If we want Unconventional Warfare (UW) to be successful, many entities must invest. The investment is initially paid through the educational foundation and vested interest of SOF (including SF personnel and support enablers), policy makers (including top Army officials and political officials), and the Intelligence Community (IC). SOF works on the tactical level of a mission, but their influence can reach to the staff (division) level of a resistance movement or insurgency. Since we are the bottom
forms of war, unconventional, conventional, and asymmetrical warfare. Unconventional warfare is the willingness to ignore conventions of war. According to The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) unconventional warfare are “Activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow an occupying power or government by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary and guerrilla force in a denied area." Unconventional warfare is used globally
The Revolutionary war began in 1775 and ended with the American victory over the British in 1783. It is also known as the war of independence. Americans gained their independence throughout the war after the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. There were advantages and disadvantages of each side of the war. Despite the mistakes and struggles that the Americans faced, the advantages and the simple strategies they used enabled them to win the war over Britain. On the other hand, Britain
THE VIETNAM WAR 1. What is guerilla warfare and how should it be countered? The purpose of this seminar portfolio is to evaluate two issues of the Vietnam War. First to explain what is guerilla warfare and how should it be countered and secondly analyze why was the US unable to defeat the Vietcong. To assess these issues I will refer to academic literature
Irregular warfare is broken down to five activities; counterinsurgency, foreign internal defense, stability operations, unconventional warfare, and counterterrorism. History traces U.S. involvement with irregular warfare activities in seemingly every conflict it has been involved with. Regardless to the use of irregular warfare, most consider these conflicts conventional wars. Since WWII and the Korean War, conventional wars have no longer remained the norm for conflicts which the U.S. gets involved
As a summary, guerilla warfare is a case for the extensive use of an irregular forms of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army. Guerilla warfare is a practical manual for how a small band of guerilla fighters might use specific strategies and tactics to resist and defeat an oppressive state enemy in asymmetrical warfare. The manual is based on lessons learned from his part in the successful anti-Batista revolution in Cuba in1959. It makes the political case for the guerillas
According to the Training Circular 7-100, a hybrid threat is the diverse and dynamic combination of regular forces, irregular forces, and/or criminal elements all unified to achieve mutually benefitting effects. (Hybrid Threat 2010) Stated simply, hybrid threats are different groups of people coming together with their ultimate goal being to disrupt or discredit US forces and agendas. Because we have been fighting the same fight for so long, we tend to see this as a new threat when in fact it is
Variations in Tactics. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack--the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers (Sun Tzu, Art of War). Since 2002, the United States counterinsurgency strategy has shown that it has a heavy credence resembling Clausewitz–esk strategy. Using this type of battle stratagem emphasizes using superior western technology, doctrine fixated on lethal operations, and a misrepresented western view on jus
Guerrilla warfare is a very irregular form of fighting. The word guerrilla originates from the Spanish word meaning “little war.” This term flourished in the Peninsular War when the Spanish used guerrilla warfare against the Napoleon troops. Guerrilla warfare was mostly used by smaller armies going up against large, powerful countries. This type of fighting is very barbaric, and people who used it were often referred to as guerillas. Guerrillas would ambush and attack their enemy in surprise attacks
overconfident and underestimated the capabilities of the well-trained VC in guerrilla warfare who were very familiar and knowledgeable with the terrains and challenging environmental conditions that caused challenges for the US to engage them. VC forces were very effective and elusive by hiding underground through their extensive network of Cu Chi tunnels to evade the US forces and air bombardment. Through non-conventional warfare such as the guerrilla tactics employed by the VC, it made it harder for the
This style of warfare is always changing and always fluid with the operational environment. Often times the conventional force is as a severe disadvantage as it is slow to react and can be easily manipulated into positioning itself in to a position of defeat. For example
Trench warfare was a living hell. Death and destruction rained from the skies, while lead bullets peppered soldiers from the front. Their only protection was their wit, and a trench. A trench filled with rats, disease, and the stench of dead soldiers. No longer was war a glorious affair, but rather a crime against humanity. While in the modern world, technology has revolutionized warfare for the better. Combat has changed drastically since the time of trenches. No longer are trenches a soldier’s
Another disadvantage for American troops was the draft. 25% of total forces in-country were draftees or often referred to as ‘cherries’. (P17) Draftees accounted for 30% of combat deaths in Vietnam, and 61% of men killed were 21 or younger. (P17) These draftees were young, naive, and inexperienced in battle, along with the fact that they were forced to be there, raised questions about their effort and loyalty to the cause. A draftee, Eddy L. Stevenson, describes the nature of his experiences; “Can
Understanding Veterans’ Lives Have you ever really thought about the lives of veterans after a war? Mike Clark is a veteran who served in the Vietnam war. He was chosen as a combat medic because he didn’t perform well mechanically. Mike went through boot camp and was later trained to be a medic for about ten weeks. The Vietnam war itself wasn’t as bloody compared to other wars, but the percent that died is similar. Learning about World War II veterans, it is important to consider how veterans deal
“I was there. I saw it all. Immigrants, Muslims... Homosexuals, terrorists. Disease-ridden degenerates. They had to go.” As quoted from the dystopian political movie V for Vendetta directed by James McTeique, V believes he is not a terrorist and is a freedom fighter by referring the terrorists as degenerates. With a pursuit of dominant ideology along with government treating him as a huge threat, V is a heroic terrorist in view of his motivation and political affiliation, acts of violence, strategies
The Function of the Narrator in Slaughterhouse 5 A narrator is an essential element in every narrative, taking on the responsibility of telling the story. This central role is in the control the narrator has over the story, in terms of perspective and pace, as well as the sequence in which events are related to the reader. In the limitations imposed by the view presented to the reader, the narrator is able to address the issues and concerns of the novel. In Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5, the narrator
The residents of Hiroshima, Japan began their day routinely on August 6, 1945. Some commuted to work or school, some sat down to read a newspaper, and some tended to the needs of their children. At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, all aspects of life as known to the city’s population of two hundred and forty five thousand people were decimated within an instant; it was an instant in which the first atomic bomb was dropped from an American plane, killing nearly one hundred thousand
Many people think of nuclear war as something that will never happen to us or simply dismiss the war threats that are given to us as jokes. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The threat is very real. Not only are those threats serious, but they hold a horrible promise for the future. Nuclear weapons have been used on multiple occasions, and in many cases, they’ve been tested on our own land, and by our own men. Though these “nukes” come in a variety of strengths and sizes, they are all designed
The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien is about First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in the Vietnam War, struggling to balance his love for a young girl named Martha and his duties as the Lieutenant. Throughout the story his love becomes an obsession which he cannot control. In the story the narrator keeps naming everything the soldiers carried(tangible and intangible) and tells the reader how much they weighed. By the end of the story we, as readers, realize that the soldiers are carrying all
In today's world, it is assumed that the world will end with a bang: quite literally. The metaphorical doomsday clock is set two minutes to midnight, and the world waits for the press of a button that will change everything. However, there are darker, more sinister aspects that are obvious, and yet they are paid no heed. In the article "End of days: is Western civilization on the brink of collapse?" by Laura Spinney, it warns that,"Western culture is reaching a critical juncture." This is caused