Thread by @DefenseNigeria

So hours ago the Nigerian army told the leadership of the Senate that
7,043 soldiers habve been wounded by bandits and insurgents in the last few years. Now, the army said something i feel Nigerians are yet to understand.

He lamented that Nigeria had not experienced this level

and type of insecurity. Not even during the civil war. What is he talking about?

ASSYMETRIC/HYBRID WARFARE

The nighmare of conventional forces all over the world.

Asymmetric warfare is hard to fight. In a hybrid battlefield, military might in the traditional sense counts for nothing. It doesnt matter how many submarines you have or the number of tactical nuclear warhead you have on hairs trigger alert.

These weapons are completely useless in a hybrid environment. Assymetric warfare is tailored to play to the weaknesses of large conventional armies. The Americans had a good taste of what it was like fighting in the jungles of Vietnam.

The Russians were dealt a bitter lessen in Afghanistan.

For Nigeria the situation couldnt be worse. Nigerians generally have an "Alpha type" and strong personality culturally.

The personalities of our generals in our large conventional army are usually not well suited to the demands of asymmetrical warfare.

Indeed the entire system isn’t set up for dealing with asymmetrical warfare. For that you need an entirely different mode of operation, known as counter insurgency. It took the Nigerian army five years to come up with an effective counter insurgency strategy..and this leason

..was learnt and developed basically on an ad hoc basis..trial by error on the battlefield. The Nigerian army learnt you dont just send in large number of troops to overwhelm an enemy you cannot see. The larger the military presence, the worse things get.

There is just no way to bring a conventional military strengths fully to bear on the enemy you still cannot see. The most horrifying aspect of this for the Nigerian army is the fact that territorial control can be meaningless. Nigerian troops cannot be everywhere at once or

they risk providing easy targets for insurgents. The best they can do is mount constant patrols and follow up on any leads. It’s not particularly difficult for asymmetrical forces to avoid these, when theay easily blend in with rhe local population and plant roadside bombs.

The most frustrating aspect or assymetric warfare is how you measure success. There is no clearly defined boundary to use as a metric for success. There will be no signing a document of surrender onboard NNS Thunder. The truth is that once terrorism starts it never really ends

ISWAP will never wave the white flag of surrender. The only way o measure success is with a decrease in attacks and a gradual return to normalcy as they slowly fade away. Which takes years. But Nigerians will not have any of that. They demand immediate, not "tecnical victory)

..and since the kind of victory they are expecting will NEVER happen...because such a scenario simply does not exist, Nigerians will continue to self sabotage out of hatred. They will never accept the fact progress is being made. They will not give the military the time

..it needs to put to use the new weapons platform's that have just being inducted. The day the AW109 and Mi-17E helicopters were inducted, the very next day, 24 hours later we had Nigerians complaining bitterly that despite these new helicopters Boko Haram remains undefeated.

At the of the day these activities will sap away the morale of Nigerian troops. People join the military for many reasons. For some the money, some, patriotism, for some adventure.

People join insurgent groups for one reason..a cause. They honestly believe the delusion that

.they are fighting for a just cause, and there is nothing so dangerous as someone willing to fight and die for it, not realizing they are being deceived..and when they die there is no paradise prepared for them.

The average generals (and politicians) of a conventional force are always looking for ways to declare victory and to do it as quickly as possible. The Insurgents know this and will never give Nigeria an easy way out. They will continue killing and kidnapping civilians..

...plugging in to the frustration of Nigerians they know are constantly looking for materials to justify their hatred and desire to bring this country to its knees. A perfect symbiotic relationship. Unless Nigerians throw all sentiments aside and support the military

..in its effort to wipe out insurgency groups, these terrorists are happy to keep fighting for the next 10, 20 or 30 years. Its a lucrative profession and they have no desire to bring an end to the insurgency. What are they supposed to do if the fighting stops?

..go back to the farm or what? Most have no future..this is all they have. Its their source of lively hood. If Nigerians refuse to rally round the military, but rather opt to continue boosting the morale of insurgents with their self sabotaging activities.......well.