Advice for Advisors: Suggestions and Observations from Lawrence to the Present

During the research for Global War on Terrorism Occasional Paper (OP) 18, Advising Indigenous Forces: American Advisors in Korea, Vietnam, and El Salvador, the author consulted numerous firsthand and secondary sources. Toward the end of the publication process for OP 18, the Combat Studies Institute decided that a collection of some of this material would provide useful reading for those involved in the advisory effort. The result of sorting through research materials is Occasional Paper 19, Advice for Advisors: Suggestions and Observations from Lawrence to the Present, a collection of 14 readings.
Often it is more useful to read an article or study in its entirety than to read a summary or a series of quotations from it. Ranging from World War I to the present, this collection of articles, after action reports, and a RAND study was assembled from documents written for advisors by advisors and experts in the field. With one exception, the readings are in chronological order. The first reading, a list of suggestions T.E. Lawrence wrote for his fellow advisors during the Arab Revolt, is often referred to today. The next six readings from the Vietnam era include articles from military publications and a 1972 after action report. An article and after action report from El Salvador follow the Vietnam readings. The next four articles address recent advisory efforts. The last reading is an important RAND study on advisor-counterpart relationships from 1965.