METT-TC is doctrine outlining the basic factors in planning military (Army) operations. It includes Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops Available, Time and (most recently) Civilian considerations. Of the six of the factors of METT-TC, half (three) deal with people: that of the enemy, troops available and the civilians. Of the remaining three, Time and Terrain are affected by how people use them leaving only the Mission. Mission is couched in terms that normally include the people on all sides, as in surrender, withdraw, or die.
The rebirth of Stability Operations standing alone or with Offense and Defense Operations have added five Logical Lines of Operation including: Security, host nation security force training, effective basic service, governance, and a viable economy. All five of these are culture centric, especially the last three.
Culture is (People) Doctrine
The rules by which people operate is culture, and, for the warrior, culture is doctrine for people. It includes their military doctrine as well. Even if the weapons, military doctrine, and terrain are the same, two sides of a conflict will have their cultural differences. The is current doctrine, published doctrine (Torah, Bible, Koran, Building Code, Traffic and Tax Law. FM 3-24), operating doctrine, revolutionary doctrine, and old fashioned doctrine that conflicts, conjoins, empowers or emasculates other doctrines.
Cultural awareness isn’t always about being touchy-feely. It may be that the touch and feel includes shell fragments, napalm, and interlocking bands of grazing fire. A fire fight is a cultural exchange in which the outcome isn’t always the results of interacting kinetics. Some people don’t know when to quit, and some use death to kill.
A warrior’s cultural awareness has to cut to the chase in short order. The cultural experts, like any other important asset, won’t be there, or if so is for the wrong culture, or creates a weed patch of irrelevant trivia when one needs to clear a field of fire to push the right buttons.
Apologies to the handful who are in the right place with the right pitch and have proven the concept. And it is to those who have walked in both worlds that have the answers. What the warrior needs now are the questions, and that is what F4F is for.
It has become painfully obvious of late that some folks like the way they do things their way, and as long as they plant IED’s in our public places, It is way past time for the United States to consider culture as a prime factor in the determination of courses of action.
The Erroneous End State:
It is often an underlying assumption that the desired end state of our wars or major operation is the conversion of the enemy to some variation of the American Way as defined by what happens to be politically correct at the time without regard to what is politically or culturally correct in the Area of Operations. It has been an unstated assumption that what works in America is the latest and greatest, and nonconformance is backwardness. It has not been necessary to adapt our objectives to the conditions and standards of different cultures because at the bottom line, we had greater firepower than the others. We are not alone in miscalculating.
The Germans assumed that Britain would come to the negotiating table if the RAF was destroyed. That didn’t happen. The Japanese assumed that destroying the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor would bring the US to the bargaining table. That happened, but the table wasn’t about bargaining and it was in Tokyo Bay. Likewise, Stalin and Kim Il Sung assumed that the US would not defend South Korea. What wasn’t considered was the cultural importance of Face, Fate, Fame and Fortune to the receiving party of various and sundry slaps thereto.
We are engaged in Afghanistan trying to install a unitary form of governance in a culture that survives because of its fierce dedication to decentralization. What become ironic folly is that the United States has a decentralized federation in which each of the fifty states has it’s own army and air force. And our governors aren’t appointed by Federal authority.
Assumptions are the Mother of all Screw Ups. When Assumptions are tied to Murphy’s Law, Screw Ups are an improvement. Likewise, bravery is not a condition of mission success in combat except when somebody, somewhere screws up. If you think it won’t, you obviously missed something, usually an Assumption. Making water going upstream gets one wet.
Family, the People’s Template:
Human nature, like the rest of the natural world, is predicated on the means and measures supporting the survival of the species, the core of which is the family. All human organizations derive key elements from the basic model of Father, Mother and Child, the Child being the membership and future of the family unit. There are fraternal orders, brotherhoods, paternal leadership, baby sitters and surrogate company.
The Father role is akin to that of protector and is engaged with the external world, The Mother is more internally focused on nurturing the family. The distinction of protective and nurturing roles equate roughly to that of the commander’s duty: Mission and the Troops. The First Sergeant is more concerned with the welfare of the troops, while the Company Commander is more concerned about the Mission. There is lot of overlap, and that is one of the key variables one looks for in studying culture.
Fundamentals:
In the military, the Mission outranks the Troops, but not always. Civil society ranks survival higher. Culture is doctrine and is composed, like doctrine, of Values, Beliefs, Behaviors, and Modes aka VBBN (pronounced V’BBN). Of these, those that prescribe and describe the relations between people and their environment with intent to enhance survival of the individual and society are the most likely to have a strong emotional content.
To make it simple, easy to remember and actionable for troops from fire team to field force to White House, there are four principle sets of survival related Family V’BBN:: Face, Fate, Fame, and Fortune, and four which are related to the physical world: Time, Distance, Ground and Body. In short, the aggregate is called F4F.
Joined at the head of F4F is a related analysis, that of the Drama triangle of Victim, Rescuer, and Prosecutor. The Drama Triangle prescribes the trigger and reaction of transgressions and obligations of the V’BBN in F4F,
F4F: Social (Face, Fate, Fame & Fortune):
FACE: Face issues are those of the mask that the individual or group must wear to preserve place, pride, status, dignity, honor as well as the negatives of shame, and humiliation.. The importance of Face varies between cultures. Cultures that have suffered in the past often are touchy about Face issues.
Face in well trained military units is found when the individual trooper’s principle value is not the let his or her buddies down, even to the point of death. Likewise, it is an important issue that buddies in danger will take risks, even that of death. Face can be both an individual trait and collective one.
A unit that lacks such confidence in others is more likely to place individual survival ahead to the unit. The irony of this is that a unit that breaks under fire usually takes more casualties that the unit with higher cohesion..
FATE: Fate is what happens and why. It is code and consequence.
Fate also describes consequence in terms of rewards and punishments. American troops are loath to leave the body of a comrade on the battlefield, even to the point of losing more to enemy fire in order to retrieve the remains of a fallen comrade.
The customs and traditions of the Marine Corps, or of the 1st Cavalry, or the King’s Guard, provide the basis for collective action that provides the mutual confidence between the individual and the unit. In WW2, the plans for a military action against the German troops depended a lot about whether the Germans were Waffen SS, Volks Grenadier, or regular Wehrmacht units. The SS had considerable tight cohesion in which individual death was as much a sacred sacrifice as it was a loss.
Likewise, the fate of a martyr is describes in teachings, training, and recruitment in the creed of the terrorist. Young men generally see death as am abstraction and give up life to obligate God into admission into the choicer regions of heaven. Qualified love by Allah was a major incentive used to control the killers of Mumbai constantly coaching these killers to kill here and there and to take their own life in order to ensure Allah’s approval.
Face and Fate are closely entwined. Insulting the head of a Afghan family by placing boot to neck is generally balanced only with the bloods of one or more Americans. Kicking down doors is a loss of face to the head of a family, and insulting of the family and even in Texas requires a vigorous response.
FAME: Fame is the opprobrium (or blame) in the context of the group, even outside groups. Fame is not always welcome. The collective value culture in Japan has a tendency to hammer down the nail that sticks up. Like public recognition of a snitch.
The Fame accrued to the victor in a struggle has the purpose of attracting members of the opposite sex, as such victory is usually transcribed (right or wrongly) into a mating value of a successful protector or nurturer of a budding family.
FORTUNE: Fortune in F4F has more to do with the human factor in economics as in what do these folks do for a living, Different strokes for different trades. It matters whether they are doctors, lawyers, candlestick makers, hookers, or truck drivers. Each profession or trade has its own system of ethics, rewards, and punishments.
Having a fortune has mating values which makes the fortunate more useful in providing for a future family. The knowledge of one sex of the cultures significant symbols of success for the other sex includes the right car, the right apartment, a quantity of cattle or goats, in addition to being strong and/or comely.
F4F: Physical (Time, Distance, Ground & Body):
TIME: The very concept of time may be consecutive, repetitive, circular, mutually exclusive or overlapping. The relative importance of past, present and future varies. Some cultures are stuck in a long lost past, some want to forget it.
If a meeting is called for eight PM, in Japan the attendees will be there early. In parts of Africa, it is the time one leaves for the meeting. In certain parts of Latin America, the hosts aren’t dressed yet. In other parts, it is of no significance.
The timeliness of military forces is a mark of high discipline, but some cultures have considered other values as of greater importance. Should an attack be launched when it is time to do so, or should it wait for the arrival of someone of high status? The time of an attack may be adjusted until the attacker is ready, or that the defender isn’t.
DISTANCE: Distance issues attests to how close and distant individuals and their works should be. Americans like arms length, while Arabs prefer elbow distance. Elbow distance to an American is “in your face” and subject to fisticuff. Urban crowding and rural separation set different values as comfortable or not.
GROUND: Ground issues are neglected in most of our maps for it is only the shape (maybe the image) of the roof tops that one sees. It matters to a rifleman how thick the walls of the buildings and fences are. A stone wall at the base of Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg, VA and a wooden fence at the foot of Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg, PA made the Blue, then the Grey die in numbers.
Mountainous regions restrict access and the amount of arable land making the control of passes and valleys a high social value. Mountain people tend to be touchy and contentious, something that folks living in the Alleghenies, Alps and mountains of Afghanistan in common. The schism between the Highlanders and the Lowlanders of Scotland are in the same vein.
