The US Army is unprepared to occupy and stabilize territory because it does not adequately educate active-duty officers to do so. One way to professionalize the Army’s ability to carry out military government and stability operations is to develop active-duty functional area officers who can advise commanders and integrate staff planning for these operations. In this episode, author Andrew Colvin analyzes case studies, doctrine, and commentary to envision specialized staff officers with foreign language proficiency, cultural skills, advanced academic abilities, and a strong professional ethic. These officers would enhance the Army’s competence in stabilizing territory to achieve American policy objectives.



Read the article here.



Email usarmy.carlisle.awc.mbx.parameters@army.mil to give feedback on this podcast or the genesis article.







Keywords: stability, civil affairs, military government, professional studies, foreign language

Episode Transcript: "The Case for an Army Stability Professional"

Stephanie Crider (Host)



You're listening to Decisive Point. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Department of the Army, the US Army War College, or any other agency of the US government.



Today I'm talking with Andrew Colvin, an active-duty engineer officer in the commissioned corps of the US Public Health Service and author of the “Case for an Army Stability Professional,” which was published in the Spring 2023 issue of Parameters.



Andrew, thanks so much for joining me today. I'm glad you're here. Tell me what inspired you to write this article.



Andrew Colvin



So, I wrote this article because of my experiences as a civil affairs and engineer officer in the Army, and it left me convicted that we were missing something very critical to winning our nation's wars. So, I began my research and discovered that I wasn't the only one who thought this way, so I'll start by stating the obvious. War is about exercising power over people and territory. It's political at its core, but the army really struggles to translate violence into, say, a stable political arrangement that furthers American interests.



And doctor Nadia Schadlow does a great job explaining this in her book War and the Art of Governance. But as an Army, we have words for this concept—stability, operations—in military government. We have doctrine for this concept. We even have recent experience trying to implement this concept. What we don't have and what we've never really had is the right kind of education for leaders who can guide the Army to success.



So, I wrote this paper to propose a solution to this problem, and I want to prepare conventional forces for stability operations during and after large-scale combat. And in a world of finite resources and time, stability operations are never going to get the attention they need from the Army. I recognize that. I think a workable solution is to invest in staff officers—leaders who are selected and educated to advise commanders and integrate staff planning for stability at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war.



Host



You recommend the Army develop stability professionals. Can you expand on that, please?



Colvin



I envision an active-duty functional area, a specialized officer career field to professionalize the Army's ability to carry out stability operations, and military government. And I use the word “professional” in its highest sense in the Samuel P. Huntington sense of people who serve society as memb...