I found this great bit of information over on the Forward Observer site and knowing it's importance re-posted it here for you to read. This article makes some really good points, especially about your group's/your reputation, and how it will affect things during SHTF.
Community Defense & the Elements of “Soft Power”
If hard power is violence and coercion, then soft power is influence and motivation. American power projected across the globe teaches that violence has its limitations. To modify a turn of phrase, war is not always the answer. Coercion causes resentment and, as we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, creates unnecessary enemies. (Just look at the popular backlash against law enforcement when violence is used as an action of first resort. Many individuals not directly affected by police action have changed their opinions on just how peaceful “peace officers” are.) Violence indeed solves some problems, but it may also cause more problems than it solves — and that’s why we need soft power, too.
In his book, The Accidental Guerrilla, author David Kilcullen writes that soft power on a regional or global scale includes, “international reputation, moral authority, diplomatic weight, persuasive ability, cultural attractiveness, and strategic credibility,” arguing that soft power is a critical piece of enabling hard power and not an either/or proposition. It was America’s soft power after 9/11 that enabled a global response to al-Qaida. American leaders persuaded and gained the cooperation of other nations not directly affected by al-Qaida to join a coalition to wage the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The nations that did not participate in kinetic operations tracked and prosecuted terror financiers, stemmed the flow of foreign fighters and materiel, and cooperated with U.S. intelligence to hunt down known and suspected terrorists.
Now consider America’s soft power in the world in the years following the Iraq War. Between perceived unilateral action, the global battlefield, warrantless spying on U.S. citizens and other “perceived human rights abuses,” America’s standing in the world is diminished, both among its foreign and domestic audiences. In short, U.S. soft power is diminished because the government has harmed its credibility and reputation. To reiterate, your soft power is a critical enabler of your hard power, as Kilcullen writes.
For individuals and communities preparing for a future that incorporates violence and morally ambiguous situations, to omit developing soft power is an unwise move. We can imagine lots of realistic scenarios in which soft power will enable us to achieve or maintain security: gaining the trust of community members to contribute to the security effort, working with local authorities to fight known threats, sharing information with neighboring communities and security groups, and persuading at-risk segments of a community to not support threat elements.
How can we develop soft power as a part of community defense? First, focus on your reputation. There are militias, security teams and prepper groups that have poor reputations, stemming from poor leadership, unrealistic, unethical or immoral goals, past indiscretions, and incompetence. When cooperation is a necessity for community defense, these groups are going to have a much more difficult time finding partners to push in the same direction. You don’t want to be a security partner of last resort with a team reluctant to work with you.
Second, be virtuous people. I foresee that communities who seek justice and do the right thing, even at great personal cost, will be more able to exercise its soft power in an area. Community members, neighbors, and others in the regions will be more likely to trust you and therefore more willing to cooperate towards greater security and stability.
Third, focus on developing an ability to persuade. Influence, by Robert Cialdini, should be on everyone’s bookshelf. Those who are just as interested in solving another person’s problem as they are their own, are more likely to find satisfactory, win-win agreements. If you want to persuade someone to cooperate with you, demonstrate your value and trustworthiness.
Lastly, be technically and tactically proficient. That’s a bit from the U.S. Army’s Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Creed; which, by the way, many of us here at FO have had to recite from memory on more than one occasion. Tactical and technical proficiency should be the standard for those outside the military, too; especially those working towards security and defense. Technical proficiency means knowing your tools and equipment. Whether it’s a radio, rifle, or medical kit, know how to use it and be able to teach others. (Being able to teach and mentor others will go a long way in gaining a positive reputation, too.) Being tactically proficient means knowing how to employ your tools, equipment and teammates to accomplish the mission. You may not need to have been a career infantry soldier to accomplish community defense, however, obtaining tactical training for you and your team, as well as continuing education and follow-on training, is the absolute minimum effort that will be required.
If you can set aside some time to consider how to further develop these four things — your reputation, making virtuous choices, your ability to persuade, and becoming technically and tactically proficient — then you will be developing “soft power” that will benefit you and your community in any SHTF scenario.