BODY: Body issues include body language, but also include the whole manual of arms, legs, stomach, chest, mouth, eyes and other parts south. How one sits, stands, walks, and looks about is important. One does not stare at a woman in a number of cultures without consequence, sometime lethal. In South East Asia, squatting, not sitting is a very common posture when meeting.
Taken together, F4F is not a check-list, it is not a matrix, or a mesh. F4F is designed for specific focus on a specific mission without wading into the weeds of the myriad details of an entire culture. F4F is designed for on the spot use as a part of the Military Decision Making Process from tactical to operational to the national.
F4F as Narrative:
F4F is used by asking or observing one of the F’s and extrapolating into mission relevant conclusions. Most often it winds up as a narrative, or story showing how the parts work. Americans can be described as placing a high value on individual responsibility, which shows up in timeliness, in individual space, and credit for individual progress. In this Americans are at one end of a spectrum with the rest of the world valuing groups higher than the individual, particularly family, village, tribe, or sect. Once under pressure, however, Americans can reverse polarity for an emergency, and can do so without much risk as once the emergency is resolved, a critical mass of Americans revert to looking out after Number One.
Many a Villain has made the mistake of assuming that American individualism was a weakness that could be exploited with threats of fear.
The other half of F4F (aka Cultural Weed Whacker) is what happens when one or more of the other “Fs” are pushed or pulled. What happens is drama. Or, when needed, the lack of it. A cup of tea is sometimes, just a cup of tea. At others, as in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, three cups of tea are a contract.
Karpmann’s Drama Triangle:
The Drama Triangle aka Karpmann’s Drama Triangle is drawn from the field of Psychology called “Transactional Analysis (TA)”. Developed for individual therapy, the triangle consists of three roles “Victim, Rescuer, and Prosecutor”. In TA, transactions are grouped into Games which involve switching between these three roles sequentially and repetitively. For collective application, however, these role switches can be done simultaneously.
The Real Drama Triangle:
Of equal importance is to bring the drama trilogy into synch with that of the Family and its survival. The role of victim is that of helplessness, as in helpless infant. An infant requires the protection and nurturing of parents. In order to have a victim, one must have Villains, and Villains are best dealt with by Heroes. Mothers and Fathers are heroes to children. Or, al least they should be.
There is a fuzzy line between real threats and threats blown out of proportion for the purposes of making a trip around the Drama Triangle. Being a Hero can be intoxicating and desirous of emulations. That is why we have baseball, video games, jihads, crusades, and global thermonuclear warfare. That’s why we have rooting sections, political parties, and cheerleaders to cheer the heroes on, and villains to boo at.
Dysfunctional Drama Triangle:
This leads to the Dysfunctional Drama Triangle of which there are two types: the Heroic and the Villainous. As portrayed in legend, and lore, there are the Heroic: Knight, Nurse, and Infant. And likewise, the Villainous Vicious, Vindictive, and Voracious take the place of father, mother, and child.
Unlike drama that goes with survival, the purpose of the Dysfunctional Drama is the collection of emotional “payoffs” or “justifications” Most of us know people who go through life as victims, putting themselves in one predicament after another, in order to sucker in a rescuer whose efforts seem never to work. One way to gain victim status, under law, is the frequent jail house flyer who victimizes others in order to become a victim needing the services of a rescuing attorney. Thus, the daily grind in the court house has all the players of both sides of the Dysfunctional Drama Triangle.
The Law of Inverse Relevance:
The Dysfunctional Drama Triangle has some very sharp edges as the two triangles don’t move in concert, and take some analysis to separate the Survival (True) Drama Triangle in which there are real victims, real villains which require ordinary heroes. The Drama Decoder works on the Law of Inverse Relevance in which states:
1. Brag with weakest virtue.
2. Blame with strongest vice..
Common day examples are found in popular advertising. Ads for paper towels brag about their strength when cost is their strongest virtue, and comparison testing clearly shows the best buy is the one being blamed. Used car dealers brag about the price, which covers a number of defects expensive to fix.
The Vast Conspiracy:
Another key to decoding is the simple fact that the parental roles of protection and nurturing present the presence of a vast foreboding villainous presence aka vast conspiracy. Historical examples include the Yellow Peril, Fascism, Communism, Fundamentalism (of all sorts), Capitalism and the Special Interests. To a child, things adult seem vast, uncontrollable and untrustworthy and/or trust worthy. He/She who cries that the big bad wolf is loose, is a child looking for parental attention, more than reporting a threat
Politics is the grand theater of the Dysfunctional Drama Triangle. It is in this arena, that warriors need a wary tread, wary of the Passionate State of Mind as Eric Hoffer stated in his book of the same name, for True Believers (another of his books) play the Dysfunctional Drama Triangle for keeps.
Don’t Believe Your Own Cluster
F4F and the Drama Triangle are bread and butter stuff for Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs, but it is essential in the application of force and violence.. Before we fire a time on target on a suspected villainous position, one must ask what sort of reaction those targeted will make once shot at.
In Vietnam we used to calculate the number of casualties the VC must have taken given the number of rounds fired. Even if remotely accurate, it did not take into account that casualties were a price the VC would take, even if they chose to leave. Our current operations against “terrorists” have been based on how much terror we can unleash before the suicidal terrorists give up.
Drama, The Jihadi Jackpot
The Drama Triangle is exemplified by the rationale the suicide bomber uses to justify and glorify killing others by self destruction. The requisite Villain status against infidels, unbelievers, crusaders, and apostates is assigned, and the bomber become a heroic knight, and nurturer of the purity of Islam as well as a passport to heaven. The bomber hits the six pot, all six roles both heroic and villainous at the push of a button.
Training for Cultural De-Obfuscation
F4F is designed to fit into existing military doctrine, particularly the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP). It only requires a pair of hands as training aids, as it can be illustrated by point at head, upwards, wave hand(s) and thumb rub (as in counting money) to represent Face, Fate, Fame and Fortune. The physical environment takes two hands to point at watch for Time, spread hands apart for distance, and point at the ground and one’s body.
The Drama Triangle can be illustrated on the back on an envelope, business card, or some creative artwork.
Cultural task analysis should be done for all parties to a fire fight, good guys, bad guys, and those in between, including all major variants. As in task analysis of Condition, Action, Standard cultural V’BBN impact on action, conditions, and standard. The initial analysis is to determine which societal Fs (face, fate, fame, fortune) and physical (time, distance, ground and body) are relevant to your operations.
Setting up a road block involves issues of whose road the locals think this is. It includes the arm and hand signals that both sides must understand. Many an Iraqi has been shot for mistaking the MP hand sign of palm up and towards the target that means “stop”, “whoa”, and/or “hold up” as the Iraqi sign for “hi” or “hello”. The Iraqi smiles, waves back and drives into a hail of bullets.
Searching a village would be made easier if the design of walls, halls, corridors, and roads were known, as well as the proper etiquette for entrance. Door kicking is often counter production.
The cultural objective to train for in these cases would require a demonstration of adverse or positive feedback in accordance to the likely outcomes in a given culture. Of signal importance is the accurate drama that occurs in accordance with F’ing the Fs or not.
It is vital to not that Cultural Awareness is not necessarily about being nice. It might be the best course of action to enrage the other guy to do something stupid. Doolittle’s raid was a slap in the face that invited Yamamoto to bring his carriers in range of ours.
Ask the Right Questions
F4F is about asking the right questions to avoid making assumptions that get the wrong people killed. In the absence of the right people to give the answers you need, start checking out the Fs and the Drama in the AO.
Acknowledgements:
1. The primary source of motivation and inspiration in this endeavor is the field of psychology, Transactional Analysis. For details, Google the phrases and terms used in the above text. Of special interest are the works of Stephen Karpman MD, and Dr Eric Berne who started it all with “Games People Play?
2. The TRADOC (Army Training and Doctrine Command), Culture Center’s superb “Subject Matter Experts” including David Tannenbaum whose fine works become limited by inadequate doctrine to plug their knowledge into effective military action.
3. Full Spectrum Drama as spelled out by the publications from Ft Leavenworth’s Combined Arms Center aka C&GSC which calls for an effective doctrinal link between the Logical Lines of Operation and the Cultures of the folks in the Area of Operations.
4. The F4F typology is directly inspired by Michel LeBaron’s work on Cross-Cultural Communications and the associated work found on Beyond Intractability website: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/cross-cultural_communication/
5. Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1902 – May 21, 1983) Longshoreman and Lecturer at the University of California. Author of: 1951 The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements ISBN 0-06-050591-5 1955 The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms ISBN 1-933435-09-7 1963 The Ordeal Of Change ISBN 1-933435-10-0 1967 The Temper Of Our Time …..
6. C. Northecote Parkinson: Parkinson’s Law and other books that proclaim the work expands to fill the time available, expenditures will rise to meet income, and organizations grow regardless of work load
7. William James Haga: Haga’s Law, why nothing works and nothing anybody can do will fix it. Basic premise is that Anxiety begets organizing, and organizing begets anxiety.\.
8. Charles H Titus, Professor of Political Science, UCLA whose unorthodox views on political processes made his course on Politics a favorite for students (including myself in 1961) with a view of life after graduation.
