Air-minded considerations for joint counterinsurgency doctrine

Air & Space Power Journal, Winter, 2007 by Charles J. Dunlap, Jr.

Finally, Professors Metz and Millen contend that containment strategies may be "more logical" than other approaches in "liberation" insurgency scenarios such as in Iraq. (93) Air and naval power proved quite effective in enforcing the no-fly zones and sanctions against Iraq; in conjunction with ground-force raids and strikes, it could again provide a way to protect US interests by containing the effects of an insurgency in Iraq or elsewhere. (94)

Obviously ...

This article has certainly not included a complete list of all the possible considerations an Airman would bring to an air-minded COIN doctrine--or, quite possibly, not even the most important ones. One might properly view some or all as tactics, techniques, and procedures rather than doctrinal elements. At best, the article has offered a few illustrations of how an airman's perspective might enlarge and enhance a more joint approach in a doctrine that superbly represents the groundforce conception of addressing the very difficult problem of COIN in the twenty-first century.

Notes

(1.) Field Manual (FM) 324/Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-33.5, Counterinsurgency, December 2006, http://usacac.army.mil/cac/repository/materials/COINFM324.pdf (accessed 21 May 2007).

(2.) Elaine M. Grossman, "Services Agree to Write Joint Doctrine for Counterinsurgency Ops," Inside the Pentagon, 24 May 2007, 1.

(3.) Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 2, Operations and Organization, 3 April 2007, 2, https://www.doctrine.af.mil/ afdcprivateweb/AFDD_Page_htMl/doctrine_docs/AFDD2.pdf (accessed 13 june 2007).

(4.) Ibid.

(5.) Steven Metz and Raymond Millen, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in the 21st Century: Reconceptualizing Threat and Response (Carlisle, PA: US army Strategic Studies institute, November 2004), vii (see also 25-26), http://www.au.af.mil/ au/awc/awcgate/ssi/insurgency21c.pdf (accessed 23 May 2007).

(6.) "Military doctrine presents considerations on how a job should be done to accomplish military goals." AFDD 1, Air Force Basic Doctrine, 17 November 2003, 11, https://www.doctrine.af.mil/afdcprivateweb/AFDD_Page_htMl/doctrine_docs/ AFDD1.pdf (accessed 8 March 2007).

(7.) Maj Jon Huss, "Exploiting the Psychological Effects of Airpower: A Guide for the Operational Commander," Aerospace Power Journal 13, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 23, http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj99/win99/huss.pdf (accessed 29 May 2007).

(8.) Stephen Tanner, Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban (New York: da Capo Press, 2002), 267.

(9.) Timothy Gusinov, "Afghan War Has Lessons for U.S. Pilots in Iraq," Washington Times, 21 February 2007, 14, http://Washingtontimes.com/world/20070220101833-6911r_page2.htm (accessed 18 April 2007); and Maj Edward B. Westermann, "the limits of Soviet airpower: the Bear versus the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, 1979-1989" (thesis, School of advanced airpower Studies, june 1997), 78-79, http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgibin/GettRdoc?ad=ada391797& location=u2&doc=GettRdoc.pdf (accessed 14 April 2007).