U.S. Army Counterinsurgency Handbook

by U.S. Department of the Army

Book Overview

Anyone with an interest in what our troops are doing overseas will find this government manual an excellent source of information. It gives a detailed breakdown of what an insurgency is, how one... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1602391726
• ISBN13: 9781602391727
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.5" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Insightful and comprehensive

The Counterinsurgency Field Manual is a surprisingly well considered text on the nature of insurgency and the points where the course of an insurgency can be influenced. Something is (or should be) rather confusing about the U.S. military. Since the inception of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, the U.S. military has been involved with counterinsurgency operations almost constantly, at home and abroad. (Put this way, Americans were waging counterinsurgency since before there was a United States; the French and Indian War...) What is confusing is 'why isn't the U.S. better at it?' Setting this underlying question to one side, this text sets forth a framework for understanding the causes of insurgencies, and for dealing with them. The full scope of cultural, economic, social, political, and other factors are addressed in considerable detail, along with approaches to influencing these factors to address the root causes of insurgency. It is a robust, comprehensive work that can provide an adaptable conceptual structure for anyone involved in counterinsurgency or issues relating to counterinsurgency. The big question in my mind; Why did the Army have to manage developing this process, when more than half the work required to respond to an insurgency should be done or overseen by the State Department? Why do soldiers have to arrange economic reconstruction and infrastructure development? Aren't those folks at the State Department competent to do all this stuff? E.M. Van Court