Military Review English Edition March-April 2015

IGNORANT COUNTERINSURGENT O ver the past thirteen years, no greater debate methods they select. Methodological arguments might has raged among military circles than that of revolve around whether terrain association is a better which counterinsurgency methods to apply method than pace counts and straight azimuths with in difficult environments such as Libya, Afghanistan, a compass. In contrast, an epistemological discussion Egypt, and elsewhere. While those discussions are would set aside the navigation methods and focus on worthwhile, this article aspires to offer, instead, a how the platoon understands land navigation, and critical and creative philosophical perspective on why how it does not. Perhaps the platoon understands land and how the U.S. Army teaches navigation as based on a comcounterinsurgency. This dispass that always points north, in cussion explores counterinsurrelation to a map. Therefore, the gency from an epistemological platoon likely would disregard perspective, examining why and such things as divining rods, how we teach. The focus is on tobacco-induced visions, the the teaching relationships we sudden presence of a deer indiestablish when acting as military cating an animal spirit guide, or advisors and trainers. We deterthe scent of crisp leaves. The plamine the nature of these relatoon does not believe those aptionships before we even meet proaches to be of value for land our students, including local navigation. Yet, illiterate Native nationals being trained in counAmerican hunters who lacked terinsurgency and security.1 maps navigated and tracked just This topic lies between as effectively while using these strategy and tactics as well as types of tools.2 Native American between philosophy and theory. trackers were effective naviga(Photo courtesy of Olivier d’Ythurbide et Associé) Portrait of French teacher and philosopher Therefore, it requires some tors who accomplished tasks Joseph Jacotot (1770-1840) by Benjamin Delapiconstructs not typically used in similar to those of a modern erre, oil on canvas, circa 1798. counterinsurgency discussions. infantry platoon without the The focus is epistemological methods of map reading and rather than methodological. If we limit ourselves to compasses. Their methods were derived from social comparing competing training methods, we may never and cultural concepts of an attuned spirit world. realize what faults lie beyond or above them that stem Thus, owing to differences between their frames from misunderstanding what learning, in a given of reference, both groups likely would reject the context, is. We need to examine core tenets and beliefs others’ methods and tools in favor of their own, broadly accepted by our military that might be hinapproaching similar tasks differently but achieving dering us from accomplishing our objectives. We need similar results. This example illustrates that an orgato move the usual debate beyond the relative merits of nization’s methodology shows how it prefers to aprival methodologies entirely. proach problems. Studying the organization through an epistemological perspective shows how it unDifferent Ways of Knowing and derstands the idea of what constitutes the problem. Understanding Technology or spirituality might be viewed as critiTo illustrate different ways forces know and undercal, or as irrelevant, to conducting land navigation. stand military tasks, using an epistemological perspecTo understand these kinds of philosophical perspective, let us consider an infantry platoon conducting tives, we would need to think about how we think land navigation while tracking enemy forces in den se about things, how we know and understand.3 When terrain, with many options for navigation. Critical applying this kind of thinking to counterinsurgency, reflection of that platoon’s navigation methodology methodological and epistemological concerns would would relate to the type of route and the navigation be like those shown in the table on page 96. MILITARY REVIEW March-April 2015 95

Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 97