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A U.S. Marine corporal heads out on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. The new Counterinsurgency Center at MCB Quantico is intended to provide the best training possible for those who will face irregular warfare.
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

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ON WAR Counterinsurgency training

The new counterinsurgency center at Quantico teaches today's warfare

Date published: 11/2/2007

Akers:

What's the Center of Excellence for Irregular Warfare all about?

Kelly:

Irregular warfare encompasses counterinsurgency, information operations, psychological operations, civil affairs, and numerous other tenets that fall underneath that moniker.

The center was established in May. I reported as director in June, and we are continuing to work the issues that deal with counterinsurgency, stability operations, [etc.]. The center has become a one-stop shop for the Marine Corps as it relates to these things.

We coordinate with all the other services. [For example,] I talk with the Special Forces guys. Then, obviously, we take a look internally at the Marine Corps and say, "OK, here's where we are at, here's where we are going, here's where we need to go."

Akers:

When you are fully operational, how many people will go through the center in a year?

Kelly:

Well, at the center we basically work issues or work on doctrine, organization, some training issues, but we won't be a center that people will come to for formal schooling. We are going to [offer], for example on our Web site, a place where everybody can come and read the current doctrine, the issues being discussed, and the latest briefs [on irregular warfare].

Then we let the smart guys do the work at the training and education commands. [They might say,] "OK, we'll integrate this at boot camp," [or] "Well, we are going to integrate this in the School of Infantry."

Akers:

It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that you do what a think tank does?

Kelly:

Yeah, I would say it is a think tank, but again, for the Marine Corps, we are going to [develop] the doctrine; we are going to look at organization, training, facilities, and leadership and provide input into the way the Marine Corps should go [regarding] counterinsurgency.

violent preparation

Akers:

What are your qualifications to run the center?

Kelly:

I was a company commander in Somalia in 1993. I ran my own city, so to speak. Then I worked in Kosovo in 1999, going in with the First Marines and the Army to set up containment areas for the collection of weapons, mass-grave sites, civil affairs.


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Date published: 11/2/2007


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