Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

116 • A Traveler’s Perspective on Third and Fourth Generation WarFortunately, someone is working to meet this intellectual challenge. I returned fromIslandia via Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There I discoveredthat the Imperial and Royal (K.u.K.) Marine Corps is issuing a series of field manualson Fourth Generation War, the first such publications produced by any armed service.To date, the series includes FMFM-1A, “Fourth Generation Warfare,” which is thefoundational doctrinal work; a manual on light (Jaeger) infantry in Fourth GenerationWar, a second volume of which is forthcoming; a short book of 4GW tactical decisiongames, with a second book in preparation; and FMFM1-3A, a manual on policing 4GW.All of these works are available at the Defense and the National Interest Web site athttp://www.d-n-i.net/dni/category/strategy-and-force-employment/4gw-theory/.One appendix to the FMFM-1A is so valuable that a summary is reproducedbelow:The CanonThere are seven books which, read in the order given, will take the reader from theFirst Generation through the Second, the Third and on into the Fourth. We call them“the canon.”The first book in the canon is C.E. White, “The Enlightened Soldier.” 4 This bookexplains why you are reading all the other books.The next book is Robert Doughty, “The Seeds of Disaster.” 5 This is the definitivehistory of the development of Second Generation Warfare in the French army duringand after World War I.The third book, Bruce Gudmundsson’s “Stormtroop Tactics,” 6 is a story abouthow to change an army.Book four is Martin Samuels’s “Command or Control.” 7 Its value is the clear distinctionsit draws between the Second and Third Generations, distinctions the readerwill find useful when looking at the U.S. armed forces today.The fifth book in the canon is again by Robert Doughty, the head of the historydepartment at West Point and the best American historian of the modern Frencharmy, “The Breaking Point.” 8 This is the story of the battle of Sedan in 1940, a brilliantexample of operational art.The sixth book in the canon is Martin van Creveld’s “Fighting Power.” 9 This bookis important because it illustrates why you cannot combine Third Generation, maneuverwarfare doctrine with a Second Generation, inward-focused, process-ridden,centralized institution.The seventh and final book in the canon is Martin van Creveld’s, “The Transformationof War.” 10 Easily the most important book on war written in the last quartercentury,it lays out the basis of Fourth Generation War, the state’s loss of its monopolyon war and on social organization.