Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 76

Notes
1. Army Doctrine Reference Publication (ADRP) 5-0, The Operations Process (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,
May 2012), 2-4. Doctrine identifies the Army design methodology
as one of three planning methodologies.
2. William E. Connolly, A World of Becoming (Durham, NC:
Duke University Press, 2011), 127.
3. ADRP 5-0, 2-4.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., 2-6.
6. Yaneer Bar-Yam, Making Things Work: Solving Complex
Problems in a Complex World (Cambridge: NECSI [New England
Complex Systems Institute], Knowledge Press, 2004), 27.
7. Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the
Learning Organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 2006), 67.
8. Jamshid Gharajedaghi, Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos
and Complexity: A Platform for Designing Business Architecture
(Oxford: Elsevier Books, 2006), 33 and 49.
9. Samuel Freeman ed., The Cambridge Companion to Rawls
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). This is not the
same concept as the “veil of ignorance” found in John Rawls’

philosophy, which seeks to establish fairness and equality in
decision making.
10. Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers (New York: Knopf
Doubleday Publishing, 2011), 86.
11. Celestino Perez Jr., “A Practical Guide to Design: A
Way to Think About it, and A Way to Do It,” Military Review
(March-April 2011): 46-47. Perez speaks about purpose and
purposeful action in this article and in other writings and
discussions.
12. Friederich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols; or, How to
Philosophise With the Hammer, Richard Polt trans. (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1997), Kindle Edition, Kindle Location 87-89. One of Nietzsche’s main points
is the importance of questioning “idols” and not leaving anything sacrosanct, in order to increase understanding. Although
Nietzsche was mainly focused on religion, his emphasis on
constantly questioning and reassessing our reality is valuable
to military professionals in conducting operations.
13. Marc Bloch, The Historian’s Craft (Toronto: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1953), 50.

MR

We Recommend

Strykers in
Afghanistan
Kevin M. Hymel, Combat Studies
Institute

W

ith the Taliban threatening Kandahar city in the summer of 2009, the Soldiers of the 1st Battalion,
17th Infantry – part of the first Stryker brigade to deploy to Afghanistan – mounted a series of actions
to destroy insurgent power in the region. Strykers in Afghanistan tells the story of the battalion’s initial
operations, focusing on its difficult fight for the Arghandab Valley. The valley, located near Kandahar city, was a
Taliban safehaven characterized by dense orchards and irrigation canals.
This study by the Combat Studies Institute recounts how the men of 1-17 IN took advantage of their equipment
and adapted their tactics in the face of a determined foe defending complex terrain. To download a copy, please go
to: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/csi/

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January-February 2015  MILITARY REVIEW