Military Science: Counterinsurgency - Essay Example

Staff Group: Military Science: Counterinsurgency Part One Question (a) Throughout the history of US military the army has been instilling the principles of counterinsurgency to their military personnel. Therefore, the US military institutions are institutionalizing the widely gathered knowledge about insurgency and counterinsurgency. The internalizing of these principles will enable the US military commanders to effectively roll out counterinsurgency operations anywhere in the world. These guidelines supplement the commanding military personnel with the technical aspects of military operations in different environments. In addition, these doctrinal counterinsurgency principles help the commanders to make rational and appropriate decisions while executing counterinsurgency operations in the field (US Dept of Defense 86). The application of some of the doctrinal guidelines in when deciding the aspect of protecting the forces and accomplishing the mission. The main mission of counterinsurgent activities it to wipe out or substantially reduce the influence of an insurgent group within the subject community. On the other hand, the military tactics employed by these insurgent groups are contrary to the international law of wars (US Dept of Defense 69). These insurgents use guerilla warfare in tackling the any countering military group. Therefore, insurgency operations combine the aspects of offensive, defensive and stability operation. In these operations, a commander must acknowledge the concepts of visualizing, describing and directing operations with respect to the tactical and technical position of the insurgents. Some of the issues that the commanders should weigh while conceptualizing between mission achievement and soldiers welfare include the offensive ability of the insurgents, the vulnerability of the soldiers towards insurgent attacks and the civil responses towards the insurgency operation. If the insurgents are more skilled in their tactical aspects of countering counterinsurgent activities, the commanders might decide on rolling out more offensive operations aimed towards weakening the insurgents. In addition, the commander may consider building strong defensive measures to protect the soldiers from offensive attacks. This will address the issue of soldier’s welfare in the operations environment (US Dept of Defense 69). Part One Question (c) The full spectrum of counterinsurgent operations entails the three military activities which include offensive operations, defensive operations and security stability in the region. Both the offensive and the defensive military operations are meant to defeat the enemies while stability operation exercises focuses on the control of the already cleared areas of a population. Once an area has been secured, military personnel are deployed to prevent further occupation of insurgents. Their operation will be director towards controlling the resources, areas and the civilian population from the access of the insurgents. Some of the types of stability operations include the civil security and civil control (US Dept of Defense 39). In offensive operations, a military unit is assigned an area to carry out combat operations meant to unearth insurgents hiding among the civilians. In addition, offensive operations are directed towards the insurgents’ stronghold areas. These include the insurgent leaders’ residential places and the insurgents’ training camps. In these exercises, discriminating use of fire and calculated response discipline characterizes offensive operations. In most cases, measured combat operations are employed to kill and capture fanatic insurgents within a civilian community. During this stage of counterinsurgency, caution has to be taken to avoid or minimize the harming of civilians as this will turn the population against the counterinsurgency operation (US Dept of Defense 112). Defensive operation entails the use of instrumentation tactics to defend any area under military occupation from re-occupation by the insurgents. It may also occur in a context where the insurgents are daring enough to attack military bases and military convoys. During the defensive stage of the counterinsurgency exercise, the military should liaise with the security forces of the host nation to ensure that enough relevant information are gathered concerning the military aspects of the insurgents. In addition, the military intelligence ought to device mechanisms of gathering information concerning the advancement of insurgent activities. These will facilitate the effective implementation of their defensive exercise (US Dept of Defense 120). Part Two Question (a) Before initiating counterinsurgent operations, it is appropriate to acknowledge the main causes and the motivating factors of the insurgent activities in a region. The main causes of the insurgent activities lies in the political reasons of the subject nation. In fighting insurgents, the military has to combine their technical and logistical resources with the other stake holders, which include the relevant state authorities and the civilian population. Therefore, counterinsurgent activities follow a systematic mechanism meant to purposely attack the basis of insurgency and not only to combat insurgent fighters. The accomplishment of an insurgency mission in the field follows a series of steps envisioned with medical terminology. These three stages are the following: stop the bleeding, inpatient care-recovery and outpatient care-movement to self-sufficiency (56). Stage 1 Stop the Bleeding This first stage in counterinsurgency operation has been compared to the emergency first aid for the patient. The main aim of this stage is to destabilize the insurgents’ momentum, protect the population and to initialize the terms for further military engagement. At this stage, minimal offensive operations are performed but the main focus is to complement stability operations aimed at attending to the matters of civil security. This stage is mainly characterized by gathering information regarding the insurgents (57). Stage 2 Inpatient Care-recovery In the context of military operation, this stage is aimed at achieving and sustaining stability in the operation environment. This is where the military personnel are involved in varied activities; hence, it is the busiest stage of counterinsurgency. Since at this stage the civil security has been secured, the focus moves towards developing governance structures, security forces capability and restructuring other essential social facilities. It results in the strengthening of relations between the stakeholders involved in the military operation. These are the civilians, security forces, HN personnel and the military. This stage also increases the flow of all forms of intelligence information (37). Stage 3 Outpatient Care-movement to Self-sufficiency This stage results in expansion of stability operations over the whole area under operation. The stage aims at achieving a transition of control from the counterinsurgent forces to the HN forces in the region. Although some technical assistance may still be required from the COIN military, most of the key roles will be handed over to the host security forces. This stage is also characterized by an improvement in the governance, security and the economic capability of the area; hence, the need for international assistance is reduced. At this final stage, the host government is in a position to protect its citizens because it has isolated the insurgents from the legitimate civilian population. Therefore, the objectives of the COIN operation will have been accomplished (78) . Work Cited U S Dept of the Army, Department of Defense. U.S. Army Counterinsurgency Handbook. Washington: Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2007. Print. Read More