The Importance of Cross-Cultural Awareness for Today's Operational Environment

As the nation has grappled with the challenges inherent in a long war against a determined and committed enemy, one consistent weakness has surfaced: the importance of understanding how others throughout the international community perceive the United States and its policies. Without this understanding, the United States cannot develop and sustain effective multinational organizations nor can it devise and execute effective strategies to win the Global War on Terrorism. The United States springs into action without much thought to how it will win the hearts and minds of those it is trying to help. Because of its increased likelihood of serving with coalitions and its transformation to an expeditionary Army, America's military and political leaders must realize how important understanding an opponent's culture is to operating in today's global environment. In this paper I will show how the lack of cross-cultural awareness has decreased military effectiveness, and explain what must be done to address these shortcomings.