Brent Scowcroft Center Marine Corps Senior Fellow Michael Tyson cowrites for DefenseNews on the role conventional forces should play in future conflicts:
Doug Ollivant’s recent article for CNN, “What war has in store,” addresses key themes in planning for future conflict. However, the problem with Ollivant’s approach, along with that of many other policymakers, is the heavy focus on special operations forces (SOF) as the silver bullet to many of our nation’s security threats.
It is the conventional force that will continue to do the heavy lifting in most if not all conflicts. Therefore, the US should be looking through a different lens to effectively prosecute these future wars. To be successful, it is the conventional forces that require structural improvements and individual training, which will better achieve the overall results that Ollivant desires for the US to adapt to the operating environment of future wars.