The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual

I received the manual in a timely manner, and it was in very good condition as advertised. I would recommend to anyone that they use this supplier to buy a book.

Having just completed Rupert Smith's _The Utility of Force_, this was recommended to me by my former executive officer as a companion piece. He was dead-on in his recommendation. Whereas Smith's strength was in disucssing strategy in combating insurgencies (and proposing that the warfare of the future will be of a counter-insurgency nature), Nagel addresses counterinsurgency at the tactical ( battalion. company and platoon) level.

Naturally there is some overlap, particularly as it relates to dealing with and among a population. Nagel, however, literally walks one through waging warfare on the ground, from reconaissnace and intelligence to planning operations through executing and sustaining the campaign. I was particularly impressed by the chapter on leadership and ethics for counterinsurgency and by the numerous vignettes providing a historical perspective on successful counterinsurgency strategies.

While the manual is written (by definition) for professionals, it is an excellent tool in gaining insight and understanding how to successfully engage the types of conflicts we are likely to see more of in the future. Read in conjunction with _The Utility of Force_, a strong foundation for the future of warfare at both the field and company grade.

As I understand the history of the COIN manual, it was originally published in 1940 by the Marine Corps, and dealt with the lessons to be learned from Black Jack Pershing's development of a strategy against the "Moros" insurgency in the Philippines in 1903. Ergo the double title "Army/Marine." And BTW, what Clausewitz wrote is "War is diplomacy by other means," not "policy" or "politics." He was talking about the two ways that countries deal with one another, one peaceful, the other coercive.

The White House and the Department of State should have read this 4 years ago - not to mention Mr. Bremmer.

General Petraeus wrote this, it has to be read to understand his strategy in Iraq