"Making Riflemen from Mud": Restoring the Army's Culture of Irregular Warfare

Campbell, James D.

ISBN 10: 1584873183 / ISBN 13: 9781584873181

Published by Strategic Studies Institute U. S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA, 2007

About this Item

v, [1], 29, [1] p. This is one of the Carlisle Papers in Security Strategy. Endnotes. From Wikipedia: "Irregular warfare is warfare in which one or more combatants are irregular military rather than regular forces. Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare, and so is asymmetric warfare. Irregular warfare favors indirect and asymmetric warfare approaches, though it may employ the full range of military and other capabilities, in order to erode the adversary s power, influence, and will. It is inherently a protracted struggle that will test the resolve of a state and its strategic partners. Concepts associated with irregular warfare are older than the term itself. "Irregular forces" is a term in international humanitarian law referring to a category of combatants consisting of individuals forming part of the armed forces of a party to an armed conflict, international or non-international, but not belonging to that party's regular forces and operating in or outside of their own territory even if the territory is under occupation." Good. No dust jacket. Cover has some wear and soiling.

Seller Inventory # 70494

Bibliographic Details

• Title: "Making Riflemen from Mud": Restoring the Army's Culture of Irregular Warfare
• Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute U. S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1584873183
• ISBN 13: 9781584873181
• Binding: Wraps
• Edition: Presumed first edition/first printing.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Special Operations

About this title

Synopsis

Prior to World War II, the Army had a deeply ingrained facility with and acceptance of what we now term unconventional warfare-raising, training, advising, and cooperating with tribal militias, local paramilitaries, and other nonstate armed groups. This culture of irregular warfare was attributable to nearly 300 years of American military tradition from the colonial period until 1941, including extensive experience in cooperating with Native American tribes and individual scouts during the expansion of the western frontier. These traditions of unconventional war reached maturity in the years of fighting on the western plains after the Civil War, and were given ultimate expression in the creation of the Philippine Scouts at the beginning of the 20th century. Since World War II, the wider military has lost this expertise in and comfortable familiarity with unconventional operations, with the Special Operations community taking on the sole proprietorship of this role. Given the variety of political environments in which today's conventional soldiers may find themselves and the current nature of conflicts ongoing and likely to occur in the world, the Army culture as a whole can and must readapt itself to the new old realities of irregular war.