Unconventional Warfare And The Principles Of War

The Principles of War is an insufficient construct and has limited application on the unconventional battlefield. Background The collapse of the Soviet Union caused a basic paradigm shift with respect to world order. We are witness to the many faces of war as it rages across numerous continents in ubiquitous fashion, fueled by ethnic and religious intolerence political and economic instability and continued ideological challenges to emerging democracies. The new face of battle dictates that we view conflict studies from a sociological and intellectual perspective rather than traditional historical analysis. The majority of conflict in the 21st century will no doubt occur in the form of unconventional or low intensity conflict. This trend will force us to look at the international community as well as U.S. security interests in a new light, and the difficulties this presents are quite evident. We are attempting to understand the implications of this new world order on our national security policy, military security strategy, force structure and employment. We can be certain that U.S. military forces will continue to find themselves employed not only in traditional roles, but also more so in non traditional roles which are characteristically found at the low end of the spectrum of conflict. Unconventional warfare differs qualitatively from conventional warfare. Thus, when employed in unconventional roles, it is imperative that U.S. military personnel fully understand these qualitiative differences and how they impact upon our actions on the battlefield.