9. Dilbert by Scott Adams. The Dilbert Principle The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams, HarperBusiness 1996 ISBN 0-88730-858-9 . Incompetent employees are promoted to prevent harm or pass it on to others who need it.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Rage Addict
Rage Addiction
Family (group) ethics, etiquette, values, norms, behaviors, and beliefs that are tied to the protection, nurture, and growth of the group often excite the passionate mind to fight, flight or freeze. The highs and lows of these emotions have a legitimate use, for heroics may be required for survival. Pity the clown who gets between a bear cub and the mother bear. Rage has a purpose, and a price.
Rage is addictive as are many of the emotions tied to group survival. So much so that the rage addict seeks out or invents an incentive for rage. The cycle of rage addiction can be described in Karpmann’s Drama Triangle in which the player rotates between victim, rescuer, and prosecutor. Victims require villains, of which there are three types: the vicious, vindictive, and voracious (formerly bastard, bitch, and brat) each the dark side of the protection, nurturing, and innocence. Villains require heroes of which there are three types: hero, heroine and helpless.
The rage addict wears hero’s masks and paints all others in villainous colors. Dressed as such, a single addict can rotate through all the roles. The suicide bomber hits the jackpot: plays rescuer, prosecutor and victim all in one blast. He strikes a blow a blow against the villains and is lauded as a hero. Or that may be the last thing that goes through his mind. Literally.
Rage addiction is contagious which normally excites counter-rage which differ only in detail from the donor, except the stakes get higher on each round of rages. Countering rage with more rage is like putting out a fire with gasoline. Not a good idea.
Nagasaki and Hiroshima plus the fire bombing raids over Japan in 1945 brought about a palace revolution by Emperor Hirohito who knew when enough was enough. Hitler stuck to his rage and raged at the German people for failing him, then taking his own life. It is fortunate for the world that Americans have as much compassion as passion, and enough reason to counter rationale.
The first step is to put the make public the cycle of rage addiction to show the sentient amongst us to reveal the real intent and purpose of rage addiction as peculiar to the addict, and not to the faithful at large.
Family (group) ethics, etiquette, values, norms, behaviors, and beliefs that are tied to the protection, nurture, and growth of the group often excite the passionate mind to fight, flight or freeze. The highs and lows of these emotions have a legitimate use, for heroics may be required for survival. Pity the clown who gets between a bear cub and the mother bear. Rage has a purpose, and a price.
Rage is addictive as are many of the emotions tied to group survival. So much so that the rage addict seeks out or invents an incentive for rage. The cycle of rage addiction can be described in Karpmann’s Drama Triangle in which the player rotates between victim, rescuer, and prosecutor. Victims require villains, of which there are three types: the vicious, vindictive, and voracious (formerly bastard, bitch, and brat) each the dark side of the protection, nurturing, and innocence. Villains require heroes of which there are three types: hero, heroine and helpless.
The rage addict wears hero’s masks and paints all others in villainous colors. Dressed as such, a single addict can rotate through all the roles. The suicide bomber hits the jackpot: plays rescuer, prosecutor and victim all in one blast. He strikes a blow a blow against the villains and is lauded as a hero. Or that may be the last thing that goes through his mind. Literally.
Rage addiction is contagious which normally excites counter-rage which differ only in detail from the donor, except the stakes get higher on each round of rages. Countering rage with more rage is like putting out a fire with gasoline. Not a good idea.
Nagasaki and Hiroshima plus the fire bombing raids over Japan in 1945 brought about a palace revolution by Emperor Hirohito who knew when enough was enough. Hitler stuck to his rage and raged at the German people for failing him, then taking his own life. It is fortunate for the world that Americans have as much compassion as passion, and enough reason to counter rationale.
The first step is to put the make public the cycle of rage addiction to show the sentient amongst us to reveal the real intent and purpose of rage addiction as peculiar to the addict, and not to the faithful at large.
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Insurgent's Choice: Build, Hold, Clear
The Insurgent’s Choice: Build, Hold, Clear.
Rummy’s incantation was the other way around: Clear, Hold, Build. Unfortunately the implied sequence of clearing first is appropriate to your ranch in Crawford, or to Omaha Beach, but not when the terrain objective is people (hearts and minds).
The Five Logical Lines of Operation: Combat operations, security, economy, basic services and governance as presented in FM 3-24 Counterinsurgency, and related publications regarding Full Spectrum Operations suggest a parallel progression from left to right. Certain actions are presumed to precede others in each line. Perhaps it is time to look at Full Spectrum Operations from the other side.
The Insurgent’s game plan starts with building an infrastructure that provide a modicum of basic services (clinics, schools, etc) with a form of governance which gives the people offers they cannot refuse. The comprehensive use of assassination and torture dissuades collaboration with the opposition. Once ensconced, there exists a network of spies, counter-spies (theirs), and a critical mass of activists.
The more comprehensive the process of building the revolutionary base, the less safe it is for the counterinsurgent to move with impunity about town. This equates to holding a piece of terrain by increasing the pucker factor. Eventually, the counterinsurgent is cleared from an area leaving the insurgent in de facto control and unhindered in consolidating power into the hands of those who held the strings.
The sequence of build, hold, and clear is the same sequence as found in “protracted, peoples, revolutionary war (論持久戰), as described by Mao Zedong and Vo Nguyen Giap and continually adapted to insurgencies up to today by such as Shining Path in Peru, Maoists in Nepal, as in the Dirty War in Argentina and the IRA off and on since Cromwell.
The essential difference between the two approaches is building a system that provides basic services and governance, plus maybe economics sub rosa, or hidden in plain sight. At the end of the process, the counterinsurgent is building something without a base of support of the locals, unless an effort was made to build a foundation in step one.
Sound familiar?
The type of force needed to build clandestine institutions within the people (the local inhabitants) doesn’t exist in the expeditionary, modular, transformational force structure. The components needed to set up a counterinsurgency insurgency force. Civil Affairs, PSYOP, Special Forces, Intelligence, Special Ops, Human Terrain Teams, and Counter-intelligence assets backed by precision munitions on call, and a supply network operating at a distance from the target area. This would include a clandestine capability comparable to the PRT’s (Provincial Reconstruction Teams).
The tactics, techniques, and procedures for such a force are likely already written down, and well understood by the Special Operations community. The SF concept of building clandestine combat forces indigenously goes to the beginning of SF for use in the Soviet rear areas.
No counter insurgency war in the past succeeded without a substantial indigenous combat force. The usual gig was to hire the best fighters an enemy had, and add a few qualified officers and noncoms. Such was the Indian Army of the British Raj, the French led Spahis of Africa, and the Askaris led by German Lt Col, Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa.
The principal obstacle to some really sneaky war is from the un-sneaky narcissistic rotational modular expeditionary establishment. The burning question would be how to credit command and staff time in such a force. Should it hold a higher status than commanding Regular units, or training units, or Reserve units?
The odds of build, hold, and clear succeeding has been more successful than naught.
OBTW: The difference between and Insurgency and a Counterinsurgency is the latter has air superiority.
Rummy’s incantation was the other way around: Clear, Hold, Build. Unfortunately the implied sequence of clearing first is appropriate to your ranch in Crawford, or to Omaha Beach, but not when the terrain objective is people (hearts and minds).
The Five Logical Lines of Operation: Combat operations, security, economy, basic services and governance as presented in FM 3-24 Counterinsurgency, and related publications regarding Full Spectrum Operations suggest a parallel progression from left to right. Certain actions are presumed to precede others in each line. Perhaps it is time to look at Full Spectrum Operations from the other side.
The Insurgent’s game plan starts with building an infrastructure that provide a modicum of basic services (clinics, schools, etc) with a form of governance which gives the people offers they cannot refuse. The comprehensive use of assassination and torture dissuades collaboration with the opposition. Once ensconced, there exists a network of spies, counter-spies (theirs), and a critical mass of activists.
The more comprehensive the process of building the revolutionary base, the less safe it is for the counterinsurgent to move with impunity about town. This equates to holding a piece of terrain by increasing the pucker factor. Eventually, the counterinsurgent is cleared from an area leaving the insurgent in de facto control and unhindered in consolidating power into the hands of those who held the strings.
The sequence of build, hold, and clear is the same sequence as found in “protracted, peoples, revolutionary war (論持久戰), as described by Mao Zedong and Vo Nguyen Giap and continually adapted to insurgencies up to today by such as Shining Path in Peru, Maoists in Nepal, as in the Dirty War in Argentina and the IRA off and on since Cromwell.
The essential difference between the two approaches is building a system that provides basic services and governance, plus maybe economics sub rosa, or hidden in plain sight. At the end of the process, the counterinsurgent is building something without a base of support of the locals, unless an effort was made to build a foundation in step one.
Sound familiar?
The type of force needed to build clandestine institutions within the people (the local inhabitants) doesn’t exist in the expeditionary, modular, transformational force structure. The components needed to set up a counterinsurgency insurgency force. Civil Affairs, PSYOP, Special Forces, Intelligence, Special Ops, Human Terrain Teams, and Counter-intelligence assets backed by precision munitions on call, and a supply network operating at a distance from the target area. This would include a clandestine capability comparable to the PRT’s (Provincial Reconstruction Teams).
