Is the Problem Actually the Messenger?

Over-focusing on the near Threat blinds us to its Message.

When I went back to Iraq the for second time in 2007, the DOD had focused tremendous effort on mitigating the IED (improvised explosive device, a.k.a “roadside bombs”) threat. Depending on what source you reference, between 63 and 80 percent of coalition forces casualties in Iraq came from IEDs. 

Every vehicle had upgraded armor kits.  We put rollers in front of lead convoy trucks to detonate the devices ahead of us.  The insurgents switched to wireless remote detonators.  We fielded electronic jamming systems to block the signals around our vehicles.  Insurgents learned to place their receivers just outside our signal jamming radius while hard-wiring it to an IED in our path.  Tactic and counter-tactic. Battlefield Darwinism.  Adapt or die.   I watched the unit we would take over from spend their days targeting the devices and their makers, a Sisyphean task against a seemingly endless supply of devices and people.  While a threat, the IEDs were also a messenger. In a counterinsurgency, you’re fighting for the cooperation of the population.  The increasing IED threat showed that we had failed with the population. IEDs were a symptom of support for the insurgency.

While we never let our guard down against IED’s, I got 150+ young men to understand that we needed to treat Iraqis with respect and dignity first, to leave every place better than we found it, and to engage our minds before our weapons. Marines went from grudging acceptance of my orders, to small successes, to a massive shift in company attitude.  Building relationships with the locals and gaining their trust took the IEDs in our sector to almost zero in a few months.  We couldn't patrol without villagers offering to feed us. A local friendly militia leader cried when we left because he said that my 3rd platoon "treated [village defense militia] as brothers and the people as friends. Because of your Marines, the people have turned against Al Qaeda."

I know that Iraq is an intense example, but I use it because the shift was so powerful, and that the root to thinking in systems came down to focusing on people.

Are you focused on a problem that might be the messenger? 

Here’s a test.  If the problem comes back year after year, cycle after cycle, changing your tools, your technique, or your technology won’t solve the problem.  The solution lies in understanding the system we’re in and how we may be contributing to the problem we are trying to solve.  

What’s your recurring problem?  What’s the message it’s sending?

Find a Way,

Ryan