Pub - AOC, Win in a Complex World, TRADOC Pamplet 535-3-1, 7 Oct 14

Training and Doctrine Command has published TRADOC Pamplet 525-3-1, Army Operating Concept: Win in a Complex World 2020-2030, 7 October 2014. The AOC describes how future Army forces will prevent conflict, shape security environments, and win wars. The AOC guides future force development by identifying first order capabilities that the Army needs to support U.S. policy objectives. The pub provides the intellectual foundation and framework for learning and applying what we learn to future force development under Force 2025 and Beyond. There are four chapters in this publication.


Chapter 1. "Introduction" covers purpose, references, abbreviations and terms, relationship b/t Army doctrine and concepts, and assumptions.
Chapter 2. "Operational Context" covers continuity and change, Army's missions, threats, future operational environment, future conflict, etc.
Chapter 3. "How Future army Forces Operate". Military problem, central idea, how the Army operates, tenets, core competencies, etc.
Chapter 4. "AOC Conclusion".

Should be great Sunday morning reading for all you doctrinal Nazi's . . .  and for all others who want to know what the doctrinal experts are talking about.

www.tradoc.army.mil/tpubs/pams/TP525-3-1.pdf

Article - Promise and Pitfalls of Partners

A recent paper provides us with an optimistic (yet realistic) look at the use of partners in our goal of deterring adversaries and maintaining stability. He references the recently distributed Army Operating Concept provided by the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ACIC). The AOC lists security cooperation as one of the eleven key missions for the U.S. Army. The author praises the AOC's "measured approach towards security assistance". Three reasons are provided for "partnering" 1) US troops in harm's way is fraught with political difficulties, 2) decision-makers are seduced by low cost and risk, and 3) for every security assistance failure there is a quiet success. Read more in "Army #Operating Concept: The Promise and Pitfalls of Partners", by Crispin J. Burke, on The Bridge, published October 22, 2014.

Daily News Snippets (Jan 8, 2015)

Candace Karp and Michael O'Hanlon have penned an article about the future of Afghanistan. They believe that the mission is on the verge of being successful. But it could easily fail if the international community proceeds on its current plan of complete withdrawal by the end of 2016. Read their article entitled "Protecting the Gains in Afghanistan", The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2015.

A story in a German newspaper examines the past year in Afghanistan and looks at what can be accomplished over the next two years in the newly started Resolute Support mission. Read "What can NATO's new Afghanistan mission achieve?", Deutsche Welle (DW), January 6, 2015.

The new Army Operating Concept (AOC) rolled out this year helps the Army to assess the current threat climate and then to help the Army plan for the future. The commanding general for Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), General David G. Perkins, has an article in Army AL&T Magazine (January-March 2015) explaining the AOC. Read "Win in a Complex World - But How?", pages 106 to 115.

http://usaascinfo.info/docs/armyalt-jan-mar-2015.pdf

Michael Kugelman writes for Foreign Policy that four big items will need to be addressed in Afghanistan in 2015. They are the Kabul Bank scandal, Uzbek militancy, abandoned U.S. military hardware, and unexploded devices. Read his article published on January 7, 2015.

Jim Fallows recently wrote a long article in The Atlantic about the U.S. military and it was well-received by some and raised eyebrows with others. Read one critique in "Not so Chickenhawk: Pushing Back Against Fallows", War on the Rocks, January 7, 2015.

A roadside bomb killed a Uruzgan policeman on January 8, 2015.

General Philip Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander - Europe, says that the U.S. must be prepared for more casualties in the new Resolute Support mission. (Stars and Stripes, Jan 8, 2015).

The government of Afghanistan has approved special military operations in and effort to tackle the terrorist activities of insurgents. The approval came during a meeting of the Afghan National Security Council (NSC) chaired by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani. (Khaama Press, Jan 8, 2015).

The Institute of Land Warfare has published an article entitled "Terrorists, Insurgents and the Lessons of History" by Richard Lee dated 22 Dec 2014. Available here.

An argument against a military draft of U.S. citizens is made by Harvey Sapolsky - a Professor of Public Policy and Administration at MIT. He says that our current military is better than a draft military. What the U.S. needs to do - he says - is to start paying a higher percentage of its GNP for the military. Read more in "The One Percent Problem", E-International Relations, January 5, 2015.

The 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron was inactivated on January 1, 2015 on Bagram Airfield. The men and women of the 455th EAPS were charged with the responsibility of coordinating the bi-directional movement of assets from the U.S. to Bagram and Bagram to nearby forward operating bases. It also, most recently, assisted in the huge retrograde operation over the past 18 months. Read more in a news release by the U.S. Air Force (Jan 7, 2015).

Soldiers of the Oklahoma Army National Guard's Battery B, 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery, 45th Field Artillery Brigade has returned home after duty in Afghanistan. Read more in a news release (Edmonsun.com, Jan 7, 2015).

Critique of "Army Operating Concept" (AOC)

The Army recently published TRADOC Pamphlet 535-3-1 (7 October 2014) entitled "The U.S. Army Operating Concept: Win in a Complex World".  Since its publication a lot of folks have taken the time to read the document, analyze it, and then comment upon it. Joshua Jones, an operations research analyst with the Center for Army Analysis at Fort Belvoir, Virginia is one of the latest to provide his thoughts. He holds a PhD in international relations, a masters' degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and did some time in the Army with a tour in Iraq. Read his comments in "Wisdom in Doctrine? Success, the Role of Force, and the Unknowable", War on the Rocks, November 12, 2014.