The tactics, techniques, and procedures for such a force are likely already written down, and well understood by the Special Operations community. The SF concept of building clandestine combat forces indigenously goes to the beginning of SF for use in the Soviet rear areas.
No counter insurgency war in the past succeeded without a substantial indigenous combat force. The usual gig was to hire the best fighters an enemy had, and add a few qualified officers and noncoms. Such was the Indian Army of the British Raj, the French led Spahis of Africa, and the Askaris led by German Lt Col, Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa.
The principal obstacle to some really sneaky war is from the un-sneaky narcissistic rotational modular expeditionary establishment. The burning question would be how to credit command and staff time in such a force. Should it hold a higher status than commanding Regular units, or training units, or Reserve units?
The odds of build, hold, and clear succeeding has been more successful than naught.
OBTW: The difference between and Insurgency and a Counterinsurgency is the latter has air superiority.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Face, Fate, Fame. Fortune and the Japanese
Cultural misunderstandings between the Japanese and us led to a war in which Japan was flattened and eventually nuked. They clearly misunderstood us. Yet, within ten years, Japan was on it’s way to the short list of major economic powers of the world, sans sword. Working with the Japanese is a challenge one in which the aversion of the Japanese to confrontation is often mistaken for acquiescence. Japan is much more of an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in another enigma than is Russia.
Warrior’s Guide to the Other Guys Culture aka “F4F+4” is a warrior’s tool consisting of nine variables in two groups: one related to human relations, and the other of temporal relations:
F4F (Face, Fate,Fame,Fortune). 表面、運命、名声および幸運. Basic cultural competence for Warrior and Statesman is focused on the values, behavior, beliefs and norms (VBBN) related to decision making. It goes hand in hand with the factors of METT-TC of which three relate to people: enemy, forces available and civilians. It does not supplant anthropology, but rather depends on it such as terrain and weather analysis bound in COCOA (Critical Terrain, Observation, Cover and Concealment, Obstacles and Avenues of Approach) does not replace density altitude or vehicle cone indices.
It means the ability to determine what ticks them off, and what turns them on (Face issues). To what or whom they consider the consequences or underlying authority (Fate issues) and what gives them recognition and power within their community (Fame), and to what or to who controls the purse strings (Fortune).
In addition, how does geography affect them and what is their impact of geography? And what is their sense of time, and sense of distance, and how do they use their body in addition to body language. That is Time, Distance, Ground and Body.( 時間、間隔、地面, 体)
Geography and History. The key to understanding the Japanese is the impact of a land which is more vertical than horizontal. Not only is Japan an island nation, the islands are full of mountains comprising three quarters of the land, leaving very little in the way of arable land in between.
The Mountain Folk, the Bushi. The fight for and the control of the bits and pieces of flat land is a central facet of Japanese culture. While Japan was, in theory, an empire with an emperor at the top, the real power was held by competing factions of warlords, called Daimyo (big name) whose elite Samurai soldiers did the fighting.
While Samurai were considered nobles, a common person could work his way up through the ranks to the very top. That coupled with strategic marriage and adoption could create or maintain high social and political standing. The last of this kind was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who started out as a sandal carrier for a samurai lord who prohibited private ownership of arms in 1588. .
The introduction of guns into Japan in 1542 had the same military and political effects experienced in Europe at the same time. . The castle and mounted charge faded in importance resulting in tipping the balance of power to the national authority. Like in Russia and France of the time, the nobles were required to spend all or part of their time in the national capitol under the eyes of the national authority. Edo had the same significance as did St Petersburg and Versailles.
“Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康?, January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but remained in power until his death in 1616.” Wikipedia
Tokugawa ended vertical mobility and froze the ranks in place with detailed instructions with penalties for violations. He issued an edict expelling Christians and the sealing of Japan from outside influence tightened the controls the Samurai had.
But since the peasantry had been disarmed and foreign adventures prohibited, the Samurai did have much to do except eat and train for duels, or beat up on the peasantry. It was customary for a village to suffer the consequences of the actions of an individual. Collective responsibility, therefore, is at the core of the Japanese social culture. This included punishment for missteps by the Samurai in the presence of superiors in which a Samurai would be ordered to commit suicide, also called Hara Kiri (belly cut) or Seppuku.
(和) Harmony through Regulations, Conformity, Ways, and Kata: Mountain people are renowned for being contentious and Japanese history is full of contention, rivalry and duplicity between those who controlled the valleys. The antidote for contention is regulation, and Japanese culture is famous for regulation. There is a “way” to do things just right. Battle drill is regulation, and Japanese martial arts have specific ways to move, strike, and evade which in English are called “forms” or the Japanese word “kata”. The ultimate result and the highest virtue in Japan is harmony between mind, body, and one’s opponent.
The Prime Directive – Harmony (和)
The Sino-Japanese Character for harmony is和 and is pronounced “wa” when used with other characters, and when alone is pronounced “Yamato” which is also the older name for Japan, and of the second of two super battleships in WW 2. Harmony doesn’t mean peace, except as the quiet mind necessary to fight efficiently.
The tea ceremony is a coffee break that takes hours of precise movements. A tea master illustrates precision and timing in the same way a Black Belt in Karate does in the specified kata for his or her style.
As a matter of necessary regulation of the peasantry upon whose rice planting was the principal source of wealth for the aristocracy, collective responsibility for the misdeeds or deeds of the village and family was the order of the day. If one family member offended a samurai of standing, the whole family or village could be punished as in put to death. This collective responsibility had an effect still very much in evidence today.
No one does anything until everyone has agreed to it. In business this is called “nemawashi” in which proposals are passed through all affected departments until unanimity is reached. This takes a long time, and multiple iterations are necessary. This was frustrating to the US State, Navy and War Departments in 1941. This round of question asking and repeated deliberations were taken by us as stalling.
Once reached, the Japanese move like lightning and in concert. There are no foot draggers in the group. The Pentagon likely picked this up from Japan during the Occupation as “Staff Coordination” is defined as running the decision papers around until everyone has put his or her “chop” on it. A chop in Japan and China is a personal seal used to stamp official and binding documents in civil life.
Unlike other countries, the concept of collective decision making and collective responsibility of family and village was effectively transferred to the public and economic sectors. During industrialization, the youth of an entire rural area would be brought to the industrial centers and put in company housing and cared for by the company staff. This effectively transferred much of what is normally considered family values to the companies.
In terms of the Warrior’s Guide to the Other Guy’s Culture, Face and Fate issues are tied to the collective, to the primary group based on the company. If an employee goofs up, he has let his company down and is required to apologize. Harakiri (Seppuku) suicide has become symbolic. For the pride of the Nation, the apology is considered the ultimate sacrifice, is intended to end further humiliation or harassment of the group.
Fame. Given collective values and the restrictions that “the way” of doing things, heroes are admired, but it is a tragic affair as the Japanese say “That nail that stands out, must be hammered flat”. The happy ending isn’t always at the end of Japanese movies, sometimes it’s an unhappy or tragic ending”. The movie “Ran” by Akira Kurusawa ends with everyone dead or nuts. Fame is considered double edged.
Fortune: Making a fortune is an acceptable course of action. Flaunting it, however, has it limits. Given the lack of flat land to build on, the land one builds on is expensive. This has restricted modern residential construction to the very small, so small that is not for show and tell. That’s what restaurants are for. Japanese have to be told that inviting them to an American’s home is not because they can’t afford a restaurant.
Given collective responsibility for the actions of one on all, the Japanese divide their actions into two worlds, one they show to the outer world which is regulated by the proper “form” or “way” of doing things and that which will not detract from the prmary group. The other is what is allowed within the primary group, and is unstructured and free. The first is called “tatamae” and the inside view is “honne”. In the first years of Japanese commercial expansion after WW2, Japanese men behaved like GI’s on leave, horny and foul mouthed. This got some bad press, and the behavior was modified.
“The Devil’s Language” St Francis Xavier.:
More than any other custom, the Japanese language was designed not to offend the Samurai with an itchy sword hand and the right to use it. The language was developed to avoid offending the offensive. The art of avoiding conflict within is the central value of the Japanese, and to a large extent other Far Eastern nations. As noted before, the character for Harmony pronounced “Wa” and permeates all manner of social interaction. Personal Fame is admired from afar, but is something the Japanese find uncomfortable in themselves. The have learned the hard way that Fame is followed by a Fate involving daggers in amongst the kudos.
The Japanese martial arts of Aikido and Judo are based on using the opponents energy against them, and the martial art of Iaido (居合道?) is based on defeating an attack at the dinner table. A form of quick draw with razor sharp swords.
The Japanese language uses indirect ways of saying things, instead of the Western way of short sharp declarative statements. Brevity is abusive, and when the Japanese use brevity, they are on the edge of battle. What can be said in one page is better said in three or four.
Likewise the vocabulary of the most common verbs changes according to the social status of who is being spoken to. There are six different vocabularies, three most popular, for the most common verbs such as to be, to go, to come, and to do. The three most popular levels of politeness include abrupt, polite, and honorific. All design to avoid disturbing harmony and to avoid offending.
Likewise, the language favors a complex way to say simple things leaving the verb at the end of the sentence to allow for wiggle room And is more passive than active. American business to taught to make it brief, no more than a page and a half. For Japanese to sent such a short letter is insulting.
