Stability operations key in new field manual

[unhappycamper]

Stability operations key in new field manual
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jan 16, 2008 12:44:40 EST

Stability operations, once an afterthought on the battlefield, will soon be doctrinally on par with offensive and defensive operations in the Army’s new operations field manual, which will be introduced at the end of February.

Traditionally, stability ops have been regarded as secondary in a sequence of phases in full spectrum operations. But as the Army moves away from preparing for combat on a linear battlefield, it will be a simultaneous piece of every mission.

The new doctrinal manual “talks about how we see conflict, how we see the fight,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said Wednesday at an Association of the United States Army forum near the Pentagon.

“I see it as a mix, a hybrid of irregular warfare, conventional warfare and I see it being fought in urban areas,” he said.

Instead of fighting around a city’s population as in the past, he said, the military will be fighting among the population, an environment in which new skills and thinking will be required, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/army_caseymanual_080116w/