Overview

Army Techniques Publication ATP 3-24.3 Cultural and Situational Understanding establishes the techniques and procedures used by individuals, teams, and units of the United States Army at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. This ATP is applicable to all members of the Army profession and security assistance contractors. The techniques and procedures prescribed in this publication are used when engaging other government agencies, indigenous populations and institutions, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and other military and nonmilitary entities to support conventional and special operations missions. This publication elaborates on doctrine contained in FM 3-24, Insurgency and Countering Insurgencies. The principal audience for ATP 3-24.3 is all members of the profession of arms. Commanders and staffs of Army headquarters serving as joint task force or multinational headquarters should also refer to applicable joint or multinational doctrine concerning the range of military operations and joint or multinational forces. Trainers and educators throughout the Army will also use this publication. Understanding culture is essential in conducting irregular warfare. Irregular warfare requires a deliberate application of an understanding of culture due to the need to understand a populated operational environment, what specifically is causing instability, the nature of the threat, and the ability to work with host-nation governments and security forces. Often, training and operations rely on cultural training and education to build cultural expertise, but this may not provide the cognitive link to situational understanding. This ATP does not simply focus on culture, which often generalizes aspects of a society, does not account for diversity, and rarely represents a specific working identity (as in useful and relevant identity, which is distilled or created for a purpose) for an entire region, nation, or even an area. Alternatively, this publication builds on doctrinal publications, including ADRP 5-0 and FM 3-24, which detail terms and references regarding culture and help link these foundations to situational understanding. Situational understanding facilitates Soldiers' and leaders' abilities to make informed decisions regarding their area of operations because of their recognizing what looks right and what looks wrong. This ATP covers the basics of one aspect of enhancing situational understanding through cultural understanding, and links these basics to methodologies and training tools to more rapidly gain cultural understanding through a deliberate process, rather than simply gaining awareness through learned patterns by immersion in a community or area of operations. Leaders at every level need to emphasize cultural training and understanding. Developing expertise in cultural and geopolitical knowledge, understanding, and application are requirements for all Army professionals and leaders and one of the four fields of knowledge of professional military expertise. (See ADP 1.) A deliberate, synchronized and coherent plan to develop cultural expertise is vital. If leaders set the standard, their Soldiers will follow. Leaders are expected to be culturally and situational aware. They will conduct and participate in meetings, negotiations, and other exchanges with host-nation citizens in which cultural and situational understanding are essential to influence target audiences. Obtaining keen situational awareness will also help leaders recognize and understand the prerequisites of insurgency in their area of operations, enemy patterns, how insurgents use prerequisites of insurgency to get close to the local population, and ways counterinsurgents can separate insurgents from the local population.

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