Military Mission Formations and Hybrid Wars by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367427153
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2020-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

5 From leading combat units to leading combat formations

Modularity, loose systems and temporariness

Eyal Ben-Ari1

Introduction

What does command look like in mission formations, those temporary, often ad hoc, military configurations established for a specific mission (Introduction, this volume)? In this chapter, I chart out the main characteristics of such command at the tactical level. My work follows King’s (2019) masterful analysis of contemporary divisions; he suggests that, in the 21st century, the command includes the executive role of making decisions, the managerial function of coordinating components to achieve the most effective results and the leadership part, centering on creating a common purpose and motivation. As my empirical exemplification I will use two documentary volumes published by the Swedish Centre for Studies of Armed Forces and Society (Tillberg & Tillberg, 2013; Tillberg et al., 2017). The two books consist of excerpts from interviews and conversations with officers and troops from the Swedish armed forces who had been posted abroad around the world since the 1990s. I use these sources both because they are rich in information and insights and because the missions that Sweden participated in fall squarely within the “New” or “Hybrid” Wars of the 21st century (Hoffman, 2007; Kaldor, 2001; Munkler, 2005). To be clear, however, I use these qualitative data sets to think through and illustrate my wider argument about tactical military command today.

As I read the two volumes, Mission Commander (Tillberg & Tillberg, 2013) and Mission Afghanistan (Tillberg et al., 2017), I was struck not only by the fascinating accounts but also by the extended journeys of self-discovery that many of the interviewees underwent. As is summarized wonderfully in the analytical introductions to the volumes, these journeys were characterized by trial and error, improvisations in contradictory contexts, meeting unforeseen challenges and navigating uncertain and unknown terrains. Indeed, the editors of the two volumes have developed many of these insights to offer readers an absorbing analytical framework for understanding the emergence and possible application of the actionable knowledge embedded in the interviewees’ stories (Schon, 1983). But, upon reading the two books a second time, I soon realized that the interviews strongly resonated with wider issues that the social scientific study of the military has been engaged with during the past few decades. Accordingly, in what follows, I suggest some thoughts about hopefully interesting aspects of command and leadership in today’s conflicts that emerge from the accounts. To reiterate then, I utilize the rich material found in the volumes to rethink some of the accepted givens of the study of combat units and of tactical leadership today. Let me explain.

Although the “classic” combat units prescribed in military handbooks and textbooks – that is, platoons, companies or battalions – continue to be of crucial importance in all of the missions related to contemporary conflicts, and although many of the “model” traits of tactical leaders continue during such assignments, there seems to be something else that is also involved. As I read the volumes, I constantly encountered fascinating examples that did not fit these ideas.

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