Japanese belief systems are not hide bound to follow the dictates of any one religion or philosophy. In part, this is an Oriental concept of yin and yang each of which cannot exist without a bit of the other. Japanese families follow Shinto customs when young, Christian weddings and Christmas, and Buddhist funerals.
Cartesian logic is fine for chemistry or mathematics, but not for life. Arguing is disharmony. In a business meeting, they will no more about your enterprise than you do.
Temporal Relations
Distance間隔: Interpersonal distance depends on whether one is on a train or bus or is in open terrain. In open terrain, interpersonal distances are like Americans. On a train, one is a standing sardine. The Japanese queue up at bus and train stops like in England, sometimes in the US, and never in Holland.
Time. .( 時間) As it might be expected, Japanese reverence for time as a resource and a standard that prescribes correct behavior. Being late is a serious offense, while timeliness is a virtue. 0900 is the most common starting time for work in Tokyo. Ten minutes before nine is a mad rush, ten minutes after is virtually empty.
The Ground (地面)The effect of limited land not only underlies the Japanese character, it has in modern times altered the use of floor space, from spacious to cramped. It is not unusual for an entire family to live in one room, in which the bed is folded away, and the all purpose table takes the space. Japanese are astounded at the huge houses we have, that we consider average.
The Body: (体) Japanese body language and the use of the body in social circumstances are prescribed in precise manner such as in how deep one bows to another depending on status. Removing the shoes is required in a Japanese home and many traditional restaurants. Hiding the emotions is a universal defense mechanism.
The concept of Harmony extends to the Japanese sense of beauty in the arts, and in ordinary crafts. The Japanese spend a lot of effort and creativity in the wrapping of a gift, and the wrapping says as much or more than the gift itself. Their sense of living space, before population explosions made space a premium that impressed Frank Lloyd Wright, and the GI’s who were stationed with the Occupation Forces in Japan. They brought back a sense of more open interior space and more opened to the outside. This style, for some odd reason, became known as a “ranch” style.
Japanese views on sex are not matters of shame and guilt as they are in the US. Prostitution in Japan is in accordance with specific forms, also very much like the moves in a martial art. Posted prominently in public places are advertisements which delineate the hourly rate and the particular set and sequence of sex acts. Most Americans see this as perversity personified.
Some Comparisons between Americans and the Japanese
The Japanese consider American insistence on individual achievement at the expense of family or corporate welfare as barbaric, as to most other cultures that place family values over individual success. We see family values and individual responsibility as co-existing, while most of the world sees them as a range of choices.
Most Americans see the Japanese as up tight and polite, which invites a corresponding assessment of us a loud and abrasive. Their excuse is that we are powerful and dangerous barbarians. Barbarians that can’t speak Japanese or use pork chops (hashi).
The prime determinant in a culture is often Fate, that which we are answerable to and that which represents consequence. In the United States, it is individual responsibility and freedom. If Fate pulls the rug out from under, it is an individual’s problem. In Japan it is collective responsibility and consequence. If Fate pulls the rug out from under, it is a collective responsibility to inspect, repair, or replace as necessary.
Both the Japanese and Americans compartmentalize friendships, but the Japanese have one they can fall back on, while in American that can fall on them.
One thing for sure, the Japanese never let the rain on their parade slow them down:
Warrior’s Guide to the Other Guys Culture aka “F4F+4” is a warrior’s tool consisting of nine variables in two groups: one related to human relations, and the other of temporal relations:
F4F (Face, Fate,Fame,Fortune). 表面、運命、名声および幸運. Basic cultural competence for Warrior and Statesman is focused on the values, behavior, beliefs and norms (VBBN) related to decision making. It goes hand in hand with the factors of METT-TC of which three relate to people: enemy, forces available and civilians. It does not supplant anthropology, but rather depends on it such as terrain and weather analysis bound in COCOA (Critical Terrain, Observation, Cover and Concealment, Obstacles and Avenues of Approach) does not replace density altitude or vehicle cone indices.
It means the ability to determine what ticks them off, and what turns them on (Face issues). To what or whom they consider the consequences or underlying authority (Fate issues) and what gives them recognition and power within their community (Fame), and to what or to who controls the purse strings (Fortune).
In addition, how does geography affect them and what is their impact of geography? And what is their sense of time, and sense of distance, and how do they use their body in addition to body language. That is Time, Distance, Ground and Body.( 時間、間隔、地面, 体)
Geography and History. The key to understanding the Japanese is the impact of a land which is more vertical than horizontal. Not only is Japan an island nation, the islands are full of mountains comprising three quarters of the land, leaving very little in the way of arable land in between.
The Mountain Folk, the Bushi. The fight for and the control of the bits and pieces of flat land is a central facet of Japanese culture. While Japan was, in theory, an empire with an emperor at the top, the real power was held by competing factions of warlords, called Daimyo (big name) whose elite Samurai soldiers did the fighting.
While Samurai were considered nobles, a common person could work his way up through the ranks to the very top. That coupled with strategic marriage and adoption could create or maintain high social and political standing. The last of this kind was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who started out as a sandal carrier for a samurai lord who prohibited private ownership of arms in 1588. .
The introduction of guns into Japan in 1542 had the same military and political effects experienced in Europe at the same time. . The castle and mounted charge faded in importance resulting in tipping the balance of power to the national authority. Like in Russia and France of the time, the nobles were required to spend all or part of their time in the national capitol under the eyes of the national authority. Edo had the same significance as did St Petersburg and Versailles.
“Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康?, January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but remained in power until his death in 1616.” Wikipedia
Tokugawa ended vertical mobility and froze the ranks in place with detailed instructions with penalties for violations. He issued an edict expelling Christians and the sealing of Japan from outside influence tightened the controls the Samurai had.
But since the peasantry had been disarmed and foreign adventures prohibited, the Samurai did have much to do except eat and train for duels, or beat up on the peasantry. It was customary for a village to suffer the consequences of the actions of an individual. Collective responsibility, therefore, is at the core of the Japanese social culture. This included punishment for missteps by the Samurai in the presence of superiors in which a Samurai would be ordered to commit suicide, also called Hara Kiri (belly cut) or Seppuku.
(和) Harmony through Regulations, Conformity, Ways, and Kata: Mountain people are renowned for being contentious and Japanese history is full of contention, rivalry and duplicity between those who controlled the valleys. The antidote for contention is regulation, and Japanese culture is famous for regulation. There is a “way” to do things just right. Battle drill is regulation, and Japanese martial arts have specific ways to move, strike, and evade which in English are called “forms” or the Japanese word “kata”. The ultimate result and the highest virtue in Japan is harmony between mind, body, and one’s opponent.
The Prime Directive – Harmony (和)
The Sino-Japanese Character for harmony is和 and is pronounced “wa” when used with other characters, and when alone is pronounced “Yamato” which is also the older name for Japan, and of the second of two super battleships in WW 2. Harmony doesn’t mean peace, except as the quiet mind necessary to fight efficiently.
The tea ceremony is a coffee break that takes hours of precise movements. A tea master illustrates precision and timing in the same way a Black Belt in Karate does in the specified kata for his or her style.
As a matter of necessary regulation of the peasantry upon whose rice planting was the principal source of wealth for the aristocracy, collective responsibility for the misdeeds or deeds of the village and family was the order of the day. If one family member offended a samurai of standing, the whole family or village could be punished as in put to death. This collective responsibility had an effect still very much in evidence today.
No one does anything until everyone has agreed to it. In business this is called “nemawashi” in which proposals are passed through all affected departments until unanimity is reached. This takes a long time, and multiple iterations are necessary. This was frustrating to the US State, Navy and War Departments in 1941. This round of question asking and repeated deliberations were taken by us as stalling.
Once reached, the Japanese move like lightning and in concert. There are no foot draggers in the group. The Pentagon likely picked this up from Japan during the Occupation as “Staff Coordination” is defined as running the decision papers around until everyone has put his or her “chop” on it. A chop in Japan and China is a personal seal used to stamp official and binding documents in civil life.
Unlike other countries, the concept of collective decision making and collective responsibility of family and village was effectively transferred to the public and economic sectors. During industrialization, the youth of an entire rural area would be brought to the industrial centers and put in company housing and cared for by the company staff. This effectively transferred much of what is normally considered family values to the companies.
In terms of the Warrior’s Guide to the Other Guy’s Culture, Face and Fate issues are tied to the collective, to the primary group based on the company. If an employee goofs up, he has let his company down and is required to apologize. Harakiri (Seppuku) suicide has become symbolic. For the pride of the Nation, the apology is considered the ultimate sacrifice, is intended to end further humiliation or harassment of the group.
Fame. Given collective values and the restrictions that “the way” of doing things, heroes are admired, but it is a tragic affair as the Japanese say “That nail that stands out, must be hammered flat”. The happy ending isn’t always at the end of Japanese movies, sometimes it’s an unhappy or tragic ending”. The movie “Ran” by Akira Kurusawa ends with everyone dead or nuts. Fame is considered double edged.
Fortune: Making a fortune is an acceptable course of action. Flaunting it, however, has it limits. Given the lack of flat land to build on, the land one builds on is expensive. This has restricted modern residential construction to the very small, so small that is not for show and tell. That’s what restaurants are for. Japanese have to be told that inviting them to an American’s home is not because they can’t afford a restaurant.
