Author: Patrick McKinney

**Hat tip to Tom Ricks over at The Best Defense – he was kind enough to allow us to publish a great essay from Patrick McKinney (that originally appeared here as part of an essay contest): 

Combat in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated the value of standoff, and the Department of Defense’s emerging strategies, acquisitions, research, and intellectual debates emphasize deterring and defeating opponents at standoff range. Unfortunately, the war after next will again be fought in close proximity.

At their core, the combat forces of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps exist to close with and destroy the enemy. The joint fight with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy enabled swift initial campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, but stability and then counterinsurgency operations necessitated that forces get close to the populace and to the enemy. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) first exploited American reliance on ground transport and then on dismounted exposure. The harsh price paid in lives and limbs demands means to keep the warfighter out of the close fight, but that remains a tall order.