The following lists the definitions of terminology used in this research. As the existing definitions are numerous and have variations, the definitions that the AFP provides and those that best fit the study were selected.
Battlefield: The piece of ground, within more or less fixed physical parameters in which an overt
engagement of belligerents occurs.
Battlespace – For the purposes of this study, the author sums up that battlespace refers to one, a geographical area where military operations take place or are expected to take place; two, the areas that either belligerent has influence on and its forces can move freely in without the hindrance and obstruction by the opposing force; and three, an area where the opposing force operates in, which may fall outside of the area of influence of the commander but is still considered to have a potential impact on the military mission.20
Battlespace dimensions – Battlespace dimensions constitute elements of a mental box that helps commanders visualize the location of both friendly and enemy troops, and design operations accordingly.
These dimensions include width, height (air space), and depth (length).21 The width corresponds to the
“ground space occupied by the military force. The height represents the space required to employ weapon’s effects. The depth represents both the distance of the weapons effects, plus the distance to the rear of the military force and its logistics.”22
Campaign: A “series of linked battles and engagements designed to meet the desired end state.”23
Civil Military Operations (CMO): The AFP’s CMO are activities undertaken independent of or in coordination with civilian entities to gain popular support, to strengthen the will of the soldiers to fight, and weaken the will of the enemy to resist to support the accomplishment of military mission. They are divided into three pillars: Civil Affair, Public Affairs, and Psychological Operations.24
1.Civil Affairs: Formally known as the Civil Relations component of CMO, it is currently the pillar that involves activities that seek the good will of the population and are often done in partnership with civilian entities. Its ultimate objectives are to secure the environment so that other government agencies can function and provide services to the community.25
20 Ideas drawn from Mgr. Frank R. Boynton’s analysis of existing battlespace definitions in “Force Projection Operations: Lesson from Amphibious Warfare Doctrine,” monograph, Fort Levenworth, Kansas: School of Advanced Military Studies, May 23, 1996, pp. 6-9.
21 Department of the Army, FM 100-5, Operations, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, June 1993, pp. 6-12; 7-12; TRADOC Pamphlet 525-200-3, Dismounted Battlespace, Department of the Army Headquarters, United States Army and Training and Doctrinal Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, 1 June 1994, in the foreword.
22 Department of the Army, FM 100-5, Operations, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, June 1993, p. 6-12; Major James D. Nickolas, “Inside the Battlespace of Stability Operations,” advanced military studies monograph, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: US Army Command and General Staff College, 1999, p. 13.
23 Maj. Thomas P. Reilly, “Mao Tse-Tung and Operational Art during the Chinese Civil War,” advance military studies monograph, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: US Army Command and General Staff College, 1997-98, p. 21.
24 Philippine Army, Civil-Military Operations Manual 7-00, Makati, 2002, p. 13. Hereafter cited as PAM 7-00.
25 Briefing provided by the National Development Support Command (NDSC) to the author, October 8, 2007, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines, Hereafter cited as NDSC briefing and date; PAM 7-00, p. 22.
2. Public Affairs: This is the pillar that deals with the public. It seeks to create trust with the people by the timely dissemination of information through all available media such as the TV, radio, newspapers, and the Internet. Additionally, it is not restricted to a one-way flow of information, but involves the participation of people with soldiers in conducting symposiums, consultations, and dialogues in communities. Though somewhat overlapping in civil affairs, soldiers also participate in community events such as festivals and clean up drives.26
3. Psychological Operations (Psyops): In the Philippine setting, Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) is defined as a CMO pillar conducted to influence the beliefs, emotion, attitude, opinion and ultimately the behavior of selected target audiences (primarily the enemy and secondarily its civilian supporters) toward the accomplishment of the mission of military force. These are further divided into one, deeds propaganda that deals with information to influence the attitudes of the target audience and two, deeds psyops that involve combat and other activities that fall outside of “pure communication” but still seeks a psychological effect on the target audience.27
Counterinsurgency (COIN): These are, generally, operations conducted in response to insurgencies. In theory, they include the whole government approach involving the following aspects: political, social, economic, and security. Though “counter” can be read as “reactive”, the military generally avoids transmitting this image and defines its role in COIN as military activities initiating action or proactive measures against insurgents.28 Either way, counterinsurgency requires a significant re-orientation of the military’s method of fighting that does not fit in comfort zones of established military institutions.29
Guerrilla warfare: Insurgents are typically inferior to a conventional force in terms of official training, equipment, organization, mechanized transport, and weaponry. Therefore, in order to offset their disadvantages, insurgents rely on a set of tactics and strategies that deny conventional forces of doing what they are best at, which is fighting a conventional war. In short, insurgents, seek to fight battles on their own terms. They launch lightening attacks, accompanied by quick withdrawal; they do not seek to hold terrain but capitalize on mobility; and they excel in concealing their movements. While the insurgents cannot expect a decisive victory through their hit-and-run tactics, they seek to wear down the conventional force through a protracted war.30
