MB,
Always a good start to the day when someone paraphrases JPV...an exemplar, if ever there was one, of the 'tall poppy syndrome' within all militaries.
I don't think history will be kind when casting her gaze upon the UK attempts at COIN 03-10; We displayed arrogance approaching hubris over past campaigns (Malaya/Borneo) and demonstrated classic 'last war' syndrome by trying to make our comfort zone (NI) 'fit the map' in Iraq/Afg. The moment the COIN campaigns became properly kinetic it was time to adapt or switch doctrines, but, like a drowing man with a lifebuoy, we clung on to our old COIN mantra for as long as we could. To misquote Liddel-Hart, 'the only thing harder to do than get a new idea into a military mind is to get an old idea out...' and, IMHO, we were guilty of this.
The biggest 'take away' from these wars is to nip in the bud the 'last war' syndrome again - we cannot go forward, particularly in the air domain, thinking that all our future wars will be in hot/high dusty conditions with few obstructions and only a low tech threat. My worst nightmare would be trying to send our crews into a poor weather, heavily obstructed area (think Yugoslavia) against a credible Air/EW threat. I'm sure MG et al are all over it though......
Last edited by Evalu8ter; 5th Apr 2013 at 09:14.