Cultural Understanding in Military Operations
Abstract
Cultural understanding and military operations are intricately bound together. The U.S
Department of Defense sees cultural understanding as an important tool defeating
insurgencies in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. This is not only the culture of the
people in a particular country, but also the culture of the enemy, as well as the Global War
on Terror has continued for over a decade, a lack of cultural understanding has done much
to create more insurgents within Iraq and Afghanistan. A leader’s understanding of culture
and their ability to communicate this importance to their subordinates are key to the
success of any military operation. Subordinates will take this understanding to the
battlefield when interacting with the local populace. Thereby, creating a positive
environment within the operation and allowing the local populace to gain an understanding
as to why the U.S military is there and that they will be treated with respect and dignity
afforded to every human no matter what operation the military conduct (Bartone, 2005).
Cultural understanding in the military
A military operation has required leaders and subordinates the ability to interact with
people of many diverse cultures. In the past, cultural understanding was not traditionally a
priority within the U.S Department of Defense. However, the continual insurgency in Iraq
has given the military greater perspective when it comes to host nation and adversary
culture. No one organization has an understanding of this more than the military, on the
ground dealing with cultural situations on a day to day basis. Many leaders may have
operational awareness but severely lack cultural awareness. As we’ve seen throughout the
Global War on Terror (GWOT), the enemy is a part of the culture and can easily blend to it
at will. Cultural understanding is the ability to understand the beliefs, habits, social,
economic, political, words, gestures, and other cultural nuances to work with and within its
perceptions and restraints (McFate, (2005).
In order to understand culture, it is necessary to define culture. Culture is the collective
behaviors, interactions, intellectual constructs, as well as emotional and affective
understanding that are learned through the process of socialization. These collective
behaviors help to identify the members of a particular cultural group and help to
distinguish those within another cultural group. Conversely, this discusses how military
operations differ in Iraq as opposed to Afghanistan, although they have similarities, they
are very different, and the approach should be different. Based on their cultural nuances
Iraq and Afghanistan, it would be detrimental to any military operation of clump them
together.
An organizational approach to cultural as a means of understanding the operational
environment may be achieved through a myriad of educational methods, which help to
yield significant results in a military operation. In units such as 4th Military Information
Support Group (A) (4th MISG) and 95th Civil Affairs Battalion (A) (95th CA Bn) have
used culture as a very useful tool in influencing the population of a particular country.
They have gained greater perspective on the culture of a certain country training,
immersion, and country studies. These special operations units conduct missions in many
different regions of the world such as, Africa, Asia, The Middle East, South America, and
Europe
Leaders need to understand all aspects of the operational environment in order to have a
successful military operation. Culture is a very important aspect of that environment.
Leaders and subordinates alike have to have intensive training that stresses the importance
of cultural interaction between the service member and local national, as well as how a
lack of cultural understanding can be detrimental to any military operation (Abbe &
Halpin, 2010).
Creating cultural understanding among leaders
Military culture and its effects on understanding culture are important when training the
service member on how to interact with people of the host nation. Honor, Duty, and
Respect can be translated into cultural training that creates an environment that will be
more receptive to people that they will come in contact with on a continual basis. Also,
military is an organization that has myriad of different cultures within its ranks.
Organizational leaders that communicate appropriate values to theirs subordinates create a
moral climate throughout the organization that translates into greater success within the
operational environment. Maintaining this communication will help to convey to
subordinates the premise of the operation and help to alleviate cultural issues in the future.
Military operations are inherently complex; therefore, it is important for leaders to ensure
that training is relevant to the specific cultural environment. Subordinates take cues from
their military leaders based the information that is communicated to them. If the
organizational culture embraces the culture as a means to mission success, subordinates
will be more likely to embrace it as well. Fostering the tenets of Duty, Honor, and Respect
within an organization will create values that will resonate on the battlefield. Thereby,
creating an understanding and military culture that represents the warrior ethos and
professional attributes, both in terms of experience and intellectual capacity that contribute
to a general understanding of the nature of culture and the environment within military
organizations and help to guide the service members that reside within them (Murray,
2002). These professional attributes and cultural training can be used to ensure that
subordinates have a full understanding of the operational environment in regards to culture
(Soeters, Winslow, & Weibull, 2006).
Military awareness training has been the military’s premiere means to trains its service