Given collective responsibility for the actions of one on all, the Japanese divide their actions into two worlds, one they show to the outer world which is regulated by the proper “form” or “way” of doing things and that which will not detract from the prmary group. The other is what is allowed within the primary group, and is unstructured and free. The first is called “tatamae” and the inside view is “honne”. In the first years of Japanese commercial expansion after WW2, Japanese men behaved like GI’s on leave, horny and foul mouthed. This got some bad press, and the behavior was modified.
“The Devil’s Language” St Francis Xavier.:
More than any other custom, the Japanese language was designed not to offend the Samurai with an itchy sword hand and the right to use it. The language was developed to avoid offending the offensive. The art of avoiding conflict within is the central value of the Japanese, and to a large extent other Far Eastern nations. As noted before, the character for Harmony pronounced “Wa” and permeates all manner of social interaction. Personal Fame is admired from afar, but is something the Japanese find uncomfortable in themselves. The have learned the hard way that Fame is followed by a Fate involving daggers in amongst the kudos.
The Japanese martial arts of Aikido and Judo are based on using the opponents energy against them, and the martial art of Iaido (居合道?) is based on defeating an attack at the dinner table. A form of quick draw with razor sharp swords.
The Japanese language uses indirect ways of saying things, instead of the Western way of short sharp declarative statements. Brevity is abusive, and when the Japanese use brevity, they are on the edge of battle. What can be said in one page is better said in three or four.
Likewise the vocabulary of the most common verbs changes according to the social status of who is being spoken to. There are six different vocabularies, three most popular, for the most common verbs such as to be, to go, to come, and to do. The three most popular levels of politeness include abrupt, polite, and honorific. All design to avoid disturbing harmony and to avoid offending.
Likewise, the language favors a complex way to say simple things leaving the verb at the end of the sentence to allow for wiggle room And is more passive than active. American business to taught to make it brief, no more than a page and a half. For Japanese to sent such a short letter is insulting.
Japanese belief systems are not hide bound to follow the dictates of any one religion or philosophy. In part, this is an Oriental concept of yin and yang each of which cannot exist without a bit of the other. Japanese families follow Shinto customs when young, Christian weddings and Christmas, and Buddhist funerals.
Cartesian logic is fine for chemistry or mathematics, but not for life. Arguing is disharmony. In a business meeting, they will no more about your enterprise than you do.
Temporal Relations
Distance間隔: Interpersonal distance depends on whether one is on a train or bus or is in open terrain. In open terrain, interpersonal distances are like Americans. On a train, one is a standing sardine. The Japanese queue up at bus and train stops like in England, sometimes in the US, and never in Holland.
Time. .( 時間) As it might be expected, Japanese reverence for time as a resource and a standard that prescribes correct behavior. Being late is a serious offense, while timeliness is a virtue. 0900 is the most common starting time for work in Tokyo. Ten minutes before nine is a mad rush, ten minutes after is virtually empty.
The Ground (地面)The effect of limited land not only underlies the Japanese character, it has in modern times altered the use of floor space, from spacious to cramped. It is not unusual for an entire family to live in one room, in which the bed is folded away, and the all purpose table takes the space. Japanese are astounded at the huge houses we have, that we consider average.
The Body: (体) Japanese body language and the use of the body in social circumstances are prescribed in precise manner such as in how deep one bows to another depending on status. Removing the shoes is required in a Japanese home and many traditional restaurants. Hiding the emotions is a universal defense mechanism.
The concept of Harmony extends to the Japanese sense of beauty in the arts, and in ordinary crafts. The Japanese spend a lot of effort and creativity in the wrapping of a gift, and the wrapping says as much or more than the gift itself. Their sense of living space, before population explosions made space a premium that impressed Frank Lloyd Wright, and the GI’s who were stationed with the Occupation Forces in Japan. They brought back a sense of more open interior space and more opened to the outside. This style, for some odd reason, became known as a “ranch” style.
Japanese views on sex are not matters of shame and guilt as they are in the US. Prostitution in Japan is in accordance with specific forms, also very much like the moves in a martial art. Posted prominently in public places are advertisements which delineate the hourly rate and the particular set and sequence of sex acts. Most Americans see this as perversity personified.
Some Comparisons between Americans and the Japanese
The Japanese consider American insistence on individual achievement at the expense of family or corporate welfare as barbaric, as to most other cultures that place family values over individual success. We see family values and individual responsibility as co-existing, while most of the world sees them as a range of choices.
Most Americans see the Japanese as up tight and polite, which invites a corresponding assessment of us a loud and abrasive. Their excuse is that we are powerful and dangerous barbarians. Barbarians that can’t speak Japanese or use pork chops (hashi).
The prime determinant in a culture is often Fate, that which we are answerable to and that which represents consequence. In the United States, it is individual responsibility and freedom. If Fate pulls the rug out from under, it is an individual’s problem. In Japan it is collective responsibility and consequence. If Fate pulls the rug out from under, it is a collective responsibility to inspect, repair, or replace as necessary.
Both the Japanese and Americans compartmentalize friendships, but the Japanese have one they can fall back on, while in American that can fall on them.
One thing for sure, the Japanese never let the rain on their parade slow them down:
Saturday, October 3, 2009
"America's Ways" and the Other Guy's Culture
“American Ways” and the Other Guy’s Culture
“American Ways, A Guide for Foreigners in the United States”, 2nd Edition, by Gary Althen is a serious book for serious Americans seeking Cultural Competence in cross cultural relations, including combat. Gary Althen served for thirty years as a foreign student advisor at the University of Iowa. It is a “must read” for Warriors.
Althen’s insights are written for foreign students to understand why we do many things that make no sense or bad sense. Of greater importance, his book helps Americans to understand their own ways that we take for granted, that others don’t. We are too close to the trees to see the forest.
Americans are proud to point out their own sense of individual independence, self reliance, and individual freedoms. This central individualistic theme goes much deeper that we ourselves realize. We tend to judge not only ourselves but foreigners whose culture stresses family or kin groups over the individual.
What we call nepotism is an obligation in many other cultures. We expect that the person with the job title got there as a result of some modicum of achievement, when it is more likely it was because of family ties.
We stress time and accomplishment more than harmony, while in the Far East, harmony outranks just about everything else and time matters only every once in a while.
We have established standards, and bench marks for out progress in the Muddle East which makes sense to Americans. We expect the Middle Easterner to learn how to take responsibility for their own development and achievement, when these concepts are incomprehensible to many in that torn up part of the world.
The character “Otto” played by Kevin Klein in the 1988 movie, “A Fish Called Wanda” was portrayed as obsessed with sniffing his own armpit, much to the amusement of Brits, but incomprehensible to Americans. The Arm Pit Sniff is the Body Oder check that American males use to shower or spray, as indicated. The Brits think we are getting off on BO.
http://themoviezombie.blogspot.com/2009/05/zombies-101-favorite-screenplays-90.html
Exporting the “Melting Pot” to Afghanistan winds up giving basic combat training to the Taliban. We hear more and more of hostiles in NATO style camouflage uniforms and carrying their AK47’s slung across the chest. Trying to build a multi-ethnic Afghan National Army trains the ethnics more than the Army.
Americans value privacy more than most to the point where friendships are compartmentalized based on context. We have neighbors, fellow employees, people we work out with, and people we go to church with, none of whom knows each other outside the compartment. Americans have fewer friends that can be depended on regardless of circumstance compared to other cultures. Foreigners mistake our outward friendly manner as indicative of a friend who will lend money or help get into the US.
The biggest disconnects are individual responsibility and the concept that time is valuable and not to be wasted. More foreigners place family over individual, and time may or may not be relevant. We judge those reactions as nepotism, corruption, irresponsibility, and laziness.
We bomb many whose intentions were misread. Mullah Omar was willing to work out a deal with us and the Iranians before the boot hit the ground. Rumsfeld blew that off, and after the Iranians had worked with us, they were put on the Axis of Evil. We promised the Iraqi Army jobs after the war, and Bremer fired them, and all the school teachers in “de-Ba’athification” When young alert and alive field grade officers suggested arming and paying certain tribes, Bremer’s retorted that tribes are the past, not the new Iraq. The officers making the suggestion got involuntary early retirement.
“American Ways, A Guide for Foreigners in the United States”, 2nd Edition, by Gary Althen is a serious book for serious Americans seeking Cultural Competence in cross cultural relations, including combat. Gary Althen served for thirty years as a foreign student advisor at the University of Iowa. It is a “must read” for Warriors.
Althen’s insights are written for foreign students to understand why we do many things that make no sense or bad sense. Of greater importance, his book helps Americans to understand their own ways that we take for granted, that others don’t. We are too close to the trees to see the forest.
Americans are proud to point out their own sense of individual independence, self reliance, and individual freedoms. This central individualistic theme goes much deeper that we ourselves realize. We tend to judge not only ourselves but foreigners whose culture stresses family or kin groups over the individual.
What we call nepotism is an obligation in many other cultures. We expect that the person with the job title got there as a result of some modicum of achievement, when it is more likely it was because of family ties.
We stress time and accomplishment more than harmony, while in the Far East, harmony outranks just about everything else and time matters only every once in a while.
