United States Army Command and General S

The U. S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) is at a critical crossroads regarding the trajectory of its organizational design and operational approach. Asproblems in Africa continue to escalate and present additional threats to U. S. national security, the combatant command faces issues it is notequipped or organizationally structured to negotiate. Senior U. S. policy makers and Department of Defense (DOD) officials should considerre-framing the African operational environment and generate options that more effectively employ military means to foster continental stability andachieve American strategic objectives. One prospective approach is to place more emphasis and resources towards stabilizing Africa's Oil Coast. Violent extremism, illicit drug trafficking, and lucrative oil resources represent interdependent subjects that are manifesting instability throughoutthe Oil Coast. These emerging transnational threats jeopardize long-term African security and vital U. S. interests. Therefore, a plausible option forU. S. policy makers and DOD officials to consider is making the region AFRICOM' s decisive operation. Through increased resourcing andstructural adaption, this approach may more effectively facilitate the command's linkage of tactical actions to strategic aims across time and space.

The focus of this work is to ascertain whether the concept of operational shock, which has served as the intellectual underpinning of the US Army's doctrine over the past thirty years, can be used to guide an operational approach in a counterinsurgency campaign. The concept of operational shock sits at the foundation of much of United States Army's operational doctrine. The American way of war now focuses not on the destruction of an enemy's equipment and personnel, but on degrading and disrupting his ability to continue to fight.