Monday, November 20, 2006
Six Steps to Victory
This is a repost of my most recent entry on OPFOR. I put it here as well to give as much attention as possible to MAJ Egland's article.
MAJ Eric Egland USAFR recently came up with what I believe to be an excellent plan for "changing directions" in our fight in Iraq. I found his article intriguing and very well thought out. I whole heartedly agree with some of his suggestions, and others challenge my own ideas on how to fight this war. I say "challenge" because they are forcing me to rethink my own ideas, and evaluate whether or not they are truly as sound as I thought they were.
Just to give you a taste, the six points of his plan are listed below.
1. Encourage innovation by emphasizing small-scale technological solutions and rejecting peace-time bureaucracy.
2. Improve pre-deployment training and abandon Cold War-era checklists.
3. Allow local commanders to buy what they need and nationalize the war effort by connecting the American public with the troops and their mission.
4. Strengthen intelligence sharing between tactical and national levels, and develop a national insurgent database.
5. Take the offensive by reducing the predictable patterns on the ground while conducting operations that hunt, rather than chase, the enemy.
6. Accept the realities of warfare in the media age by decentralizing the sharing of information with both the Iraqi and American public.
The last point in particular should interest our readers, and Milbloggers as a whole. It's been said again and again that if DoD does not embrace blogging, it will end up being a huge problem for the Pentagon and detrimental to the war effort. If they take advantage of the perspective offered by military bloggers, perhaps even embracing Egland's "unit blogger" concept, it could very well turn out to be a huge advantage in the information war.
MAJ Egland has some excellent ideas, and I hope that they garner the attention that they deserve. You can help by spreading the word about his article. In addition, for those with experience on the ground, MAJ Egland is actively seeking your thoughts and opinions. There is an e-mail address at the bottom of the last page of the article that can be used to submit your ideas.
Six Steps to Victory in Iraq ¶ Monday, November 20, 2006
This is a repost of my most recent entry on OPFOR. I put it here as well to give as much attention as possible to MAJ Egland's article.
MAJ Eric Egland USAFR recently came up with what I believe to be an excellent plan for "changing directions" in our fight in Iraq. I found his article intriguing and very well thought out. I whole heartedly agree with some of his suggestions, and others challenge my own ideas on how to fight this war. I say "challenge" because they are forcing me to rethink my own ideas, and evaluate whether or not they are truly as sound as I thought they were.
Just to give you a taste, the six points of his plan are listed below.
1. Encourage innovation by emphasizing small-scale technological solutions and rejecting peace-time bureaucracy.
2. Improve pre-deployment training and abandon Cold War-era checklists.
3. Allow local commanders to buy what they need and nationalize the war effort by connecting the American public with the troops and their mission.
4. Strengthen intelligence sharing between tactical and national levels, and develop a national insurgent database.
5. Take the offensive by reducing the predictable patterns on the ground while conducting operations that hunt, rather than chase, the enemy.
6. Accept the realities of warfare in the media age by decentralizing the sharing of information with both the Iraqi and American public.
The last point in particular should interest our readers, and Milbloggers as a whole. It's been said again and again that if DoD does not embrace blogging, it will end up being a huge problem for the Pentagon and detrimental to the war effort. If they take advantage of the perspective offered by military bloggers, perhaps even embracing Egland's "unit blogger" concept, it could very well turn out to be a huge advantage in the information war.
MAJ Egland has some excellent ideas, and I hope that they garner the attention that they deserve. You can help by spreading the word about his article. In addition, for those with experience on the ground, MAJ Egland is actively seeking your thoughts and opinions. There is an e-mail address at the bottom of the last page of the article that can be used to submit your ideas.
Six Steps to Victory in Iraq ¶ Monday, November 20, 2006
