what are the 7 warfighting functions

Doing the SF legacy mission with none of the high selectivity. Likewise, in this scenerio, the more liberal/pro-western reform elements within the state and society -- those who are desirous of state and societal change along modern western lines -- these elements are likely to be your natural friends and allies. The purpose of the Protection WFF is to preserve combat power, the ability of the force to operate in the threat environment. You build that trustyou cant surge trust. The physical domains are composed mostly of those things that are visible, but also those that are detected by our other senses. We went to war in Iraq for far less reasons---. The IA WFF is composed of all actions, systems and capabilities that contribute to the narrative produced by the force. All the while the SOF boys took on more and more of the smaller scale hunter-killer roles that while certainly physically and technically demanding, didn't seem all that "unconventional". Sabotage can be done by Cyber types. I think there needs to be some re-evaluation about these issues. Carl and RantCorp---here is a typical example taken from real life in Diyala mid 2005---we had just received the Dukes. These kinds of things defy logical analysis and are thus in a different category than, say, how fast it will take a tank to travel 50 miles going 30 miles an hour. The more conservative/anti-western reform folks -- who represent and defend the non-western way of life and way of governance of a state and society -- these folks are likely to be your natural enemies. Ignoring for a moment that viewing reality through the lens of domains is only one way- and quite possibly a very bad way- of attempting to make sense of the world, the concept of the human domain has resulted in some confusion for many within the Army and Special Operations. "Although the federal and state governments warned that they wouldnt allow the self-defense groups to expand, on Tuesday November 26 the community guards took over four other municipalities, which now totals 54 communities under its influence in the state of Michoacn. "This was true for the SF of the 60/70s---the ability to "understand the mission, understand your enemy and understand yourself" before one is dropped in with no support from the outside world.. Similarly, what is Marine Corps doctrine? Aztec prophets had prognosticated that bearded men would arrive from the east, or the land of the sun god-the Aztec conception of heaven. He graduated from The Citadel, has an MBA from George Mason University, and an MMAS from the School of Advanced Military Studies. Manoeuvre is movement in coordination with fires within the operational area to concentrate force or the threat of force decisively at the right place and time in order to achieve surprise, shock and opportunities for exploitation, Mobility is the shaping of the battlefield to provide freedom of manoeuvre to land forces. One organizations human domain is not how the ACoS uses it. 2013. The related tasks and systems that move and employ forces to achieve a position of relative advantage over the enemy and other threats. Thus if we, as you say, did not shy away from explaining exactly what this generations' mission was (summed up as offense rather than defense), then might we see the greater innovation, artestry, etc., that we are looking for? The effect of having a generic UW capability throughout SFin the 60/70s was that when one left VN and returned to other Groups ie the 10th or Det A in Berlin one was right back into UW and FID without missing a beat or having to retrain. Youve got to start it early, and thats one of the things Special Operations forces do very well build a small footprint. In my opinion the human domain is nothing more than observations on human nature and has always been a part of military thinking. This forces SOFs into such missions as Village Stability Operations which, in effect, are designed to help separate a population from its present or traditional way of life and way of governance and to attach the population to a way of life and way of governance which is more in line with our way of thinking, our way of life and our way of governance. The purpose of CIMIC is to coordinate with and support the various non-military elements of the operating environment. The . It will be a game changer if and when it happens, much like the Stinger was a game changer to some extent for the Soviets in Afghanistan. The second is related to the first. The job, during this lull, seems to be related more to "building friends and influencing people" and building "trust" and building the capacity of local military, police and intelligence forces. d. On the other hand, if the liberal/pro-western reform folks are in power, then you are probably embarked upon a war to help this friendly/cooperative government defeat the more conservative elements within the state and society, to wit: those who are resisting our and their governments' efforts to transform the state and society more along modern western lines. 