"This textbook is designed to help Marines link concepts of culture to the realities of planning and executing military operations around the world." -- p. 2.

This textbook is a collaboration between the United States Marine Corps Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning and the Marine Corps University. Originally published in May 2009 in limited numbers this book studies the role of cultural awareness in securing operational success in the battlespace. This book is designed to help link concepts of culture to the realities of planning and and executing military operations around the world. The book has three primary goals: To provide a theoretically sound framework of five basic cultural dimensions, based on clear, academically accurate definitions, which are relevant to military missions; To apply these basic cultural principles to actual environments to which the military are deployed, or may deploy in the future, showing how the principles of Operational Culture can be applied across the geographic and kinetic spectrum of operations; To develop a capacity among the military at all levels to think systemically about culture, and to apply that thinking to learning about culture in both professional military education and pre-deployment training.

"Operational Culture for the Warfighter: Principles and Applications" is a comprehensive planning tool and reference. It addresses the critical need of the Marine Corps to provide operationally relevant cultural teaching, training, and analysis. This book links social science paradigms to the needs of Marines using an applied anthropology approach. The text explains how fundamental features of culture (environment, economy, social structure, political structure, and belief systems) can present challenges for military operations in different cultures around the globe. Drawing on the research and field experiences of Marines themselves, "Operational Culture for the Warfighter" uses case studies from past and present cross-cultural problems to illustrate the application of cultural principles to the broad expeditionary spectrum of today's and tomorrow's Marine Corps. This new and expanded second edition of "Operational Culture for the Warfighter" extends the concepts of the original edition to the Marine Corps Planning Process. New sections on transportation and communication, law and ethics, and culture and planning will assist both military planners and operators with the practical aspects of incorporating culture into military decision-making.

"Operational Culture for the Warfighter: Principles and Applications" is a comprehensive planning tool and reference. It addresses the critical need of the Marine Corps to provide operationally relevant cultural teaching, training, and analysis. This book links social science paradigms to the needs of Marines using an applied anthropology approach. The text explains how fundamental features of culture (environment,economy, social structure, political structure, and belief systems) can present challenges for military operations in different cultures around the globe. Drawing on the research and field experiences of Marines themselves, "Operational Culture for the Warfighter" uses case studies from past and present cross-cultural problems to illustrate the application of cultural principles to the broad expeditionary spectrum of today's and tomorrow's Marine Corps. This new and expanded second edition of "Operational Culture for the Warfighter" extends the concepts of the original edition to the Marine Corps Planning Process. New sections on transportation and communication, law and ethics, and culture and planning will assist both military planners and operators with the practical aspects of incorporating culture into military decision-making.

Includes a foreword by General James N. N. Mattis, USMC. A comprehensive textbook, reference, and planning tool. Provides operationally relevant cultural teaching, training, and analysis. Links social science paradigms to the needs of Marines using an applied anthropology approach. Links fundamental features of culture to the challenges of military operations in different cultures around the globe.

As the U.S. military has learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, working effectively with local populations is essential to operational success. In the past few years, all of the services have developed cultural education and training programs to prepare their members for operating overseas. To date, however, there has been no systematic effort to record and analyze the cultural lessons learned by these service members once they return from the field. Applications in Operational Culture: Perspectives from the Field presents six essays by experienced field-grade officers on the challenges, successes, and future warfighting problems of applying culture to military operations. The chapters in this book focus on a spectrum of issues relevant to today's Marines and other service members. These include essays on the cultural and practical difficulties of training the Iraqi army; understanding tribal factors in Afghanistan; questioning the applicability of Maslow's hierarchy in Iraqi culture; and developing a cultural training program for the Australian army. Drawing on cultural concepts developed in the companion text, Operational Culture for the Warfighter, the six contributors to this book turn theory into practice, evaluating the challenges of applying cultural principles to the realities of today's field environments.