text: Chapter 1
  Operational Environment of Counterinsurgency
  “Learn all you can about your Ashraf and Bedu. Get to know their families, clans
  and tribes, friends and enemies, wells, hills and roads.”
  T. E. Lawrence, The 27 Articles of T.E. Lawrence.
  FM 3-0 defines an operational environment as “…a composite of the conditions,
  circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of capabilities and bear on
  the decisions of the commander.” The particular operational environment heavily
  influences both the nature of insurgent warfare and the methods of counterinsurgency
  operations. This chapter helps units define the operational environment of COIN by
  using operational variables, employing mission variables; understanding the effects
  of the operational environment; and comprehending the importance of cultural
  awareness.
  Section I—OVERVIEW
  For more than two centuries, the United States military has been called upon to defeat insurgencies like the
  Whiskey Rebellion in the eastern United States, the Native Americans on the western plains of the United
  States, the Boxer Rebellion in China, Pancho Villa in Mexico, Augusto Sandino in Nicaragua, and the Viet
  Cong in Vietnam. Although the Army does have historic examples of COIN operations, our doctrine and COIN
  skills atrophied between Vietnam and the invasion of Afghanistan. In addition, the world is increasingly shaped
  by population explosion, urbanization, globalization, technology, religious fundamentalism, resource demand,
  climate change and natural disasters, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The increasing
  complexity of the world has made it more challenging for governments to maintain order and satisfy the rapidly
  growing needs of their populations. As these governments try to maintain their tenuous hold on power,
  dissatisfied portions of their population have, like dissatisfied groups for thousands of years, turned to violence
  to achieve political goals. Using violence to achieve political goals is known as insurgency. As a result, US
  forces have conducted counterinsurgency operations around the world in Colombia, Somalia, Kosovo,
  Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Iraq. Before developing a better understanding of the operational environment
  (OE), it is important to understand what insurgencies, counterinsurgencies, and the influences shaping the
  OE are—
  INSURGENCY
  1-1. This is an organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through use
  of subversion and armed conflict (JP 1-02). The key distinction between an insurgency and other
  movements is the decision to use violence to achieve political goals. An insurgency is typically an internal
  struggle within a state, not between states. It is normally a protracted political and military struggle
  designed to weaken the existing government’s power, control, and legitimacy, while increasing the
  insurgency’s power, control, and legitimacy.
  1-2. The majority of insurgencies have been limited to local regions or specific countries. However,
  today’s instant communications allow insurgent groups and leaders to communicate worldwide to find
  support for their cause, and to support causes they view as compatible with their own goals. External
  forces, including nation-states, may support an insurgency for their own benefit. They may also oppose a
  competing nation-state that supports the existing government. As a result, modern insurgencies can often
  cross multiple countries.