We have established standards, and bench marks for out progress in the Muddle East which makes sense to Americans. We expect the Middle Easterner to learn how to take responsibility for their own development and achievement, when these concepts are incomprehensible to many in that torn up part of the world.
The character “Otto” played by Kevin Klein in the 1988 movie, “A Fish Called Wanda” was portrayed as obsessed with sniffing his own armpit, much to the amusement of Brits, but incomprehensible to Americans. The Arm Pit Sniff is the Body Oder check that American males use to shower or spray, as indicated. The Brits think we are getting off on BO.
http://themoviezombie.blogspot.com/2009/05/zombies-101-favorite-screenplays-90.html
Exporting the “Melting Pot” to Afghanistan winds up giving basic combat training to the Taliban. We hear more and more of hostiles in NATO style camouflage uniforms and carrying their AK47’s slung across the chest. Trying to build a multi-ethnic Afghan National Army trains the ethnics more than the Army.
Americans value privacy more than most to the point where friendships are compartmentalized based on context. We have neighbors, fellow employees, people we work out with, and people we go to church with, none of whom knows each other outside the compartment. Americans have fewer friends that can be depended on regardless of circumstance compared to other cultures. Foreigners mistake our outward friendly manner as indicative of a friend who will lend money or help get into the US.
The biggest disconnects are individual responsibility and the concept that time is valuable and not to be wasted. More foreigners place family over individual, and time may or may not be relevant. We judge those reactions as nepotism, corruption, irresponsibility, and laziness.
We bomb many whose intentions were misread. Mullah Omar was willing to work out a deal with us and the Iranians before the boot hit the ground. Rumsfeld blew that off, and after the Iranians had worked with us, they were put on the Axis of Evil. We promised the Iraqi Army jobs after the war, and Bremer fired them, and all the school teachers in “de-Ba’athification” When young alert and alive field grade officers suggested arming and paying certain tribes, Bremer’s retorted that tribes are the past, not the new Iraq. The officers making the suggestion got involuntary early retirement.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Cultural Taxonomy and the Warrior
Cultural Taxonomy, and the Warrior’s View
Assessing the willpower of all the players to adopt courses of action is the first an most important assessment going into the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP). It is axiomatic that the will to resist is the keystone of resistance, yet the step is routinely ignored by the military, diplomatic, and political establishments of many a nation which has resulted too often in defeat, dishonor, or serious embarrassment.
The Japanese believed that wiping out the US Pacific Fleet would bring us to the bargaining table. It worked, except that the bargaining table was on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Allied strategic bombing of the homes of German “war workers” was predicated on the assumption that the German people would boot Hitler. What the bombing did was to divert German fighter aircraft from strafing and bombing Allied troops and logistics, to defending the skies over the Fatherland.
The addition of Stability Operations on the same plane as Offense and Defense in Army doctrine, places a much better understanding of how culture affects military courses of action, and of the will of the peoples involved to fight us, fight our enemies, or wait and see who wins. Pre-existing doctrine in Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs works to dig up the necessary information on which the assessment of indigenous courses of action.
Civil Affairs provides the acronym ASCOPE to represent Areas, Structures, Capabilities, People and Events. It’s a list that works with CA people as they have to study it. And it is to Civil Affairs people we should turn to for this information. The problem with ASCOPE is that it has six letters, all different, which exceeds the ram space required to remember it.
Psychological Operations has a doctrine and a very good annex for determine who to talk to and what to say. PSYOPS, is rarely consulted as there are too many budding advertising people in it, and thinkers are not appreciated in those whose forte is muscle bound. If any one had read the PSYOP Estimate of the Situations prepared for the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the current unpleasantness would be already a memory.
Current doctrine recently released on cultural awareness includes an excellent source of definitions, and guidance to gather what is needed to apply F4F to winnow out and focus on likely courses of action. F4F recognizes that all human collective activity is based all or in part on dynamics of family. Family includes traditional families connected by blood line (DNA), it include the Brotherhood, the Benevolent and Protective Brotherhood of Plumbers, or Longshoremen, Truck drivers, or Al Qaeda.
F4F is a more easily remembered acronym with only two letters to remember, and five labels all starting with F. Family: Face, Fate, Fame, Fortune. In addition to F4F which is focused on dynamics of the family, the addition of a set of factors expressed in physical terms such as Time, Distance, Geography and Body language. These work together and are entwined more than separated.
Current Warrior doctrine on Stability Operations, even when combined with traditional offense and defense, is expressed in Five Logical Lines of Operation (LLO, or LLOO):
These “lines” are a series of steps or strategy to address a problem that adversely affects the stability of a region or populations. These include:
1. Security Operations: Population secured continuously with freedom of lawful movement established.
2. Host Nations Security Forces: Effective and self sufficient security forces are established.
3. Essential Services: Sewage treatment, potable water, electricity, transportation, schools and medical services are developed, restored, and refurbished.
4. Effective Governance: Local, regional, and national agencies, policies, enforcement and justice are established, restored, and/or improved.
5. Economic Development: A functional economy is re-established, and the freedom to conduct lawful commerce restored including commercial, industrial, and other economic institutions and an effective market.
A more detailed representation is provided by doctrine showing a typical sequencing of actions in a counter insurgency environment. While this doctrine was developed for counter insurgency use, it is not restricted nor primarily linked to counter insurgency. There “Whole of Government Approach” to diplomacy as well as military operations is hard wired to the wholistic intent of the Logical Lines of Operation. As such, it applies to our relations in troubled areas even without an active insurgency such as most of Latin America and Africa/
F4F aka “Indigenous Family Values” are intended for the Warrior to ask the Local, or the Egghead, questions that will effect his/her operations on these Logical Lines of Operation. Face questions should include: What really ticks these people off? What turns them on?
Answers might include: Don’t stare at a Turkish or Japanese woman! Or the correct bow or flourish may do wonders.
Face questions might include: To what or who do they believe controls their fate? Answers may be: the law, the family, the party, or none of the above.
Fame questions: What do they do to gain fame or recognition? Or not? Answers may include sitting in front, or coming in last, or first. Does family outrank accomplishment?
Fortune: What do these guys do for a living? Who gets the loot?
The questions on physical matters include their sense of time. Are they big on being on time, or does it matter, Is one day the same as the last, or is it subject to improvement? How close to each other is close? Arms length as with Americans, or nose to nose as in a Japanese subway?
What do they do to the land? Rice paddies, dykes, or irrigation ditches? What about the location and construction of buildings? Dense like the old parts of a Middle Eastern City or of China? Or spread out like US suburbs.
With respect to Arm and Hand Signals, or body language: How do they walk, sit, stand, and use their parts to signal submission, dominance, or just at ease?
The Warriors Guide to the Other Guy’s Culture is not intended to replace existing doctrine, but to sharpen the focus on that which really matters. It is a guide to asking the right questions, not a guide to revamp the sciences of sociology, anthropology, or psychology.
Assessing the willpower of all the players to adopt courses of action is the first an most important assessment going into the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP). It is axiomatic that the will to resist is the keystone of resistance, yet the step is routinely ignored by the military, diplomatic, and political establishments of many a nation which has resulted too often in defeat, dishonor, or serious embarrassment.
The Japanese believed that wiping out the US Pacific Fleet would bring us to the bargaining table. It worked, except that the bargaining table was on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Allied strategic bombing of the homes of German “war workers” was predicated on the assumption that the German people would boot Hitler. What the bombing did was to divert German fighter aircraft from strafing and bombing Allied troops and logistics, to defending the skies over the Fatherland.
The addition of Stability Operations on the same plane as Offense and Defense in Army doctrine, places a much better understanding of how culture affects military courses of action, and of the will of the peoples involved to fight us, fight our enemies, or wait and see who wins. Pre-existing doctrine in Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs works to dig up the necessary information on which the assessment of indigenous courses of action.
Civil Affairs provides the acronym ASCOPE to represent Areas, Structures, Capabilities, People and Events. It’s a list that works with CA people as they have to study it. And it is to Civil Affairs people we should turn to for this information. The problem with ASCOPE is that it has six letters, all different, which exceeds the ram space required to remember it.
Psychological Operations has a doctrine and a very good annex for determine who to talk to and what to say. PSYOPS, is rarely consulted as there are too many budding advertising people in it, and thinkers are not appreciated in those whose forte is muscle bound. If any one had read the PSYOP Estimate of the Situations prepared for the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the current unpleasantness would be already a memory.
Current doctrine recently released on cultural awareness includes an excellent source of definitions, and guidance to gather what is needed to apply F4F to winnow out and focus on likely courses of action. F4F recognizes that all human collective activity is based all or in part on dynamics of family. Family includes traditional families connected by blood line (DNA), it include the Brotherhood, the Benevolent and Protective Brotherhood of Plumbers, or Longshoremen, Truck drivers, or Al Qaeda.
F4F is a more easily remembered acronym with only two letters to remember, and five labels all starting with F. Family: Face, Fate, Fame, Fortune. In addition to F4F which is focused on dynamics of the family, the addition of a set of factors expressed in physical terms such as Time, Distance, Geography and Body language. These work together and are entwined more than separated.
