Elusive armies & invisible hands
Subtitle: combining conventional & guerrilla forces from 1776 to the present
By: James C. Dugan
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 153
Description: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the performance of hybrid forces - forces containing both irregular and regular components - in protracted, theater-level campaigns. It seeks to determine how the hybrid force commander should employ his force to achieve the highest probability of operational success. Accepting that force efficiency is the critical path to operational success, this research focuses on the role of two variables which are often in "tension" in hybrid forces: coordinating the efforts of the two components, and decentralizing the, operations of the irregulars. It explores the influence of these variables in four historical hybrid campaigns. This study demonstrates that the most efficient hybrid force is created by high degrees of both coordination and decentralization. Hybrid forces shaped by these variables maximize costs inflicted on the enemy, while minimizing costs incurred by themselves, by exploiting the enemy's dilemma over whether to disperse to quell the hybrid irregulars, or to concentrate to defeat the hybrid regulars. This research also suggests, however, that coordination and decentralization will only produce the most efficient hybrid force possible when that force enjoys two preconditions in the theater of war: local popular support, and minimum strategic vulnerability for the regulars.
Notes: Thesis advisor(s): Gordon H. McCormick.

"December 1998."

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-150)

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0.

US Army (USA) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 02/04/99.