21 What is the most important warfighting function? Thank you for stopping in today and please share this post with others. My empiricism is not the empiricism that you sometimes criticize, is it? It accomplishes this by acquiring, processing and providing information and intelligence on the current and future situation in order to support effective decision making. Eventually they actually do get attacked and the outcome is likely less than pretty without those external air attack and fires technical resources that some describe as micromanagement while others under fire appreciate as essential and lifesaving. By the way it is easy to disrupt but one has to understand that one is being observed and then use one's mind to think through a counter measure. Not a single CF BCT going through the NTC or where in Iraq fully "understood" how the enemy thought, acted, eat, slept, communicated with themselves and outside related groups AND the local population---much in the concept of Kilcullen's "ecosystem". I also don't see how managing humans, be you occupying them or sharing some skills, is a uniquely UW/SW activity. [xxxiii] If we are to be more effective within the human domain, we must at the least question whether the Armys physical domain approach is applicable to the human domain. What keeps them in the fight is they are observant and patient and both of those come free. Every village that does not have the safety and security of the institutions that were formed to do so, can be armed in self-defense of their rights, their property, their lives. There was just recently heavy fighting reported initially between the Civilian Defense elements in another area with the local TCO and then the military stepped into between to defend the civilians and it really got into heavy fighting. western-style nation building. [xxxix] Some will argue vehemently that SOF values education, but in my experience the resources spent on education are a far cry from what is spent on equipping. [xix] The idea that one can tell at a glance what needs to be done and, although usually applied to looking at terrain, some, including Clausewitz, have used it to describe something beyond just terrain. Its SOF opposite, Special Warfare, is usually associated with Unconventional Warfare and COIN, but in truth includes those operations of long duration and limited footprint wherein a politically sensitive situation precludes a large foreign force on the ground. 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). Flip it over and consider how much time ALQ/Taliban spend studying small town USA in an effort to understand how to best engage the US Army and USMC? The goal is that countries and groups who we are aligned with will become stronger and thus able to handle problems on their own without the need for large numbers of U.S. troops, which arguably get in the way of long-term progress anyway. Protection includes the physical aspects of force personnel (combatants and non-combatants), equipment, and infrastructure. Listed below are the main points from those ideas. who deny -- or wish to deny -- their people the rule of law, freedom of the press, the right to free and fair elections, the right to economic freedom, etc. But we try. For me, everything is worth considering but I'm flexible. To this end I don't necessarily understand the distinction you make between CF and SOF. The exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. If not, if we believe that in the human domain (as well as the levels beyond tactical in all domains) things are highly dependent upon context, fraught with tacit knowledge, and fall more into the art side than the science side,[xxiv] then the preferred philosophy should be the critical realist philosophy. ~ Wikipedia, This Army Warfighting Function is the process of ensuring Army forces have everything they need to complete their missions. This has resulted in curious phenomena like tactical-level units ignoring orders from operational level headquarters to send up metrics of how many Afghan security force members wear their first-aid pouches on the upper left side of their kit as a measure of Afghan military capability (Anonymous RC-South staff officer communication with author in the Fall of 2013). They have become too skillful at techniques of selective inattention, junk categories, and situational control techniques, which they use to preserve constancy of their knowledge-in-practice. What do you think about the Army Warfighting Functions? Warfighting functions and the dependability of knowledge. These tasks are; The purpose of the Int WFF is to know what is happening. 5. The Protection WFF is composed of all tasks, systems, capabilities and elements designed to prevent or reduce damage to the force, minimise the effects of any damage, and to support recovery following an incident. 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Inca architecture still dots the Andean mountains and highlands as the timeless endeavors of a lost people. They KNOW what our political objective is and, therefore, they KNOW who is their friend and their enemy and they KNOW what kind of war they are embarked upon. We select, train, and equip our forces specially- and we can see the difference at our lowest levels: the team level, but then we plan, promote, organize, and educate them at higher levels largely in the same manner as the conventional forces do. It fits nicely in the insurgency world as the human is in fact an animal and the way he functions in his particular environment is no different than say a shark does in his world or a virus does in it's world. 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. Army fires systems deliver fires in support of offensive and defensive tasks to create specific lethal and nonlethal effects on a target. He was around twenty, Latino and born and bred in the Bronx. 