Community Defense & the Elements of “Soft Power”
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Showing posts with label Deception Operations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deception Operations. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
What to wear in a post event world
So the SHTF, you are part of the resistance, or you just want to survive. Should you wear camo, or civilian clothes? Well, this depends on how and what has happened, it depends on whether you are still integrated into society, or you are part of a group that heads for the hills and is part of an active resistance movement.
I feel that it is a personal choice, and one that you would be changing due to mission parameters, and the local atmosphere. If resistance groups are being hunted and fought by a professional force, then you have the option of using camo to increase your survivability in an active combat environment. But if you still desire to be part of society, then you would need to tailor your kit to take that into account.
One way you could go is to wear civilian work clothes in muted natural colors, then wear your kit over them. This way you could fight the fight, but then if need be ditch your gear and just walk down the street and fit in. Another option for this scenario is to wear what I call "Redneck Camo" which is any of the commercially available patterns that hunters wear. This type of clothing is effective in the woods, but also acceptable by society in many areas. If you were walking down the street in this type of camo, not many people would even give you a second glance.
So the options as I see it are: military camos, redneck camos, or muted civilian clothes. The way to go about this that I see as the most effective is to wear browns and greens in civilian style clothes (not tactical clothes) then wear a gillie suit or shroud and your kit when you are in the crap, or in an active combat situation. This approach gives you the ability to be effective in the fight, but then to ditch your kit and gillie, then just walk down the street for your exfiltration (exfil).
Another aspect of this debate is that if you and your group have a uniform standard and maybe a unit patch you will build esprit de corps, or pride in your unit, this is all good and fine pre-event, but when you are engaged as a fighting force living is the best morale builder. Another way to look at it is the ability to recognize your guys so you do not have any friendly fire incidents, well come on, if you are in a situation and you do not know the location of all of your buddies, then you should have had more training. We are not talking about large groups of soldiers with guys spread out all over the place. One of the good things about having a small unit is that you will be set up in a coordinated well planned ambush type of fight. If you are not, then you need to get the hell out of there as fast as you can.
I am not going to get into what is the best camo pattern, this battle is like the timely debate of AR vs AK, there is no right answer, just your personal preference. What I will say is that it is a good idea to not be wearing the same pattern that the forces you are fighting is wearing. I say this because of what I mentioned above about the ability to differentiate your guys from the enemy.
What you wear also depends on what you can afford and what you already have. If you can afford it, get the best stuff you can, but do not take money from your ammo, weapon, or survival gear budget. I feel that this should be the last priority, put your money into good gear, mags, ammo, good quality firearms, food, water, medical supplies and such. You can fight in whatever if you have to, but you could have the fanciest camo uniform and crappy gear and you will fail when your gear does, or when you do not have an item you need because you spent your money on the latest camo instead of where you should have spent it.
Remember you are a guerrilla style fighter, you hit hard, hit fast, and get the hell out of there. You are like a shadow in the mist, you confuse, instill terror, and break the enemy force down over time. You do not engage in full scale battles, you prefer small, planned, short duration fights that you pick the parameters of.
With that said, think about what is really important to you, set up your clothing, kit and weapons for realistic scenarios, be smart, think about the way that things will do down. Maybe you should have one of each of these types of clothing and then determine which ones you will employ based on the type of mission you will be conducting.
Remember to stay strong, keep up the fight, and never give up!
I feel that it is a personal choice, and one that you would be changing due to mission parameters, and the local atmosphere. If resistance groups are being hunted and fought by a professional force, then you have the option of using camo to increase your survivability in an active combat environment. But if you still desire to be part of society, then you would need to tailor your kit to take that into account.
One way you could go is to wear civilian work clothes in muted natural colors, then wear your kit over them. This way you could fight the fight, but then if need be ditch your gear and just walk down the street and fit in. Another option for this scenario is to wear what I call "Redneck Camo" which is any of the commercially available patterns that hunters wear. This type of clothing is effective in the woods, but also acceptable by society in many areas. If you were walking down the street in this type of camo, not many people would even give you a second glance.
