IS THERE ANYTHING TO LEARN FROM UKRAINE?
CHASE METCALF NOVEMBER 30, 2023
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a four-part series of articles on how national security professionals should (and should not) approach the fraught task of learning lessons from something as complex as war. We have assembled a team of sharp minds and pens in the business to apply their varying perspectives to the question opened by the Army War College’s Chase Metcalf, how do we think about learning lessons from war? It is a fitting end to 2023 and, unfortunately, will likely be essential in 2024 as well.
Engaging with these competing viewpoints can provide military professionals with insights to help avoid strategic surprise and prepare for the future.
Studying the Russo-Ukraine conflict is critical to understanding the changing character of warfare—or is it? Respected experts debate if and how the character of warfare is changing and what lessons we can draw from the Russo-Ukraine conflict.
Recent articles by William “Wilf” Owen and by the team of Katie Crombe and John Nagl are illustrative. Writing in British Army Review, Owen takes a somewhat contrarian view, arguing that drawing lessons from incomplete information about the ongoing Russo-Ukraine conflict is problematic. Meanwhile, in Parameters, Crombe and Nagl say that the U.S. Army must “embrace the Russo-Ukraine conflict as an opportunity” to shape its education, training, and doctrine. Engaging with these competing viewpoints can provide military professionals with insights to help avoid strategic surprise and prepare for the future. But this must be done deliberately and with an open mind to avoid learning the wrong lessons from a conflict that is far from over.
Nothing New for Professionals
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/learning-lessons-1/