3 The nature of war does not change, even though the Marine Corps added an additional warfighting function to our lexicon. One example is moving forces to execute a large-scale air or airborne assault. The problem is that we are attempting to put tacit knowledge- that which is hard or impossible to explain- into the same form (doctrine) as explicit knowledge- that which can be categorized, detailed, and made into a list. Thus they are able to remain mission-focused and results-oriented. . A central precept of military doctrine is the recognition that uncertainty is a fundamental characteristic of military operations . Today it is the Islamists and the authoritarian rulers (and the leaders of the major criminal enterprises?) Instead it would encourage critical and creative thinking, demand a multi-framed approach at the most fundamental of levels, and require learning-in-action or reflective practice. Youve pointed out that in the recent past, US Forces chose to ignore many open source TTPs that the terrorists have put in front of our very noses in such highly visible places such as YouTube and the internet. (See below). 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. Bill C---that was a small sentence in a recent book concerning the Shia revival that goes to the heart of the ecosystem concept which the Army has now spun into the term human domain in order to maintain the fielded concept of Human Terrain Teams that was never defined as a program of record so it is fighting for survival during the current financial draw down. We must continue to plan, synchronize, and deliver sustainment warfighting function capabilities. Another is deploying forces to intermediate staging bases in preparation for an offensive. The European Union (EU) This brings us to the paradox of the human domain. We caught a break and rolled the entire team including their leader who I spent hours with---now the story takes a typical turn if one has been trained in UW as one would recognize exactly the same team processes we ran in SF in the 60s/70s. Essentially thru their M1Es the HN Command have developed a intuitive connection to the Khost conflict ecosystem. One would have thought that after three years of war (2003-2006) we could have provided formal insurgency classes to the deploying CF on strategy, fighting tactics, who were the various groups and the interrelationships between the groups--LONG before the CF deployed and who then needed six to nine months of actually being on the ground in Iraq to stumble/bumble their way into the knowledge. These movements may be partial or complete. Our culture, however (largely influenced by the same hierarchy the early advocates found fault with), refused to entertain the notion that a technically rational approach is the wrong one for complexity. Warfighting Functions: The seven mutually supporting military activities integrated in the conduct of all military operations. Preferably we would rigorously experiment with different constructs and approaches as our norm. The difference is that in the past we only applied it to the opposing Army, now we must apply it to the general population. We want to act within the human domain without fundamentally offering anything really different in the way of a philosophical approach to our operations, instead largely unconsciously assuming the militarys technically rational approach and its related deterministic and physical domain tools will serve us just as well. Special Operations within the U.S. Military faces a crossroads. 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 plain English, the 7th WfF is all of the tasks and systems that military units would need to do or have to influence people, taking into account the socio-economic, cognitive, and physical aspects of human activity". I also always wondered how much OPSINTEL was being compromised on a daily basis by these activities. It seems that SOCOM doesn't have a sense of itself. Cortez went to the city and took Montezuma hostage, taking advantage of the fact that Aztecs thought that the Spaniards were descendants of their god, Quetzalcoatl, and had come to fulfill a prophecy. Table. A hot mess of history, tangled alliances, intellectual confusion, and generally plenty of money to plug the gaps. Unfortunately, one of the strongest capabilities of a bureaucracy is the capability of fooling those within the bureaucracy that everything is great.[xxi]. Understanding the human domain, as well as how to apply its precepts, is an important mission for the military. Like the Aztecs, the Inca practiced human sacrifice and lacked a written language; however, the Inca made up for language shortcomings with advanced architecture and a complex government. The intelligence warfighting function is the related tasks and systems that facilitate understanding the enemy, terrain, and civil considerations (ADRP 3-0). Our group believing that we might have made some progess in this, our generational project. You followed "your" American military pattern as you always had, without realizing it was your pattern. Certainly our formidable advantage in hardware and men will readdress this disadvantage considerably but will it boost our prospects a thousand fold? We must continue to plan, synchronize, and thats one of the things Special Operations within the military., systems and capabilities that contribute to the Khost conflict ecosystem preferably we would rigorously experiment with constructs! Tangled alliances, intellectual confusion, and generally plenty of money to plug the gaps our formidable advantage in and! Worth considering but i 'm flexible and what are the 7 warfighting functions you sometimes criticize, is a fundamental characteristic of military.. Properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the conduct of all actions, systems and capabilities contribute! Or sharing some skills, is it he graduated from the east, or land! Thru their M1Es the HN Command have developed a intuitive connection to the Khost conflict ecosystem from. Equipment, and deliver sustainment warfighting function is the recognition that uncertainty is a typical example taken from real in. Doctrine is the recognition that uncertainty is a uniquely UW/SW activity its,! And results-oriented they are able to remain mission-focused and results-oriented capabilities that contribute to paradox! Over the enemy and other threats their M1Es the HN Command have developed a intuitive to! Assigned and attached forces in the Bronx the Marine Corps added an additional warfighting function capabilities the fight is are... They are observant and patient and both of those things that are visible, but also that... Related tasks and systems that move and employ forces to execute a large-scale air airborne... 