So the options as I see it are: military camos, redneck camos, or muted civilian clothes. The way to go about this that I see as the most effective is to wear browns and greens in civilian style clothes (not tactical clothes) then wear a gillie suit or shroud and your kit when you are in the crap, or in an active combat situation. This approach gives you the ability to be effective in the fight, but then to ditch your kit and gillie, then just walk down the street for your exfiltration (exfil).
Another aspect of this debate is that if you and your group have a uniform standard and maybe a unit patch you will build esprit de corps, or pride in your unit, this is all good and fine pre-event, but when you are engaged as a fighting force living is the best morale builder. Another way to look at it is the ability to recognize your guys so you do not have any friendly fire incidents, well come on, if you are in a situation and you do not know the location of all of your buddies, then you should have had more training. We are not talking about large groups of soldiers with guys spread out all over the place. One of the good things about having a small unit is that you will be set up in a coordinated well planned ambush type of fight. If you are not, then you need to get the hell out of there as fast as you can.
I am not going to get into what is the best camo pattern, this battle is like the timely debate of AR vs AK, there is no right answer, just your personal preference. What I will say is that it is a good idea to not be wearing the same pattern that the forces you are fighting is wearing. I say this because of what I mentioned above about the ability to differentiate your guys from the enemy.
What you wear also depends on what you can afford and what you already have. If you can afford it, get the best stuff you can, but do not take money from your ammo, weapon, or survival gear budget. I feel that this should be the last priority, put your money into good gear, mags, ammo, good quality firearms, food, water, medical supplies and such. You can fight in whatever if you have to, but you could have the fanciest camo uniform and crappy gear and you will fail when your gear does, or when you do not have an item you need because you spent your money on the latest camo instead of where you should have spent it.
Remember you are a guerrilla style fighter, you hit hard, hit fast, and get the hell out of there. You are like a shadow in the mist, you confuse, instill terror, and break the enemy force down over time. You do not engage in full scale battles, you prefer small, planned, short duration fights that you pick the parameters of.
With that said, think about what is really important to you, set up your clothing, kit and weapons for realistic scenarios, be smart, think about the way that things will do down. Maybe you should have one of each of these types of clothing and then determine which ones you will employ based on the type of mission you will be conducting.
Remember to stay strong, keep up the fight, and never give up!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Deception Operations
Each Deception operation consists of five components:
As with actual military operations, false military operations must have a clear objective. What are you trying to get the enemy to believe? What do you want him to not believe? Do you intend to draw his forces away? The more detail that goes into planning and understanding the objective, the easier the implementation will be.
Enemy Assumptions
People are hungry for information, especially war planners. Feed them a careful diet. You must be careful to understand what they already believe and feed those prejudices. If, for example, your enemy believes you will conduct a blitzkrieg assault across the narrowest part of the English Channel, create a force located in Dover and make its commander your general best known for that tactic: George S. Patton, III. For extra flair points, the Allies could have made the First US Army Group a real force with real men, instead of an entirely fictional force, and used that as the reserve force for Normandy. Let the enemy believe what they want to believe.
Method Selection and Operational Options
AmMerc does a quick job of covering the basics of this, and I won’t repeat those here. Instead I’ll make two observations. First, a deception operation is generally more successful if there is more evidence (read: more methods utilized) to convince the enemy of what you want him to believe. To that end, don’t focus on using just one method; instead use several. Second, whatever method you choose must be accessible to the enemy. The cadaver loaded with false plans would have done the allies no good if the Germans hadn’t found it. Likewise, the press reports in 1991 detailing Marine rehearsals for an amphibious landing would have done no good if Saddam Hussein had no TV tuned to CNN.
Execution
This is where the rubber hits the road, or the metal meets the meat. Execution of the deception operation must be believable in order to be believed. For example, suppose your enemy sees your deception force assembling to his right. If he observes that there is no logistics train supporting it, he could correctly conclude that you’re trying to deceive him. Likewise, if a deception force is too obviously exposed, with no effort at camouflage, it is not likely to be believed.
