Ready for Armageddon

On March 22-23, 2001, four organizations co-hosted the fourth annual Urban Operations Conference: the Military Operations in Urban Terrain Advanced Concepts Technology Demonstration, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities, the U.S. Marine Corps Nonlethal and Urban Operations Program, and RAND Arroyo Center. Topics included the relationship between urbanization and revolutions in military affairs; the challenges of urban combat, based on personal experiences during the fighting in 1968 Hue, Republic of Vietnam; lessons learned from a 2001 operational and strategic-level war game; the development of theoretical constructs and decisionmaking aids for urban operations; a consideration of the operational-level challenges of coordinating urban internal security operations; the combat stress reaction that confronts individuals in the conduct of urban operations; the intricate and complex activities involved in maintaining peace and establishing stability in Brcko, Bosnia-Herzegovina; and the training essential to success in environments where much is demanded of the most junior-level leaders.