Lessons for the Canadian Forces in the Effects-Based Operations Era
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ESPACE l 'S BATT y TODA DND photo AR2006-G068-0009 by Master Corporal Yves Gemus. An M177 artillery piece of 2 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (2 RCHA) at sunset at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Sperwan Gar, Afghanistan, 14 December 2006. BEiNg Effective iN SnakE fighTiNg – Lessons fOr ThE Canadian Forces iN ThE Effects-Based Operations ErA by Peter J. Williams Introduction the “Comprehensive Approach.” Within Canada, such a multi- faceted method is being increasingly referred to as a “Whole hen General Rick Hillier took over as Chief of Government (WoG) approach.”2 of the Defence Staff (CDS) in early 2005, he very quickly put into effect the most Currently, Canada finds itself engaged in a counterinsur- dramatic transformation the Canadian gency (COIN) campaign in Afghanistan, having also recently Forces (CF) has experienced in its history. filled a major leadership role while commanding the multina- WCentral to his vision was the thesis that future conflicts would tional maritime Combined Task Force 150 (CTF) in the be characterized more by violence within or around failed Arabian Sea areas.3 At the operational level, EBO, with a states, and against non-state actors (the ‘snakes’), than by wars tailored WoG approach, is being applied to each theatre, against such previous opponents as the now-defunct Soviet where there are plenty of ‘snakes’ to be dealt with. Assuming Union (the ‘bears’). that these are the kinds of interventions in which the CF is likely to find itself engaged for the foreseeable future, what At the same time, the concept of Effects-Based Operations lessons might be learned from our contemporary military (EBO) began to emerge.1 Under this doctrine, what was important was the wider (and not necessarily the immediate) Colonel P. J. Williams, an artillery officer, is currently Director Plans outcome or effect of the application of a number of capabili- Western Hemisphere on the Strategic Joint Staff. From February to ties (kinetic or non-kinetic) against a particular target. November 2006, he was the Chief, Joint Fires and Effects Cell in HQ Increasingly, these capabilities would not come solely from Regional Command (South), Kandahar, Afghanistan, serving in within the military ‘toolbox,’ but also would bring to bear Operation Enduring Freedom and with NATO’s International Security other elements of national power. Therefore, depending upon Assistance Force (ISAF). The author gratefully acknowledges the assis- the nation employing that power, one could anticipate use of tance of Brigadier-General D.A. Fraser, former Commander, Regional the 3Ds (Defence, Diplomacy, Development), DIME (Defence, Command (South)/Coalition Task Force (CTF) Aegis in the preparation Interagency, Multinational, Economic), or, in British parlance, of this article. Vol. 10, No. 4, Autumn 2010 • Canadian Military Journal 19 experiences to date that can be applied to the Canadian Way to NATO. To some extent mirroring the Afghan Compact of War in future? The aim of this article is to attempt to developed in 2002, the plan had three Lines of Operation answer this question. (LOOs): The Operational Environment • Governance; hether it be the Taliban and their associates in • Development: under ISAF this LOO became known WAfghanistan, pirates, human smugglers, and drug traf- as Reconstruction and Development (R&D); and fickers on the high seas, or threats that may act upon our ‘network-centric’ world, the ‘enemy’ we face today do not • Security. tend to wear a uniform, nor do they feel in any way obliged to observe the Laws of Armed Conflict. They also possess the Within each LOO, there were a series of subordinate ability to blend into the local population after committing an effects that we wanted to achieve, as well as ‘metrics,’ that attack. Such are the snakes we increasingly find ourselves were used to determine the extent of progress along each fighting today. The trick, then, is how does one become a bet- LOO. This plan was endorsed by Headquarters CJTF-76 prior ter countering ‘mongoose’? And further, one must be a mon- to deployment to theatre, and only required minimal amend- goose able to act in concert with other arms of government, ment after deployment, including the transition to a NATO-led as well as the full range of International and Non- mission. Governmental Organizations (IOs and NGOs), such as the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross A visit to Headquarters 10th US (Mountain) Division dur- (ICRC), and so on. ing our pre-deployment phase revealed that we would have to devote more resources and time to campaigning and assess- From February to November 2006, I and many Canadian ment than we had previously envisaged. Under the command and international