Exploitation
The primary purpose of deception operations is to get the enemy to continue believing in the deception even after you’ve launched your actual operation. This is difficult, since it requires everything to break your way, including the enemy’s stupidity. But if it can be achieved, it becomes a force multiplier for you, since you now have two things working on the enemy’s OODA loop – your actual operation and your deception operation.
Counterdeceptions
The difficult trick in running a deception operation is detecting the enemy’s own deception operations. If you can’t tell when the enemy is deceiving you, you can’t really tell if your deception operation is working or not, because you can’t tell if he sees your deception and is playing along or is actually being deceived.
Conclusions
Walter Scott was right: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave When first we practise to deceive!” The right metaphor from nature for a deception operation is a web, but it is the web of a black widow – tangled, without order, confusing, with no definite center, as contrasted with the orderly spirals most people think of. You must remember that deceptions are equal parts psychology and salesmanship: know your customer and know what will make him come around to your point of view. A deception is only a supporting operation, but a critical one, for it plays to the fears the enemy manifests while the actual operation works towards his vulnerabilities. Neglect neither and you will master both.
This post is for informational and educational purposes only
- Objective
- Enemy Assumptions
- Method Selection and Operational Options
- Execution
- Exploitation
As with actual military operations, false military operations must have a clear objective. What are you trying to get the enemy to believe? What do you want him to not believe? Do you intend to draw his forces away? The more detail that goes into planning and understanding the objective, the easier the implementation will be.
Enemy Assumptions
People are hungry for information, especially war planners. Feed them a careful diet. You must be careful to understand what they already believe and feed those prejudices. If, for example, your enemy believes you will conduct a blitzkrieg assault across the narrowest part of the English Channel, create a force located in Dover and make its commander your general best known for that tactic: George S. Patton, III. For extra flair points, the Allies could have made the First US Army Group a real force with real men, instead of an entirely fictional force, and used that as the reserve force for Normandy. Let the enemy believe what they want to believe.
Method Selection and Operational Options
AmMerc does a quick job of covering the basics of this, and I won’t repeat those here. Instead I’ll make two observations. First, a deception operation is generally more successful if there is more evidence (read: more methods utilized) to convince the enemy of what you want him to believe. To that end, don’t focus on using just one method; instead use several. Second, whatever method you choose must be accessible to the enemy. The cadaver loaded with false plans would have done the allies no good if the Germans hadn’t found it. Likewise, the press reports in 1991 detailing Marine rehearsals for an amphibious landing would have done no good if Saddam Hussein had no TV tuned to CNN.
Execution
This is where the rubber hits the road, or the metal meets the meat. Execution of the deception operation must be believable in order to be believed. For example, suppose your enemy sees your deception force assembling to his right. If he observes that there is no logistics train supporting it, he could correctly conclude that you’re trying to deceive him. Likewise, if a deception force is too obviously exposed, with no effort at camouflage, it is not likely to be believed.
Exploitation
The primary purpose of deception operations is to get the enemy to continue believing in the deception even after you’ve launched your actual operation. This is difficult, since it requires everything to break your way, including the enemy’s stupidity. But if it can be achieved, it becomes a force multiplier for you, since you now have two things working on the enemy’s OODA loop – your actual operation and your deception operation.
Counterdeceptions
The difficult trick in running a deception operation is detecting the enemy’s own deception operations. If you can’t tell when the enemy is deceiving you, you can’t really tell if your deception operation is working or not, because you can’t tell if he sees your deception and is playing along or is actually being deceived.
Conclusions
Walter Scott was right: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave When first we practise to deceive!” The right metaphor from nature for a deception operation is a web, but it is the web of a black widow – tangled, without order, confusing, with no definite center, as contrasted with the orderly spirals most people think of. You must remember that deceptions are equal parts psychology and salesmanship: know your customer and know what will make him come around to your point of view. A deception is only a supporting operation, but a critical one, for it plays to the fears the enemy manifests while the actual operation works towards his vulnerabilities. Neglect neither and you will master both.
This post is for informational and educational purposes only
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