[Ailist] Changing Military Perspective

[crightmer116995mi at comcast.net]

Cheri; 


I just finished reading an interesting book on Afghanistan the early days of the conflict. The title of the book is Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton and it details the actions of the special forces soldiers that were the first ones on the ground after 9/11. Part of the special forces doctrine is to work with the local townspeople and help them defeat the Taliban. The war had been going on for years and these soldiers help the locals defeat the Taliban and regain their country. This type of action actually had more success than when the regular army and marines arrived. It is an interesting book and I recommend it highly. 


Interesting the change in measurement only time will tell if it is successful. 


Jeff Rightmer 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheri Torres" <cheri.torres at gmail.com> 
To: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu 
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 10:46:15 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [Ailist] Changing Military Perspective 

I noticed today in the news that McCrystal has shifted the metrics in 
Afghanistan from measuring # of militants killed, to # of civilians safe 
from violence (which I take to mean violence in body, mind, and spirit from 
any source). What a different set of possibilities and options for going 
forward emerge from such a simple shift in metrics. This shift in 
perspective caused an immediate directive to avoid fighting in areas where 
people live. 
Subtle shifts have the potential to cause tidal waves. Kudos to our 
military; may they discover a world of possibilities for generating safety! 

Cheri 

-- 
Cheri B. Torres, Ph.D. 
Collaborative-by-Design 
Asheville, NC 
828-225-5088 

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