States Air Force, Irregular Warfare, AFDD 2-3, Washington, D.C., August 1, 2007, p. 11. Your email address will not be published. These threats are enmeshed in the population and increasingly empowered by First, the use of the term “pillars” is misleading as to the nature of these activities within irregular warfare doctrine. Within the context of this understanding of the operating environment, five types of activities or operations (the 5 âpillarsâ of conducting irregular warfare) comprise the strategy for addressing irregular threats; these include: counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, counterinsurgency, and stability operations. . Irregular Warfare Reference Library and Case Studies, Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service capture ISIS child recruiter, Barnett Rubin’s Theses on Peacemaking in Afghanistan: A Manifesto, The Norms of Proxy War: Guidelines for the Resort to Unconventional Warfare. Required fields are marked *. 1. The key to understanding this is realizing that the US only identified the core activities of irregular warfare according to a purely US-centric point of view. UW- overthrow COIN, FID, stability operations, CT - prop up. Irregular Warfare Books Showing 1-50 of 121 Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam (Paperback) by. While it is unlikely that US forces will conduct these activities itself, it must still understand them in order to confront them (through COIN, FID and CT) and, in the case of insurgency, to support it when required through unconventional warfare. Irregular warfare is defined as:. As discussed briefly in the previous post, current US military doctrine describes irregular warfare as having five core activities: counterterrorism (CT), unconventional warfare (UW), foreign internal defense (FID), counterinsurgency (COIN), and stability operations (SO). This is not merely an academic choice, however, since including all fundamental operational activities is essential to the study of the enemy’s strategic, operational, and tactical considerations. Current US military doctrine describes irregular warfare as having five core activities: counterterrorism (CT), unconventional warfare (UW), foreign internal defense (FID), counterinsurgency (COIN), and stability operations (SO). On the question of irregular warfare, we seem to be in agreement that it is certainly the most common form of warfare today but we part company on whether it ⦠SOF attempt to solve the problem of IW by preventing, deterring, disrupting, or defeating irregular threats, with the primary emphasis on prevention. A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency (COIN) is defined by the United States Department of State as "comprehensive civilian and military efforts taken to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root causes".. An insurgency is a rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In fact, the activity may support all of these simultaneously. Lawrence Irregular warfare (IW) is defined as a violent struggle among state and non- state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations. Unconventional Warfare Overview The focus in UW is on the indigenous resistance elements, not U.S. force structures and procedures. Christopher J. Heatherly and Casey T. McNicholas. When derived from an authentic understanding of the population, actions universally viewed as ârightâ can win the confidence of the governed and lead to legitimacy. 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