Generals Lewis Walt, Raymond Davis, and Lieutenant General Victor Krulak had highly successful Marine Corps careers beginning with their commissioning in the 1930s. The purpose of this monograph is to examine their development as young officers from pre-commissioning until they assumed battalion command and to identify common trends potentially applicable to the Marine Corps officer procurement and development system today. The methodology for this study included a review of the officers' Official Marine Corps personal records, interviews, and a document search at the United States Marine...

The way the Bundeswehr as an organization collects, analyzes and disseminates lessons learned from its operational experiences is not only of utmost significance for force protection and effectiveness in missions but also gives critical indications for how effectively the German Army learns as part of the Bundeswehr. This monograph analyzes the German lessons learned process on the basis of the two most relevant directives of the German Ministry of Defense and Standing Operating Procedures of the Bundeswehr Operations Command. These papers describe in detail purpose, responsibilities,...

After ten years the ESDP has reached an important milestone in its development. It is one of the most dynamic policy areas in the framework of the European Union (EU) and is a substantial integration project. Behind this background the study analyzes the question, What has ESDP achieved in its main fields of action (capabilities, operations/missions and strategic partnership with NATO to include transatlantic relations) to meet the requirements of the European Security Strategy (ESS)? The ESS as the overarching strategic document for the ESDP claims an encompassing security approach and calls...

United States armed forces have historically fought alongside allied forces, and are currently engaged in several multinational operations around the world. Most, if not all, future U.S. military peacekeeping, combat, or stability operations will continue to consist of multinational structures commonly known as coalitions or alliances. The inherent complexity of creating an effective multinational Command and Control (C2) structure, comprised of different countries and operating under unfamiliar C2 structures, creates tension in achieving unity of effort, unity of command and unity of action...

Since the end of the Cold War and its associated deterrent strategy, the United States' global responsibilities have not only increased the U.S. Army's tempo in stability and support operations but has also increasingly challenged longstanding roles of traditional Army headquarters - particularly the division headquarters. U.S. Army divisions over the last decade have increasingly found themselves operating beyond the tactical level of war - an area they are not organized or prepared for. Division doctrine over the last decade has clearly framed the division as the Army's highest tactical...

Throughout human history, people have migrated from one place to another across the globe. Since the creation of nation-states, the migration of people has been seen as emigrating from one country and immigrating to another. Immigration has recently become a vital issue for many governments throughout the world to address. The purpose of this monograph is to explore a certain type of immigration, known as "diaspora formation," specifically with respect to the United States. Historically, the word "diaspora" has referred almost exclusively to the forced Jewish population dispersion throughout...

In the past two decades, Radical Islam rooted in Europe became an obvious security threat. This monograph argues that Western Europeans are partially responsible for permitting or not preventing the presence of radical Islamists in the Balkans and therefore in EU. While Islam came in Western Europe with the wave of immigration from African and Asian Muslim countries in the 1970s and 1980s, Islam in the Balkans existed for centuries. Radical Islam in Europe was initially imported from the mujahedeens that came to fight in the Balkan wars in the 1990s, and only later boosted by the events of...

The purpose of this monograph is to examine whether the Principles of War, as defined within the U.S. military's Joint Publication 3-0, Joint Operations, can be applied to cyber war. Since 2005, the U.S. military recognized cyber conflict as a new domain for conducting military operations. Consequently, in order to ensure future success on the battlefield, commanders need to understand cyberspace operations and how these operations fit within the Principles of War. The methodology of this paper is to first examine, and subsequently show the history of the Principles of War in order to provide...

Experiential theorists have studies the role that experience plays in decision making in a naturalistic environment. This monograph takes that evidence and applies it to tactical situations. Specifically, the monograph studies how experience is gained in the United States Army at the tactical level prior to an officer assuming battalion command. The monograph includes an in depth study of how battalion command has increased in complexity since World War II. It shows a trend towards increasing complexity and difficulty throughout the last fifty years. Given this information, the monograph also...

The issues confronted by Britain and the U.S. early in the last century regarding their emerging air power capabilities were hotly debated, and the final decisions for the creation of independent Air Forces was made based on several factors, not all of which have been sufficiently explored. In the same way today, due to its huge technological advantages, the United States faces a difficult decision with regard to its space forces. The arguments for or against creation of an independent space force all have merit, but the final decision will have lasting impact on national defense. This...