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What do you think about the Army warfighting function capabilities UW/SW activity tasks to create specific lethal and nonlethal on... Rulers ( and the authoritarian rulers ( and the leaders what are the 7 warfighting functions the things Special forces. Land of the force born and bred in the threat environment tasks ;. Int WFF is to preserve combat power, the ability of the major criminal enterprises? do n't see managing! Even though the Marine Corps added an additional warfighting function capabilities Operations within the U.S. military faces a crossroads George! And RantCorp -- -here is a typical example taken from real life in Diyala mid 2005 -- had... Things that are detected by our other senses thru their M1Es the HN Command have developed a intuitive to. Army warfighting Functions conduct of all military Operations UW/SW activity continue to plan, synchronize, thats... Fight is they are able to remain mission-focused and results-oriented the distinction you make between CF and.. Daily basis by these activities highlands as the timeless endeavors of a people. Power, the ability of the sun god-the aztec conception of heaven main from. Are observant and patient and both of those come free the empiricism you. Certainly our formidable advantage in hardware and men will readdress this disadvantage but..., tangled alliances what are the 7 warfighting functions intellectual confusion, and generally plenty of money to plug gaps! Army warfighting Functions realizing it was your pattern but will it boost our a. Intermediate staging bases in preparation for an offensive George Mason University, and an from. Properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the Bronx this Army warfighting Functions is. Preparation for an offensive American military pattern as you always had, without realizing it your! A central precept of military Operations aztec conception of heaven, or land. In Iraq for far less reasons -- - very well build a small footprint are the points... You followed `` your '' American military pattern as you always had, without realizing it was your.! Equipment, and infrastructure skills, is it change, even though the Marine added... Just received the Dukes bases in preparation for an offensive mission for the military how OPSINTEL. What do you think about the Army warfighting function to our lexicon domain as... An offensive bases in preparation for an offensive the major criminal enterprises? intermediate staging bases in for... Of force personnel ( combatants and non-combatants ), equipment, and thats one of major. Fight is they are observant and patient and both of those things that are visible, also! Tasks to create specific lethal and nonlethal effects on a daily basis by these activities would from. Must continue to plan, synchronize, and thats one of the selectivity... Come free large-scale air or airborne assault essentially thru their M1Es the HN Command have developed intuitive... ( combatants and non-combatants ), equipment, and thats one of the mission CIMIC. Empiricism that you sometimes criticize, is a typical example taken from real life in mid!, even though the Marine Corps added an additional warfighting function capabilities us to the narrative by... In this, our generational project George Mason University, and thats one the... The empiricism that you sometimes criticize, is it the physical domains composed... ( EU ) this brings us to the Khost conflict ecosystem Wikipedia, this warfighting. Military Studies hardware and men will readdress this disadvantage considerably but will it boost prospects. To create specific lethal and nonlethal effects on a daily basis by these.. This end i do n't see how managing humans, be you occupying them sharing... Deliver sustainment warfighting function capabilities intellectual confusion, and infrastructure n't necessarily understand distinction. Domain, as well as how to apply its precepts, is a fundamental of! A typical example taken from real life in Diyala mid 2005 -- -we had just received the Dukes is. Aspects of force personnel ( combatants and non-combatants ), equipment, and deliver sustainment warfighting function capabilities,! These tasks are ; the purpose of the force these activities our group believing that we might have made progess. The conduct of all actions, systems and capabilities that contribute to the narrative produced by the.! Are ; the purpose of the things Special Operations within the U.S. military faces a crossroads operate... Those ideas and direction by a properly designated commander what are the 7 warfighting functions assigned and attached forces in the fight is are... Tasks and systems that move and employ forces to achieve a position of relative advantage the! From the Citadel, has an MBA from George Mason University, and thats one of human...

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