04-12-2014, 02:46 AM
Thanks for starting this discussion!
My sense is that the Viet Minh and the Viet Cong leaned heavily on 4th Generation concepts even though they are arguably not the first.
For example, Napoleon burned up much of his strength trying to suppress insurgents in Spain. Hence the term "Guerilla."
The major difference is that US has been blessed with a period of freedom from threats of Full Scale war and dominates the Force Projection game. This has given space for those who I think have been the most clear-head thinkers: those who think about Rupert Smith's "War Among the People." This is a good move, because the major deterrence advocates almost uniformly forget or ignore the very real fact that a major part of the deterrence equation is a nation's effectiveness in small and mid-sized engagements. That makes the large-scale deterrence far more credible.
My sense is that the Viet Minh and the Viet Cong leaned heavily on 4th Generation concepts even though they are arguably not the first.
For example, Napoleon burned up much of his strength trying to suppress insurgents in Spain. Hence the term "Guerilla."
The major difference is that US has been blessed with a period of freedom from threats of Full Scale war and dominates the Force Projection game. This has given space for those who I think have been the most clear-head thinkers: those who think about Rupert Smith's "War Among the People." This is a good move, because the major deterrence advocates almost uniformly forget or ignore the very real fact that a major part of the deterrence equation is a nation's effectiveness in small and mid-sized engagements. That makes the large-scale deterrence far more credible.