Doctrinal Flexibility and Tech Adaptation in Gambia Armed Forces

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Doctrinal Flexibility and Tech Adaptation in Gambia Armed Forces
Doctrinal Flexibility and Tech Adaptation in Gambia Armed Forces

Africa-Press – Gambia. In today’s ever-shifting global security arena, no army worth its salt can afford to rest on the laurels of past doctrines. Stagnation, in military terms, is an invitation to defeat. My own journey in the Gambia National Army (GNA), which began in 1986 after passing a rigorous cadet selection process conducted by the British Army Training Team (BATT), is replete with hard-earned lessons about the critical importance of adaptability, strategic foresight, and technological modernisation. These lessons are not merely academic; they are the bedrock of what must become the new operating philosophy of the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF).

When I joined the ranks, the BATT had barely completed the training of a single infantry company since their contract with the PPP government in 1984. Fresh from my basic training, I was fortunate to be selected for further instruction in the United States—first at Fort Benning, Georgia, then at Fort Bragg, North Carolina—for the Infantry Officer Basic Course.

This was the twilight of the Cold War, a time when the US military was singularly focused on the spectre of a showdown with either the Soviet Union or North Korea. Training was intense, methodical, and saturated with technology. One memorable exam tested our ability to visually identify every NATO and Warsaw Pact aircraft and helicopter gunship, with a particular emphasis on Soviet hardware. It wasn’t just about recognition; it was about instantaneous, life-or-death threat analysis.

That experience drove home the fundamental truth that military doctrine must evolve with the threat environment. As a young Second Lieutenant, the lesson etched itself indelibly into my mind.

Fast forward to 1991, now a Captain, I was again in the US, this time at the Adjutant General Officer Basic Course at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. Ironically, just as the Cold War was collapsing around us-the Berlin Wall had fallen in 1989 and the Soviet Union was officially dissolved by December 1991-our classroom instruction remained tethered to outdated Soviet-era war doctrines. When I questioned this incongruity, one of our instructors conceded that while doctrinal change was inevitable, bureaucratic inertia remained a stubborn obstacle.

That encounter reinforced a timeless military maxim that no doctrine is sacred. On the battlefield, rigidity is the enemy of success. Victory belongs to those who adapt quickly, revise decisively, and act boldly. The battlefield is no respecter of theoretical perfection, it rewards innovation and punishes complacency.

One need not look far to find proof that the greatest military minds are not always graduates of elite academies. In 1998, during Guinea-Bissau’s civil war, I met General Ansumana Mané, an illiterate commander who nevertheless displayed a tactical genius that could rival any formally trained officer.

History is also rich with similar figures like George Washington, a land surveyor-turned-general who defeated the mighty British Empire with no formal military schooling.

Vo Nguyen Giap, a Vietnamese history teacher, humbled both the French and American militaries with brilliance he forged through self-study of Sun Tzu, Mao, and Napoleon.

And then there were the likes of Shaka Zulu, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Simon Bolivar, and Oliver Cromwell, revolutionary leaders who altered the course of history not through institutional learning, but through grit, vision, and battlefield acumen.

To dismiss unconventional leadership simply for lack of academic pedigree is not only short-sighted, it is historically illiterate.

In 1996, I had the opportunity to attend the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Teshie. The training, though rigorous, was still rooted in the legacy of World War II tactics. In my thesis, I challenged the prevailing orthodoxy, advocating instead for a paradigm shift toward international peacekeeping. Given the regional instability following the Cold War, particularly the Liberian civil war, it was clear that future missions would demand diplomacy, flexibility, and multinational coordination more than trench warfare.

At the time, our very own President, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, had made history by spearheading ECOMOG’s first intervention in Liberia in 1990. My argument was initially met with skepticism, but within a few years, Ghana itself inaugurated the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC)—a resounding affirmation of the vision I championed.

Today, the pace of change has become even more relentless. We are living through a silent revolution in military affairs, one driven not by tanks and rifles, but by code, data, drones, and artificial intelligence. The nature of war is shifting from trenches to terminals.

An audacious but telling example unfolded recently under the Trump administration, when a cohort of top tech minds—Shyam Sankar (Palantir), Andrew Bosworth (Meta), Kevin Weil (OpenAI), and Bob McGrew (Thinking Machines Lab), were commissioned as US Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonels in the Executive Innovation Corps. Their mission is to advise the military on AI, electronic warfare, and battlefield digitisation.

This move stirred controversy, understandably so, given their civilian backgrounds, but it also affirmed a new military reality. That the fight of the future will be won not just by brawn and bravery, but by algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Drones that dodge radar, cyberweapons that paralyse enemy infrastructure, and decision-making systems run by machine learning, these are no longer the stuff of sci-fi; they are the new front lines.

The Gambia Armed Forces must not be caught flat-footed. If we are to safeguard our sovereignty and play a meaningful role in regional and global security, we must act with foresight and courage. I propose five strategic imperatives:

1. Continuously revise GAF doctrines to stay ahead of evolving threats and technologies.

2. Design hybrid training programmes that marry conventional combat techniques with cyber-electronic warfare.

3. Forge alliances with technologically advanced militaries and institutions.

4. Identify and empower unconventional leaders within our ranks—talent often emerges from unlikely places.

5. Establish a Doctrine Innovation Unit, a forward-looking think-tank tasked with scanning global trends and updating our strategic frameworks.

The path to military excellence in the 21st century will not be paved by nostalgia or inertia. It will be shaped by bold thinking, open-mindedness, and a firm commitment to transformation. Let us not merely preserve the legacy of the Gambia Armed Forces, let us elevate it to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

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