Current Warrior doctrine on Stability Operations, even when combined with traditional offense and defense, is expressed in Five Logical Lines of Operation (LLO, or LLOO):
These “lines” are a series of steps or strategy to address a problem that adversely affects the stability of a region or populations. These include:
1. Security Operations: Population secured continuously with freedom of lawful movement established.
2. Host Nations Security Forces: Effective and self sufficient security forces are established.
3. Essential Services: Sewage treatment, potable water, electricity, transportation, schools and medical services are developed, restored, and refurbished.
4. Effective Governance: Local, regional, and national agencies, policies, enforcement and justice are established, restored, and/or improved.
5. Economic Development: A functional economy is re-established, and the freedom to conduct lawful commerce restored including commercial, industrial, and other economic institutions and an effective market.
A more detailed representation is provided by doctrine showing a typical sequencing of actions in a counter insurgency environment. While this doctrine was developed for counter insurgency use, it is not restricted nor primarily linked to counter insurgency. There “Whole of Government Approach” to diplomacy as well as military operations is hard wired to the wholistic intent of the Logical Lines of Operation. As such, it applies to our relations in troubled areas even without an active insurgency such as most of Latin America and Africa/
F4F aka “Indigenous Family Values” are intended for the Warrior to ask the Local, or the Egghead, questions that will effect his/her operations on these Logical Lines of Operation. Face questions should include: What really ticks these people off? What turns them on?
Answers might include: Don’t stare at a Turkish or Japanese woman! Or the correct bow or flourish may do wonders.
Face questions might include: To what or who do they believe controls their fate? Answers may be: the law, the family, the party, or none of the above.
Fame questions: What do they do to gain fame or recognition? Or not? Answers may include sitting in front, or coming in last, or first. Does family outrank accomplishment?
Fortune: What do these guys do for a living? Who gets the loot?
The questions on physical matters include their sense of time. Are they big on being on time, or does it matter, Is one day the same as the last, or is it subject to improvement? How close to each other is close? Arms length as with Americans, or nose to nose as in a Japanese subway?
What do they do to the land? Rice paddies, dykes, or irrigation ditches? What about the location and construction of buildings? Dense like the old parts of a Middle Eastern City or of China? Or spread out like US suburbs.
With respect to Arm and Hand Signals, or body language: How do they walk, sit, stand, and use their parts to signal submission, dominance, or just at ease?
The Warriors Guide to the Other Guy’s Culture is not intended to replace existing doctrine, but to sharpen the focus on that which really matters. It is a guide to asking the right questions, not a guide to revamp the sciences of sociology, anthropology, or psychology.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Full Spectrum Drama
FULL SPECTRUM DRAMA
Acknowledgements:
While I have extensive and long standing personal experiences with foreign cultures, including that of California, Texas, Western Europe, China, and Japan, these experiences only provided a setting and materials for the analysis of the problems of a Warrior’s Guide to the Other Guy’s Culture. That which I use to bind military doctrine, psychology, anthropology and sociology include Transactional Analysis designed by Eric Berne particularly Karpman’s Drama Triangle, Cross Cultural Communications by Beyond Interactability.org, the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) from the US Army, and the current manuals on Full Spectrum Operations.
http://www.beyondintractability.org/index.jsp?nid=1
http://www.karpmandramatriangle.com/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle
http://www.ccrsdodona.org/m_dilemma/1981/vir/berne.html
NORMALITY
The thrust of the works on Transactional Analysis(TA) and the Drama Triangle are focused on the individual and small groups. In TA each individual operates at any one point from one of three major ego states, Parent (Mother and/or Father), Adult (pure reason and facts), and the Child.
A normal (plus and minus one standard deviation from the mean) individual and small group functions with the Parental Father role as externally oriented to protect and provide for the family, the Parental Mother role is more internally oriented on nurturing the family and the child. The Child’s role is that of obedience to the parents, and the parents corresponding role of tutoring and nurturing the child. In a healthy group, reason and facts are routinely utilized,
ENTER DRAMA, HEROES AND VILLAINS
One drama enters the scene, these relations turn from survival to game playing. Game playing in TA relies on crossed transactions between the child’s version of mother, father and adult in which the reasoning “adult” become a hand puppet for the dramatic roles, and the expressions of parenting or childhood, masks for a bent personality.
The Drama Triangle posits three Roles: Victim, Prosecutor and Rescuer. In order to play the game, there must be Villains and Heroes. Villains who threaten the Victims, who in turn must be rescued, and the villain prosecuted by heroes.
Thus, the Child’s version of the three roles have two sides, Villainous and Heroic. The Heroic includes the Hero, Heroine, and Helpless. The Villainous counterpart includes the Bastard, Bitch, and Brat.
The more serious the game, the higher the likelihood is that both are played by the same player. It is called the Law of Inverse Attribution. The more the player becomes heroic, the more likely he or she is really a villain. This is portrayed in your daily in-box of your email account.
Being a Hero depends on creating an all powerful Villain. At present, Godless Communism is being replaced by Islam. Sample sites:
http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/
http://www.islam-watch.org/iw-new/index.php
http://www.atcoalition.com/
http://thejewinyellow.blogspot.com/2009/03/islamic-concept-of-al-taqiyah-to.html
The Party Faithful, however grey haired, is still around. Same sort of victim, rescuer, and prosecutors. The Global Ant-Globalization “Front” carries forward Communist claptrap undeterred by the failure of Communism and the conversion of the Communist State into a Capitalist state like that of China.
http://www.corporatewatch.org/
http://www.foe.org/
Their Victims include indigenous people not able or willing to cope with the world that is, and the Earth which can’t take care of itself. Eco Terrorists wage war against real estate developers, whalers, and the non-Russian oil interests to rescue helpless nature (whose voice on these matters in conveniently shut. Seen from the viewpoint of Western (US) oil interests, Japanese whalers, and home buyers, these self same Eco Terrorists should be locked away from any sharp instruments.
I hate to rain on so many parades, as it is so much fun to snort and stomp over the villainous and it is so cathartic to play out the violent side of it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acknowledgements:
While I have extensive and long standing personal experiences with foreign cultures, including that of California, Texas, Western Europe, China, and Japan, these experiences only provided a setting and materials for the analysis of the problems of a Warrior’s Guide to the Other Guy’s Culture. That which I use to bind military doctrine, psychology, anthropology and sociology include Transactional Analysis designed by Eric Berne particularly Karpman’s Drama Triangle, Cross Cultural Communications by Beyond Interactability.org, the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) from the US Army, and the current manuals on Full Spectrum Operations.
http://www.beyondintractability.org/index.jsp?nid=1
http://www.karpmandramatriangle.com/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle
http://www.ccrsdodona.org/m_dilemma/1981/vir/berne.html
NORMALITY
The thrust of the works on Transactional Analysis(TA) and the Drama Triangle are focused on the individual and small groups. In TA each individual operates at any one point from one of three major ego states, Parent (Mother and/or Father), Adult (pure reason and facts), and the Child.
A normal (plus and minus one standard deviation from the mean) individual and small group functions with the Parental Father role as externally oriented to protect and provide for the family, the Parental Mother role is more internally oriented on nurturing the family and the child. The Child’s role is that of obedience to the parents, and the parents corresponding role of tutoring and nurturing the child. In a healthy group, reason and facts are routinely utilized,
ENTER DRAMA, HEROES AND VILLAINS
One drama enters the scene, these relations turn from survival to game playing. Game playing in TA relies on crossed transactions between the child’s version of mother, father and adult in which the reasoning “adult” become a hand puppet for the dramatic roles, and the expressions of parenting or childhood, masks for a bent personality.
The Drama Triangle posits three Roles: Victim, Prosecutor and Rescuer. In order to play the game, there must be Villains and Heroes. Villains who threaten the Victims, who in turn must be rescued, and the villain prosecuted by heroes.
Thus, the Child’s version of the three roles have two sides, Villainous and Heroic. The Heroic includes the Hero, Heroine, and Helpless. The Villainous counterpart includes the Bastard, Bitch, and Brat.
The more serious the game, the higher the likelihood is that both are played by the same player. It is called the Law of Inverse Attribution. The more the player becomes heroic, the more likely he or she is really a villain. This is portrayed in your daily in-box of your email account.
Being a Hero depends on creating an all powerful Villain. At present, Godless Communism is being replaced by Islam. Sample sites:
http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/
http://www.islam-watch.org/iw-new/index.php
http://www.atcoalition.com/
http://thejewinyellow.blogspot.com/2009/03/islamic-concept-of-al-taqiyah-to.html
The Party Faithful, however grey haired, is still around. Same sort of victim, rescuer, and prosecutors. The Global Ant-Globalization “Front” carries forward Communist claptrap undeterred by the failure of Communism and the conversion of the Communist State into a Capitalist state like that of China.
http://www.corporatewatch.org/
http://www.foe.org/
Their Victims include indigenous people not able or willing to cope with the world that is, and the Earth which can’t take care of itself. Eco Terrorists wage war against real estate developers, whalers, and the non-Russian oil interests to rescue helpless nature (whose voice on these matters in conveniently shut. Seen from the viewpoint of Western (US) oil interests, Japanese whalers, and home buyers, these self same Eco Terrorists should be locked away from any sharp instruments.
I hate to rain on so many parades, as it is so much fun to snort and stomp over the villainous and it is so cathartic to play out the violent side of it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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