TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01 - TRADOC - U.S. Army

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01Every war is going to astonishyou in the way it occurred, andin the way it is carried out.Dwight D. EisenhowerThe U.S. Army is unlikely to face future opponents ofits own choosing who are willing to test America’sstrengths. Inferiority in military power is unlikely to deterfuture adversaries. The global diffusion of technologyoffers opponents the opportunities to acquire alternative lowcost weapons or develop military applications ofcommercial technology. This may be used to attack theU.S. asymmetrically and, in fact, there is a logic and economy in the idea that low costtechniques and tactics against enemies that attempt to counter with high cost methods. Theproliferation and rapid turnover of information technology (IT) may not allow any combatant toacquire information dominance—a critical objective of U.S. transformation efforts.While unable to rule out conflict with western peer nations, the most likely future clashes willbe against opponents that will approach warfarefrom radically different perspectives that do not Neither a nation nor an army is aconform to U.S. or Western practices. They mechanical contrivance, but a living thing,will view American moral, political, and built of flesh and blood and not of iron andcultural values as vulnerabilities to exploit. steel. . . .The more mechanical become theFuture conflict will remain savage and bloody weapons with which we fight, the lesswith potential horrific attacks on the U.S. and its mechanical must be the spirit whichallies. The Army will face an unconstrained controls them.enemy empowered rather than limited bytechnology. Such adversaries’ objectives wouldnot be to destroy or defeat U.S. or alliedJ.F.C. FullerGeneralship: Its Diseases and Their Cureformations by force of arms, but to shatter political and popular will to continue protractedconflict.Future conflict therefore is likely to usher in another era of small “savage wars of peace.”Rather than retreat, the U.S. and its military forces, often with allies and other interested nations,will remain engaged in complexpower struggles worldwide in orderto protect national interests. ForArmy forces, a strategy ofengagement places a greaterpremium on understanding thehuman dimension.The Art of WarWhile there have been recentand profound changes in the waysand means to conduct war, itsessence will not change. Conflictwill remain complex and chaotic,and human frailties and irrationalitywill continue to characterize war’s14