Advising Success: Lessons from American Military Assistance Efforts Since World War II

Abstract

The United States has been providing advisors to foreign security forces for over 120 years. Recent changes in military advising doctrine have resulted from efforts to make modern advising efforts more effective. An analysis of three cases from the U.S. military advisory experience shows that successful advisory efforts have a number of factors in common. Regardless of the size of the mission, four factors trend toward success when applied in advisory efforts. First, the advisor needs to account for local political and cultural limitations on the overall effort. Second, the location of the training area should minimize interactions between the host nation's population and the advisors and trainees who are receiving assistance. Third, the advisory effort should include the professionalization of other security forces beyond the military. And fourth, the training should result in the potential for long-term relationships between the advisors and their counterparts. Case studies of U.S. military advisors in South Korea, El Salvador, and Colombia are presented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA557887

Entities

People

  • Bryan K. Batson

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Civil War
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Geography
  • International Relations
  • Military History
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Political Systems
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Strategic Security Studies