Courses, Seminars, and Lectures

The ISW educational program will offer courses that meet in the evenings, seminars that meet on weekends, and afternoon or evening lectures on basic and advanced topics in the study of military operations.  Participants will be able to understand the most important military concepts and to follow the discussion of military options intelligently.  ISW will host its first two seminars in the spring of 2008 in Washington, DC. on topics relevant to the current conflict in Iraq.  More information will be available on this site, or you may contact us with questions.

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Previous seminars:

Evaluating Military Plans and Advice

Sponsored by the Institute for the Study of War

April 16 from 1:00pm to 6:00pm and April 17 from 9:00am to 4:00pm.

 

As the American public and politicians seek an assessment of the future security environment and the way forward in Iraq, Afghanistan and the War on Terror our military leaders will develop their own assessment, advice and military plans to move forward. 

This seminar is designed to enhance your understanding of the complexity of the military planning process and to better comprehend and evaluate military plans and advice. It will include an overview of Strategic Guidance, and basic strategic/operational planning processes that result from that guidance, to include the roles and responsibilities of the interagency team.  You will have an opportunity to apply these processes and consider factors that are essential to evaluate the effectiveness of a military plan in achieving strategic objectives.

The educators and specialists who will conduct the lectures and lead the seminar April 16th and 17th include Colonel (Ret) Jon Stull and Mr. Peter McHugh who lead the Joint, Interagency, Multinational Planning Course at Joint Forces Staff College. 

Space is limited to permit the opportunity for questions and discussion, and advanced registration is required for attendance.  Email Adriel Domenech at [email protected] or call at 202-293-5550 to reserve your place.

Moving Forward in Iraq:  Lessons in Insurgency and Counterinsurgency

A Seminar with the Formulators of Counterinsurgency Doctrine
Sponsored by the Institute for the Study of War

March 13, 2008 at the GeorgetownUniversityConvention Center

The dramatic success of Coalition counter-insurgency operations in Iraq in 2007 was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where teams of experienced officers and civilians developed a new conceptual framework for counter-insurgency.  This framework, published as Army Field Manual 3-24, Counterinsurgency, formed the basis for all Coalition efforts in Iraq in 2007, partly because the Commanding General in Iraq, David Petraeus, was also responsible for drafting and publishing the Field Manual.  Once in Iraq, Petraeus and his staff and subordinate commanders like Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, put the doctrine into practice-at the same time further refining and improving the intellectual framework with the feedback of real life.  Almost all of the most successful revolutions in warfare have resulted from such a process.  The American experience in counter-insurgency warfare in Iraq in 2007 provides new opportunities to develop, and perhaps even revolutionize, the practice of counterinsurgency.  Join us as we seek to explore how this doctrine came about, how it has functioned, and how it can be advanced in the future.

The educators and specialists who will conduct the lectures and lead the discussions at the March 13 seminar include Dr. Conrad Crane, head of the U. S. Army Military History Institute, who directed the development of the U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine that General Petraeus is now implementing in Iraq; Dr. Paul Melshen, who is the lead for Counterinsurgency Studies at Joint Forces Staff College; and Colonel Craig Bollenberg, who recently returned as a planner for General Petraeus at Multi-National Force-Iraq.

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Future topics will include:

Military Basics:

    How the U.S. Armed Forces are Organized:
    Service Roles and Missions—What does that phrase mean?
    Active Duty, National Guard, and Reserves:  Who serves, when, and how?
    Chain of Command:  Who gives the orders?
    Divisions, MEFs, Fleets, and Wings:  Building-blocks of Military Power
    Commanders, NCOs, and Soldiers:  What’s the difference?
    Military staffs:  What do they do?
    OSD:  Understanding the Pentagon Bureaucracy
    Where are the American Armed Forces Stationed?
    How to Read a Military Map
    What’s a Military Plan?
    The Military Decision-Making Process
    Decoding Current Military Jargon

 
Current Conflicts:

    Iraq
    What has happened so far?  Who is the enemy, and how has the enemy changed?
    Battles and Campaigns:
    Major combat operations (March-April 2003)
    Fallujah (2004)
    Sadr City (2004)
    Tall Afar (2005)
    Operation Together Forward (Baghdad, 2006)
    Afghanistan
    Operations and Battles:  What happened in Operation Enduring Freedom?  How has the enemy evolved over time?
    Battles:
    Initial combat operations
    Anaconda
    Tora Bora

 

Understanding the Military Art

    Strategy, Operations, and Tactics:  Winning Battles and Losing Wars
    Does Technology Change War?
    What is a Revolution in Military Affairs?
    What is Counterinsurgency?
    What is Doctrine?
    Conscripts vs. Volunteers
    Training and Readiness
    Supplying War
    Peacekeeping
    Post-conflict planning and reconstruction
    Politics and war
    Are there Principles of War?
    Clausewitz, who cares?
    Airpower
    Sea Power
    Understanding combat
    What is Operational Art and Why Does it Matter?
    Space-time relationships in war
    Combining Arms
    Jointness
    Wartime Alliances
    Learning Lessons from History
    Armed Forces in Peacetime