The Changing American Military

Neo-Neocon has a great post about the ways the United States military is adapting to nation building and counter insurgency in a post 9/11 world. The Surge is not just an increase in troops as a number of folks are claimed, but a real change in the application of military personal. From the NY Times:

“The Army has drafted a new operations manual that elevates the mission of stabilizing war-torn nations, making it equal in importance to defeating adversaries on the battlefield.

Military officials described the new document, the first new edition of the Army’s comprehensive doctrine since 2001, as a major development that draws on the hard-learned lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, where initial military successes gave way to long, grueling struggles to establish control.

It is also an illustration of how far the Pentagon has moved beyond the Bush administration’s initial reluctance to use the military to support “nation-building” efforts when it came into office.”