26 NDSC briefing, October 8, 2007; PAM 7-00, p. 23
27 PAM 7-00, pp. 25-26.
28 Robert Thompson, Defeating Communist Insurgency: The Lessons of Malaya and Vietnam, New York:
Frederick A. Praeger 1966, p. 52.
29 Roger Trinquier, Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency, Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 1964, 2006.
30 Mainstream understanding of insurgent warfare draws heavily from Mao Tse-tung’s writings on guerrilla warfare. See Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare, trans. Samuel Griffith, Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1961.
Insurgency: An armed manifestation of a political struggle against an incumbent authority of the state. The objectives of an insurgency can range from the complete overthrow of the government to secession. In some cases, political aims can be obscured by the contents of their activities that share more similarities with violent criminal organizations.
Maneuver Warfare: Unlike attritional warfare, which entails the use of aggregated amounts of firepower and manpower to wear down and defeat the opponent, maneuver warfare seeks to find positional advantages over the opponent, for the purpose of directing firepower selectively.31 It is often associated with movement in a “spatial sense”, as troops are moving over terrain to “generate and exploit opportunity”
to deal a blow on the opponent. Nevertheless, with increasing studies on insurgent warfare after 2001, maneuver has come to be understood also as movement in psychological realms, where nontraditional operations such as CMO play a role in exploiting opportunities that can be shaped from their interactions with the population.32
Military Civic Action (MCA): The AFP defines their version of MCA as the following: military initiated developmental and sociological services to the people in order to promote public trust towards the military… It can range upward from the delivery of basic services up to major engineering projects.
Popular forms of civic action are dental, medical, educational, and construction of roads and buildings.33
Operational level: In the simplest terms, it is understood as the level that connects upper-strategy with lower-tactics. It organizes planning and actions to shape tactics on the ground. More often than not, the level points to a geographic area (theater and area of operations). It is also the level where campaigns and major operations are planned and executed to attain strategic objectives. In regards to actual operations, it is responsible for sequencing tactical actions in a coherent manner to reach military objectives.34 The Philippine Army defines this level as operations conducted to reach mid-level or medium term objectives and encompasses operations in support of unified commands and the campaigns of military divisions.35
Tactical level: Located at a level where actual battles and engagements take place. The level concerns itself on the arrangement and maneuver of friendly forces and enemy forces in relation to each other on the ground. In other words, this is where troops have direct contact with the enemy and the population.
Tactics are shaped at the operational level.36 The Philippine Army defines this level as activities conducted
31 William S. Lind, Maneuver Warfare Handbook, Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 1985, pp. 7; 19.
32 F.G. Hoffman, “Combating Fourth Generation Warfare”, in Terry Terriff, Aaron Karp and Regina Karp, eds., Global Insurgency and the Future of Armed Conflict: Debating fourth-generation warfare, London and New York: Routledge, 2008, p. 185.
33 PAM 7-00, p. 24.
34 Department of the Army, FM 100-5, Operations, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, June 1993, pp. 1-3; 6-2; 6-12.
35 PAM 7-00, p. 19.
36 Department of the Army, FM-3-0, Operations, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, June
in battle zones that support short-term objectives. These activities typically fall under the responsibilities of brigades, battalions, companies, platoons, teams and squads.37