domain as well as ironically the death knell of the term, the human domain. All systems used to coordinate the delivery of these effects are included in the Fires WFF, and are therefore inherently linked to the Targeting and ISTAR IPA discussed later. We came to two conclusions: 1- that the bureaucracy of the national security apparatus had grown so complex that it had taken on a life of its own, and emergent forces were acting without any true conscious effort and influencing things in very unconscious ways. Training them, advising them in raids (and in taking control of territory and then dealing with the inevitable retribution, extra-legal justice, and power struggles), especially in austere conditions, may well require a special task organization (i.e. He has been published in theInternational Journal,Military Review,OODA.com, and theSmall Wars Journal, in addition to contributing to chapters in two textbooks on Design Thinking. Learning, or reflection,-in-action, is described (in italics) after its antithesis in the article by a quote from Donald A. Schon: Professionals become- locked into a view of themselves as technical experts, [and they] find nothing in the world of practice to occasion reflection. Maya, like the Aztecs and Inca, also practiced human sacrifice. Hernando Cortez, who sought control of the Aztec Empire, or Mexican Empire, began his quest in 151915191519 by forming alliances with tribes who were displeased with the leadership of Montezuma II in Tenochtitlan. - See more at: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/node/12081#sthash.YjMssWdV.dpuf. It is what makes bringing a cookie-cutter approach to COIN and UW to be such a terrible idea, and yet our bureaucracy forces us into these approaches at the operational and higher levels. It borders on a religion and has been rejected by most disciplines (http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php). How the ambient light, wind, noise, smell and soil composition telegraphs movement of a single man, a squad, company or a battalion; at dawn, midday, dusk and the middle of the night. As Grant opened up the question of SW/UW vs the Special Action side and would suggest that Mexico become the training scenario for SW/UW. [iii] Although I understand the argument that the domains are not separate and indeed overlap greatly as well, in addition to other arguments for or against the concept, in order to make a point I will use them in their doctrinal form. AND if one does not believe that an insurgency does not learn from past events--just check the latest strategy statement from AQ issued Sept 2013. If two things dont alert us to the possibility that there could be something fundamentally wrong, then possibly nothing will. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Our technical surveillance enables smart weapons which largely depend on digitized enabled surveillance. The Mexican Constitution itself, in Article 10, makes it very clear. Movement is primarily concerned with positioning forces in an advantageous place and time from which to have an effect to achieve the mission. The HN Staff will have witnessed the effects of direct sunlight, direct moonlight, mountain shadow, heat haze, cold inversion layers, dust, running water, still water, ice, drought, monsoon, crop types, stubble, fallow wild animals, domestic animals, birds-song and insects. In U.S. doctrine there are today seven joint functions: intelligence, movement and maneuver, fires, information, protec- tion, sustainment, and C2. The centrally-managed personnel system, the system of intellectual communication (doctrine-based), the acquisition and resources system (JCIDS), and the hierarchical nature of the military have combined to produce a largely tail wagging the dog sort of institution.
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what are the 7 warfighting functions