The Importance of Cultural Understanding in Military Operations
Abstract
This essay explores the importance of military forces achieving cultural understanding in order to attain strategic goals in their area of operations. The study compares the United States Army's failures in the post-Civil War south during reconstruction and their success in pacifying the Moros during the Philippine insurrection. The reasons for failure were an inability to understand the cultural environment in which they were operating and a lack of preparedness in dealing with the monumental task of rebuilding a country. The successful operations against the Moros were directly linked to an understanding of the cultural view of the use of force and its proper application in the area of operations. The study concludes that the success of military operations in the contemporary operating environment is dependent upon achieving cultural understanding in the area of operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 16, 2008
- Accession Number
- AD1111494
Entities
People
- Billy R. Ii Counts
- David M. Poehlein
Organizations
- United States Army Sergeants Major Academy