Irregular Warfare: Definition and Discussion

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Introduction

The nature and form of war change, but its fundamental nature remains constant. Nearly two decades of continuous irregular warfare against violent extremist organizations worldwide — the demand for skill in irregular hostilities continues. The leaders search for the best strategy for dealing with irregular warfare and preparing soldiers for operational actions. The path to changes can be the introduction of the Performance Triad and improving of the leaders’ personal qualities, taking into account the peculiarities of irregular warfare.

How Leaders can Implement the Performance Triad to Help Prepare their Organizations for Irregular Warfare

Irregular warfare is different from conventional ones and therefore requires special training. Irregular warfare, which is different in form, describes types of violence conducted by sub-state actors, including terrorism and insurgency (James D. Kiras, 2009, p. 3). Irregular forces on one or both sides almost entirely suppressed the ongoing conflicts after the invasion of Iraq, renewed Taliban insurgency in the 2001 war in Afghanistan, conflict in Darfur, the Lord’s Resistance Army uprising in northern Uganda, and the Second Chechen War.

Conducting effective actions in irregular warfare requires even more diligent use of the physical resources of soldiers; here, the Performance Triad can help. It is a comprehensive plan to build preparedness and resilience through public health initiatives and leadership engagement. Army Medicine has the privilege of maintaining, restoring, and improving the health of the entire Army family and helped the Army create the Performance Triad (Sleep, Activity, and Nutrition) initiative. Sleep is critical to the proper cognitive and physical functioning of the body. For soldiers, lack of sleep can slow down the execution of orders both on and off the training ground, harming soldiers and units. Keeping fit is the key to making a soldier ready for action. Staying active and adhering to safe and effective training principles allows soldiers to fulfill their job responsibilities and become more potent fighters. A healthy diet provides exercise, increases energy and stamina, shortens recovery times between activities, improves focus and concentration, and helps soldiers feel better.

The goal of the Performance Triad is to positively influence and maintain the health, readiness, and resilience of soldiers, and the entire army family. The pilot program, which began in 2013 and ended in 2014, reaffirmed the importance of committed leadership as a foundation to support soldiers and practice healthy sleep, activity and eating habits to support preparedness and resilience. The widespread implementation of this strategy will help strengthen the physical and moral training of soldiers, which is especially important in irregular warfare.

How the Execution of Mission Command during Irregular Warfare Will Have Different Challenges than during Conventional Conflicts

The increasingly complex security environment suggests the need for a revised understanding of irregular warfare. The problem of irregular cooperative solutions is in this combined routine: reactive adversaries such as terrorists, insurgents and criminal networks, advances in technology and other phenomena on a large scale such irregular infections, even more deadly, capable of causing widespread chaos. These emissions are entangling populations through the skillful use of communications, cyberspace, and technology so that their impact spreads to regional and global levels. Many of them manifest themselves, in essence, as a struggle for influence and legitimacy.

The Focus is on addressing the underlying economic, political, cultural, or security conditions that fuel the population’s grievances, rather than on applying military power directly against the military and paramilitary forces of adversaries (Department of Defense, 2010, p. 20). The Cold War experience shows that long-standing traditional warfare – troop movements, partner interactions, public relations, partner logistics, security assistance, intelligence, and counterintelligence activities, and training – complement and mutually support objectives. However, due to the nature of complex and amorphous attacks, these competitions are unlikely to end in a sudden military victory. Fixing, reducing, regulating the conflict and its causes can be determined as success. Joint strength thus must find multidimensional approaches in tandem with other partners to resolve the problems. Complex political, cultural, religious, and historical factors and the various populations involved in all conflicts are difficult to understand deeply enough. Understanding the complex features and causes of irregular warfare can contribute to the formation of the right strategist, both for soldiers and leaders.

How Leaders May Have to Adjust their Leadership Attribute of Intellect during Irregular Warfare

The army leadership requirements layout the attributes and competencies expected of every Army leader – character, presence, and intellect. These attributes often reflect personal experience and long-term development and are not immediately gained from direct training events. At the organizational level, they directly relate to how a leader behaves, influences organizational change, and guides the unit through obstacles and setbacks. Since irregular warfare usually results in protracted and unpredictable conflicts, the government should adjust the leader attributes to ensure maximum organization support and mission accomplishment. In irregular warfare, success requires a mindset that focuses on how to influence the population to support the HN leadership positively (United States Air Force, 2013, p.21). Intelligence consists of a person’s ability and knowledge. Intelligence enables leaders to be creative and engaging to understand what is happening, judgments, tasks, and actions. Intelligence enables leaders to reason analytically, critically, ethically, and culturally sensitive. Intellect participates in consideration of intentional and unintentional consequences of decisions made by the leader. Effective leaders must anticipate second and third-order the results of their decisions.

A leader’s mental ability affects how well he thinks and leads others. Every leader must be self-aware of their strengths and limitations and apply them accordingly. Leader development is the deliberate, continuous, and progressive process – founded in the Army Ethic – that develops Soldiers and Army Civilians into competent, committed professional leaders of character (Department of Army, 2017, p. 7). Innovative problem solutions tend to be inquisitive, trying to figure out why something is happening the way it is or asking questions if something might work better. Innovative leaders prevent complacency by finding new ways to challenge subordinates with alternative approaches and ideas (Department of Army, 2019, p.56). To be innovative requires creative thinking, using both adaptive (based on experience and prior knowledge) and innovative approaches (development of completely new ideas). Innovative leaders prevent complacency by finding new ways to challenge their subordinates.

To be innovators, leaders rely on their intuition, experience, knowledge, and input of their subordinates. Innovative leaders strengthen team building by holding everyone accountable – and stakeholders in innovation. Conventional forces have supported or led counterinsurgency campaigns in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan; stabilization missions in Bosnia and Somalia; and other irregular campaigns. The conventional military forces should not lose the ability to wage irregular warfare. Thus, competent leadership is the basis for building tactics of conducting military operations, especially during irregular warfare.

Conclusion

Recent experience shows that there are more efficient and less costly ways to achieve strategic success in Irregular warfare. Since 2014, conventional and special operations forces have worked closely in Iraq and Syria to improve the long-standing “through, with and through” approach to irregular warfare. These operations have proven to be more cost-effective than doing them yourself. The government has a model, but institutionalizing these lessons requires a solid, departmental approach. It is necessary to introduce innovative methods, taking into account the peculiarities of irregular warfare. Among the improvements currently evident, the government should widely distribute the Performance Triad, which will improve soldiers’ general level of training. In addition, it is necessary to conduct further research on the differences of irregular hostilities to adapt the preparation to atypical conditions. It is also worth paying attention to the need for particular behavior of leaders during irregular military conditions to quickly respond to the enemy’s constantly changing situation and characteristics.

References

Department of Army. (2019). Army leadership and the profession. Army Publishing Directorate Army Publishing Directorate. Web.

Department of Army. (2017). Army Training and Leader Development. Army Publishing Directorate. Web.

Department of Defense. (2010). Irregular warfare: countering irregular threats joint operating concept. Official Website of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Web.

James D. Kiras. (2009). Irregular warfare: terrorism and insurgency. Indian Strategic Knowledge Online. Web.

United States Air Force. (2013). Air force doctrine document 3-2. The official website of the Air Force. Web.

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