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| Not an actual poster... |
I was listening to NPR the other day, and something really annoyed me. It's about the way some people view the military, or should I say: 'military tactics'. I'm going to address my concerns, and what is really a popular exploitation of stereotyping.
One incident of language warning.
So while I was grocery shopping, my local station had "The Diane Rehm Show" playing. It was about the use of mining natural gas from rock deposits, usually shale, and included the documentarian who published the movie/documentary "Gasland" and "Gasland 2". Also, a representative of a Natural gas extraction company was on.
'Fracking' is a subject for debate, and thanks to the controversy and hostility of Ms. Rheme's guests, the debate became rather heated, and at some points hostile. Which is fine, it's a radio program. But all of the sudden, the extraction representative mentioned that they create lots of jobs and employ lots of veterans, Ms. Rheme mentioned that (and I'm paraphrasing)
'Everyone is very proud of their record in employing veterans... BUT...'
"Oh, great." I think to myself, "Now I get to listen to them bicker about who 'merica's harder while they measure each other's flag pole..."
'What specific jobs are you employing them in?'
That seems like a very odd question at first. The extraction rep responds as I would expect anyone to: drilling, extracting, finance, transportation, ect. Just normal jobs. But then the documentarian jumps in. Still paraphrasing:
'At an executive meeting with [company x] one of the board members said to everyone attending that they should read the US Counter Insurgency Manual in how to deal with these local cities and people. He said that he was proud that he had hired several former PSYOPS officers to conduct counter insurgency tactics against these people. He's using military tactics against these people and that's wrong!'
My response was to immediately yell at my radio: "Oh no! They're gonna give them free soccer balls!"
Seriously, this is a totally stupid argument. I think every single American should read the USCOIN manual. It helps to explain what a lot of our wars have been about, how to fight them, and how to win them. Does that mean I think every American is an insurgent? No. No, I don't. Let me give you an example of what is in the USCOIN manual, Chapter 7, section 13, under "Defusing a Confrontation"
[On 3 April 2005, a] small unit of American soldiers was walking along a street in Na-jaf [enroute to a meeting with a religious leader] when hundreds of Iraqis poured out of the buildings on either side. Fists waving, throats taut, they pressed in on the Americans, who glanced at one another in terror. ...The Iraqis were shrieking, frantic with rage.... [It appeared that a shot would] come from somewhere, the Americans [would] open fire, and the world [would] witness the My Lai massacre of the Iraq war. At that moment, an American officer stepped through the crowd holding his rifle high over his head with the barrel pointed to the ground. Against the backdrop of the seething crowd, it was a striking gesture.... "Take a knee," the officer said.... The Soldiers looked at him as if he were crazy. Then, one after another, swaying in their bulky body armor and gear, they knelt before the boiling crowd and pointed their guns at the ground. The Iraqis fell silent, and their anger subsided. The officer ordered his men to withdraw [and continue on their patrol].
The lesson from the case study is to deescalate a dangerous situation with the locals by assuming risk, rather then limiting risk by escalating it through violence. This doesn't sound like the dangerous and evil military tactics that one of the guests of the Ms. Rehm's show may have wanted to believe it was. Perhaps some of these quotes will show us the evil military tactics:
"Some of the Best Weapons for Counterinsurgents Do Not Shoot" - Section 1-153
"Counterinsurgents that use excessive force to limit short-term risk alienate the local populace. They deprive themselves of the support or tolerance of the people. This situation is what insurgents want." - Section 7-24
What about a specific psychological operations? Maybe the manual contains evil in those sections...
"Perception assessment matrices are often used by psychological operations personnel and other staff elements and can be a valuable tool for intelligence analysts... counterinsurgent activities intended to be benign or benevolent might have negative results if the populace's perceptions are not considered, and then evaluated or measured. This is true because perceptions -- more than reality -- drive a commander's decision making and can influence the populace's reactions. A perception assessment matrix displays how well conunterinsurgents are able to achieve an effect during an operation. In this sense, the matrix can be used to directly display the effectiveness of the unit's civil affairs, public affairs, and psychological operations efforts.
The Importance of Perceptions in Operation Uphold Democracy (emphasis in original)
One proposed psychological operations action developed for Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti in 1994 illustrates why perception assessment is necessary. Before deployment, leaflets were prepared informing the Haitian populace of U.S. intentions. The original leaflet was printed in Dutch, the language of the Haitian elite. However, the one actually used was published in Creole, the official language of Haiti, because an astute team member realized the need to publish to the wider audience.
If a flier in Dutch had been dropped, it could have undermined the American mission to the country in several ways. The majority of the population would have been unable to read the flier. The subsequent deployment of U.S. forces into the country, therefore, could have been perceived as hostile. The mission, which was intended in part to restore equity within Haiti's social structure, could have backfired if the Haitians viewed the Dutch flier as an indication of U.S. favoritism toward the Haitian elite."
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| The USCOIN Manual's example of a perception assessment matrix |
No evil in there either... it's as if making sure that there is support from the local community is the most critical aspect to counterinsurgency. ZOMG What if it is?!
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| I CAN NOT CONVEY MY SARCASM ANY STRONGER |
PSYOPS guys, they know all of this. It's their job. PSYOPS (Psycological Operations) are going to be employed for, and against everybody. PSYOPS guys are going to try and make sure that the morale of units is good, they are going to try to develop relationships with the local communities, they are also going to try to either hurt the support of the guys trying to kill people, or make them decide to put down their guns. The classic example is dropping leaflets from bombers, but the usefulness of this tactic is very situational. PSYOPS tactics do not involve mind control, brain washing, conspiracy Keanu being right, beating until morale improves, or any mad scientist style schemes.
Here's an example; again, Iraq. Two Marines, one a PSYOPS guy and one an officer for a unit that is deployed in the region. Their objective was to go out to the community, talk to local leaders, find their complaints, and finally handing out soccer balls to kids. Because Iraqi kids love soccer balls. Unfortunately these two marines, and several other children were killed by an insurgent VBID (Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device) The insurgents attempted to blame the VBID on the Marines, claiming that we routinely use suicide bombers against ourselves, and the community rallied against them. The idea here, is that developing community support is essential. Whether it be from the fact that you are building and fostering relationships with local leaders and businesses, or proving that you are not as big, bad, and ugly as your enemies say you are by being generous with toys. The real work of a service-member in PSYOPS is about walking around and making nice with the local community, the hard way.
If a PSYOPS serviceman were to see a situation that was composed of only the worst things the documentarian would claim (water on fire, over worked employees, environmental degradation, ect.), how would he respond? By recommending ways to stop and fix all of the aforementioned problems. Why would the PSYOPS guy try to take care of these people? Because it's his job. Again, the community relationships are essential. It's part of the whole concept for COIN. The documentarian seemed to think that these 'military tactics' involved something far more sinister. I honestly believe this comes from a kind of lazy stereotype that PSYOPS guys are some sort of a mix between a super spy and a propagandist. Another stereotype probably relates to the fact that people have a connotative reaction to hearing 'military tactics' and 'insurgents'.
The lesson to learn here: stop relying on emotional reactions and dumb stereotypes to foment arguments. If you're really concerned about the counter insurgency manual, then read it. You can get it on Amazon.com for literally $0.01 click here
And just because we don't see it enough, have some Marines handing out soccer balls.
-SEMPER FILLY
