I listened to the final installment of Dan Carlin's 'Punic Nightmares' detailing the Punic Wars from somewhere around 218BC to 160BC between Rome and Carthage. These are the wars that include Cannae, the famous victory of Hannibal over the Roman legions.
It turns out that Hannibal didn't go back to Carthage for resupply for over a decade. He had been out on the road warring. The old adage that an army travels on its stomach is apt. So I've been thinking about one of the fundamental premises that has been knocked around with regard to America's force projection and our ability to be a global cop during economic tough times.
What we have demonstrated amply, despite the political incentives for the American left to deny, is our armed forces ability to work with populations in CT and counter-insurgency ROEs. In some of these cases we have basically paid off the idle tribesmen who would make war to feed themselves. To the extent that we are a stabilizing force in a chaotic environment, the US is doing something extraordinary. It just well may be that a constant stream of funds from the motherland is necessary to continue such operations. However, there must be some manner in which our combat soldiers know how to survive without umbilicals.
Part of the way that Hannibal was defeated was through what is now known as a Fabian strategy. To kill the bear, use a pack of wolves. Meet the large dominant army with coordinated small armies. Backbite, harry and grind the superior force down. In consideration of the particular strengths of American theater communications, such a strategy might work very well in combination with CT and CI. Note that CT and CI ROEs are, of necessity, not aimed for conquering, but towards stability and the establishment or re-establishment of a regime of justice. One could say that in 'forcing American values' on populations this is precisely how to go about it. We obviously know how to be the bear with the Powell doctrine of overwhelming force aka 'Shock & Awe'. We have learned in Iraq how to be the wolves - wolves in every street hunting down and killing the rabid stray dogs of AQ and the insurgency, but also converting many over to our pack.
An independent American systems-administration force could be very much like a self-sustaining wolfpack. If it comes to the point at which, some 40 years hence, America fails to maintain its economic predominance but retains its commitment to expanding liberty around the globe, fighting the rabid dogs of ethnic cleansing and taking down regional totalitarian bears, it's good to know that there are lessons in the history of warfare from which we can draw an understanding of how a massive overhead is not required.
If the principles of liberty are someday forced to survive on an isolated frontier, then they can and they will.
Recent Comments