[Ailist] Changing Military Perspective

Wed Jun 24 06:08:12 MDT 2009

Lionel,

I woke this morning with another thought about your comments "search and destroy".  This may well be the mission, but when allowed to run amok untethered by the higher goals--such as allowing civilians to live without violence--you end up potentially being less successful.  Making sure civilians live without violence does not mean that infantry do not "destroy the enemy", it means there is a new way of understanding how to do so.  Living without violence is not just the violence of the war, but the violence done by "the enemy" to the civilians.  

I think the military will be more successful when it operates within a higher frame of consciousness.  This command is not about "not killing", it is about holding the end outcome in mind as you plan for achieving it; it's about aligning actions with outcome.

Cheri
-----Original message-----
From: Cheri Torres cheri.torres at gmail.com
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:16:58 -0400
To: Lionel Boxer lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
Subject: Re: [Ailist] Changing Military Perspective

Lionel,
Perhaps that is only one definition of the infantry.

Cheri

On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Lionel Boxer <lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au>wrote:

> When you read my post please keep in mind that the mission of the infantry
> is to seek out and destoy the enemy.
>
> Soldiers are soldiers and they have a job to do.  If you change soldiers
> you may change the operational effectiveness and their capability to do
> their job.  With that in mind and in consideration of the thread of this
> discussion, my belief is that it would be more appropriate to change
> politicians and businessmen so that we can stop war.
>
> If war happens we need soldiers to be able to do their job and not be
> confused by a set of rules crafted from the peace of a warless centre of
> thought.
>
> Special Forces tend to be capable of "work with the local townspeople and
> help them" - this is because they are selected from the best of the army.
>  The regular army has a much broader range of capability and includes many
> people - even in the highest level of command (which can be populated by the
> politically astute, overly ambitious, and intellectually limited) - who are
> not capable of thinking in these terms.  Hence, it is best to keep the
> military out of conflict unless absolutely necessary.
>
> Remember, the mission of the infantry is to seek out and destoy the enemy.
>
> Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
> Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
> Graduate School of Business
> my "Assessment of Quality Systems with Positioning Theory"
> now in a googe book - see link at http://intergon.net
> >>> <crightmer116995mi at comcast.net> 24/06/09 2:05 AM >>>
> 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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-- 
Cheri B. Torres, Ph.D.
Collaborative-by-Design
Asheville, NC
828-225-5088

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