(DON’T FEAR) IRREGULAR WARFARE: GETTING IW RIGHT IN THE UPCOMING NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGY
Jonathan Schroden | 03.14.22
(Don’t Fear) Irregular Warfare: Getting IW Right in the Upcoming National Defense Strategy
In the classic Saturday Night Live sketch “More Cowbell,” legendary music producer Bruce Dickinson (played by Christopher Walken) takes on production of the classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult. In the sketch, the band has all the players one would expect—lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist and lead singer, bassist, and drummer. But it also contains an additional percussionist (Gene Frenkle, played by Will Ferrell) playing the cowbell on the group’s most famous song, (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. When the group first attempts to record the track, the lead singer stops the song midway through and questions the way it sounds. Dickinson responds, “It was sounding great, but I could’ve used a little more cowbell.” As the group attempts a second and then third recording, Frenkle’s cowbell playing—egged on by Dickinson’s calls for him to “really explore the studio space”—eventually becomes so distracting that a fight ensues among the band members. Only Frenkle’s impassioned plea to keep the cowbell on the song and Dickinson’s reassurance that with it “we’ll all be wearing gold-plated diapers” are enough to restore harmony within the band and generate a hit song.
While it may seem an odd analogy, there is much about this sketch that parallels the US experience with irregular warfare (IW) over the past twenty years—in particular, the notion that IW, like the cowbell, has somehow been a distraction from the harmonious conduct of national defense as opposed to an instrumental component of it. To the contrary, whether it is working with other nations to combat information manipulation and build military capacity, countering terrorist groups as described in the United States’ new Indo-Pacific Strategy, or helping to train and equip resistance forces prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the activities inherent to IW are as relevant to national defense today as they have ever been. As the Department of Defense is on the verge of issuing a new National Defense Strategy (NDS), its drafters in the Pentagon would be wise to heed Bruce Dickinson’s advice: “Fellas, you’re gonna want that cowbell on the track.”
https://mwi.usma.edu/dont-fear-irregular-warfare-getting-iw-right-in-the-upcoming-national-defense-strategy/
