My Soapbox

Well, every day is a learning experience. In addition to getting better at my job, I'm enjoying the exposure to everyone else's specialties. All I can say is that while the hourse are worse and the conditions less ideal, this is much much better than working at the hub. The only thing the hub had on this was going home to my wife after work. And a more varried diet. Next time I'll pack her and a field stove.

By virtue of having a blog I feel the need to expound on things on occassion as if the world cares. It must be something in the narcisitic air of the blogosphere. That or the fact that since I can't do it in person, I'll type it instead. Between Stars and Stripes and AFN News (a compilation of service news and various shows from CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC) I get to sort of stay in touch with the world outside of work.
This week's buzzword, or buzz phrase if you will, is "military solution." Anybody who makes a statement along the lines of "there is no military solution, only a political solution" in reference to our current war, or wars if you choose to see what is happening globally as completely separate events at this stage, is a moron. It is at best a statement of the profoundly obvious, but mostly a statement that reflects either a lack of understanding of the link between defense and foreign policy or a deliberate mischaracterization of current events for some sad political gain.
Clausewitz gets overquoted in referring to war as a continuation of politics by other means, but the man was on to something. Granted, Sun Tzu wrote it in more flowery prose many years before, but because Clausewitz was Prussian, and we never hear about Prussians any more, we'll throw him a bone here. War is a means of achieving a political end. I'm not on new ground here.
An insurgency is essentially a violent political campaign. Why pay for ad time when you can blow something up and get it for free? You can just murder anyone whose teachings oppose yours or who represents another power base. To resolve an insurgency you generally need to address the legitimate, if any, political grievances that allowed it to gain support.
You also have to remove the irreconcilable groups from the picture and provide security to the population. The population has to be convinced that not only are their complaints being addressed but that the government can provide services and safety from attack. The insurgent wants to break the reliance or trust in the government and then fill the vacuum.
Security won't come from men in suits sitting across the table from each other. Nor will that deal with extremist elements. That's where the good guys with guns come in. But the guys in suits and the guys with guns have to have a coordinated approach to isolate the insurgents politically and physically. Those that can be reformed are brought in to government or at least mixed back in to society. Those that won't are captured or killed.
The political solution has no credibility without a military capable of supporting it. The military solution has no effect (well, short of genocide) if there is no supporting political action. They are inseperable.
None of that is really original thinking on my part. But then Gen Petraus's famed Counterinsurgency Manual isn't really original thinking. It is just codifying many years of lessons learned in blood around the world. Recodifying it really as most of it was readily available not only history books, but even in dated military manuals.
Insert cliche about not studying history here.
There should be a test or at least some mandatory reading list before someone can enter any elected office.

Oh, and clearing your name and standing on principle work better if they are not inspired by $4M book deals. It hurts credibility.

I just noticed that my next shift will take me in to May. Sweet. Shifts go by fast, weeks, less so. In some ways it seems like I've been here much longer than I actually have, though with the learning curve, I can still feel like I just arrived. As with anything else in the military, by the time I get good and comfortable with my job, it'll be time to go.