ABSTRACT
Since its encounter with political violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military has taken significant steps to improve its understanding of counterinsurgency. Faced with operational demands for which they had little preparation, its troops adapted quickly, on the fly, and while under fire. Nearly ten years on, the outcome of these campaigns still hangs in the balance, but the sustained operational experience has already had a profound effect on the US military as an institution. During this period its priorities have shifted, from a near-exclusive focus on major combat operations to a greater emphasis on the types of missions encountered in theatre, be they termed ‘counterinsurgencies’, ‘stability operations’ or, somewhat perversely, ‘small wars’. As part of the reorientation, US military thinking now reflects greater awareness of war's political essence, its unpredictability, and of what it means to intervene in foreign polities. The rate of institutional change has in many ways been impressive, given the United States' fraught relation to counterinsurgency since the Vietnam War.
