What is the difference between a conventional war and an unconventional war

Therefore, the lessons of the recent counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan should be properly captured, understood, and learned. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.

Army War College, U. Army, or U. Department of Defense nor do they reflect the official policy or position of the Dutch government or the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Before the Vietnam War even ended, the US Army rushed to put the experience learned to the background while reembracing the Cold War themes, such as the Fulda Gap scenario. Most Vietnam veterans believe that there were many reasons, not just one, that explains why the Vietnam War ended so miserably.

The NLF National Liberation Front was controlled by Hanoi — it was never independent it was always run by a communist party commissar ; 8.

Fighting in had decimated communist forces in the South. When President Ford failed to respond to the attack of Phuoc Long in January , the North knew that their overall victory was at-hand; The North only had to win the American media in order to eventually be victorious because they sway politicians who love to be loved and, of course, reelected and feeble-minded university professors who love to pontificate and sell their books.

The similarities endured in Afghanistan are obvious, beginning with defining and isolating the battle space. Many in the U. Stability operations both during and after combat are essential military tasks, and transition to civil authorities also often requires prolonged military engagement and support. Those lessons are also at risk of being lost, if they were ever learned at all, as we transition back to the focus on large scale conventional conflict with near peer competitors.

Gray zone competition is also a key going forward and we are not in my estimation positioning ourselves well to compete below the armed conflict threshold. And other nations the same before that. Way before that. Would that you could channel Ramses II. It would be instructive historical research and wider-ranging than our normal battlefield level maneuver reprising which is particularly useful to regimental and wing level folks, but less so to Corps, Air Forces, Fleets and the NCA. And that the result was the Green Berets.

I would not want to lose that hard-won experience and expertise. That said, as our participation in the ME is waning, we must now re-balance the books and spend a bit more on conventional forces while keeping our unconventional forces intact, and more than likely in contact. A tough thing to do since conventional force modernization costs tons more than unconventional and Congress rarely responds to trillion dollar military budgets without an existential threat. Unfortunately, there is no magic wand.

We have an expensive intellectual argument about a potential threat that is not visible to the populace — therefore not visible to Congress. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". It does not store any personal data. Functional Functional. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

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