colleagues found ourselves in the midst of of CJTF-76, we would have to be responsive to a cyclical, just such an aforementioned environment in Afghanistan. monthly assessment process upon which the Commander Early on, we determined that we needed to look at our sur- CJTF 76 would base his decision-making. Thus, it was deter- roundings in a new and different way. “We” were a Canadian- mined that we would need an assessment capability within the led formation known as Combined Task Force (CTF) Aegis, Joint Fires and Effects Cell (JFEC). Luckily, we were able to and we assumed control of Regional Command [RC] (South) enlist the services of a Canadian officer with experience in from the US Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade, also known as this new field, and, once in theatre, officers were reassigned to Task Force Bayonet. We were responsible for the conduct of the Assessment Cell from other staff sections. This would not operations in the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabol, only enable us to ‘feed’ the higher assessment processes but and Uruzgan. While Nimroz and Day Kundi were also within would also keep our own commander informed as to the prog- the RC(S) Area of Operations (AO), no Coalition forces were ress of his campaign plan. permanently stationed in either of the latter two provinces. We reported to Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 76, a com- One implied task that emerged was a new approach to an mand sub-set of Headquarters 10th US (Mountain) Division ostensibly fundamental military activity, that of reporting. In stationed at Bagram Air Base. It was only in August, with NATO expansion, that RC(S)/ CTF Aegis would become part of the International Security Assistance Force ((ISAF). From our arrival in February, this became a major leader- ship role for Canadians, who would be leading a multinational formation in combat for the first time in decades. Prior to deploying, we developed a Campaign Plan, which was designed to take us through our entire nine- month tour, including the transition of forces DND photo IS2006-1217a by Sergeant Roxanne Clowe. 20 Canadian Military Journal • Vol. 10, No. 4, Autumn 2010 order to ensure that we could track campaign plan progress We also used the PMESII model as the basis for reporting along all the LOOs, we found that reporting mechanisms had from subordinate task forces. While this did not always enjoy to be redesigned to make them more all-encompassing – and total acceptance or understanding from all units, it did force not just inclusive of military activities – which constituted the them to approach the problem we faced in a different, yet nub of what we had all been trained to report upon previously. common way, rather than reverting to solely reporting on the As CTF Aegis, we adopted the ‘PMESII’ model: somewhat limiting Enemy and Friendly aspects of ‘traditional’ ESPACE Situation Reports (SITREPs). l • Political: competence and efficacy of the appointed leaders and shuras at provin- cial/district level. Efficacy of elected bod- ies and ministerial representatives. • Military: enemy organizations and sanctu- 'S BATT ary/operational areas. Active enemy lead- y ers and combatant cells. Recent enemy action. Presence of enemy facilitators. Popular support for enemy organizations, as opposed to support for the Government TODA of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan [GIRA]. Coalition forces. Capability and readiness of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Manning, equipment, training, and operations of ANSF. Ability of ANSF to conduct activities and to influence local areas. DND photo AR2006-G068-0040 by Master Corporal Yves Gemus. • Economic: level of drug-related activity, including cultivation, transit, usage, and processing activities. Major drug-related personali- Effects-Based Operations ties. Impact of drugs upon the social fabric, local government, and security sector reform activities. efore deploying to Afghanistan in 2006 as Headquarters Activities of bazaars and local markets. Amount of B[HQ] RC(S), we decided to adopt an Effects-Based inter-village trade. Approach to Operations (EBAO), leveraging the Decide, Detect, Deliver, Assess (D3A) methodology inherent in the • Social: amount of tribal and factional conflict and targeting process, which was already part of our doctrine. disagreement, which degrades security and/or sup- Notwithstanding that the US is reviewing the applicability of port for the government. EBAO,4 the approach we adopted in HQ RC(S) was highly worthwhile for several reasons: • Infrastructure: objective infrastructure standards for a district: roads, water, education, medical treatment, First, we deployed to theatre in early 2006, soon after a agricultural facilities, bazaars, and markets. Number Canadian federal election. Within a very short time, we were of IO/NGO operations