Influencing Helmand: United States Marine Corps Operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2008

Abstract

In 2008, two Marine Corps infantry battalions (Battalion Landing Team 1/6 and Task Force 2/7) operated in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Each battalion operated in a different sized battlespace in rural areas and each battalion met with a different degree of success. Both battalions found that in rural counterinsurgency operations a unit's Area of' Influence ebbs and flows over time and is driven by physical and moral factors that must be taken into consideration when designing a unit's campaign plan and formulating a realistic desired endstate. The analysis concludes that a unit's area of influence needs to be studied, evaluated, and constantly reevaluated during operations to enable commanders to nimbly adapt to the ever evolving situation in a counterinsurgency campaign. Incorporating the discourse on a unit's Area of Influence into Problem Framing provides a compatible venue for detailed analysis.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 14, 2010
Accession Number
ADA603246

Entities

People

  • Sean P. Dynan

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Counter IED
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Areas
  • Command And Control
  • Construction Materials
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Human Behavior
  • Information Operations
  • Lessons Learned
  • Marine Corps
  • Marine Corps Operations
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Task Forces
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation