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The Water Cooler
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Well friends, it's about that time
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<blockquote data-quote="JR777" data-source="post: 3597074" data-attributes="member: 45725"><p>I wouldn't necessarily say that an insurgency means people leaving their homes. There's this perception that insurgents are half wild people living in a cave somewhere, but generally speaking that's not true. Of course they rough it when they're running operations, as does any soldier, but when they're not they have homes, families, jobs, etc. Most of the Vietcong were educated city dwellers, for example. Now of course they had a lot of material support from the rural farmers.</p><p></p><p>I think what makes insurgencies so powerful is that you can't pin them down. Everybody is a member, but nobody is. Because of that, any attempt to attack it where it lives will only breed more discontent. That was the major mistake of the British in the Revolution. When the Revolution was brewing, hardly any of the colonists supported it. When it started, very few people still wanted anything to do with it. But systematically as the war progressed, any and all attempts by the British to stamp out the insurgents once and for all just multiplied their enemies tenfold. By the time they capitulated, only about three percent of the population was involved directly, but I think they realized if they kept going it would grow exponentially to 100% within only a few short months or years.</p><p></p><p>Any insurgency almost automatically renders air power useless, because it's so indiscriminate. It becomes an on the ground game of cat and mouse. Even that, though, breeds discontent, because it always involves roundups of people who can't be proven to be involved in anything specific. The only time you get to use air or artillery is on those rare occasions when you catch an armed force organized and out in the open, and even then you're likely to cause casualties that will at a bare minimum raise eyebrows, or damage property or infrastructure, which can breed even more discontent than a civilian casualty.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JR777, post: 3597074, member: 45725"] I wouldn't necessarily say that an insurgency means people leaving their homes. There's this perception that insurgents are half wild people living in a cave somewhere, but generally speaking that's not true. Of course they rough it when they're running operations, as does any soldier, but when they're not they have homes, families, jobs, etc. Most of the Vietcong were educated city dwellers, for example. Now of course they had a lot of material support from the rural farmers. I think what makes insurgencies so powerful is that you can't pin them down. Everybody is a member, but nobody is. Because of that, any attempt to attack it where it lives will only breed more discontent. That was the major mistake of the British in the Revolution. When the Revolution was brewing, hardly any of the colonists supported it. When it started, very few people still wanted anything to do with it. But systematically as the war progressed, any and all attempts by the British to stamp out the insurgents once and for all just multiplied their enemies tenfold. By the time they capitulated, only about three percent of the population was involved directly, but I think they realized if they kept going it would grow exponentially to 100% within only a few short months or years. Any insurgency almost automatically renders air power useless, because it's so indiscriminate. It becomes an on the ground game of cat and mouse. Even that, though, breeds discontent, because it always involves roundups of people who can't be proven to be involved in anything specific. The only time you get to use air or artillery is on those rare occasions when you catch an armed force organized and out in the open, and even then you're likely to cause casualties that will at a bare minimum raise eyebrows, or damage property or infrastructure, which can breed even more discontent than a civilian casualty. [/QUOTE]
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