Influencing Helmand

In 2008, two Marine Corps infantry battalions (Battalion Landing Team 1/6 and Task Force 2/7) operated in Helmand -Province, Afghanistan. Each battalion operated in a different sized battlespace in rural areas and each battalion metwith a different degree of success. Both battalions found that in rural counterinsurgency operations a unit's Area of -Influence ebbs and flows over time and is driven by physical and moral factors that must be taken into considerationwhen designing a unit's campaign plan and formulating a realistic desired endstate. The analysis concludes that a unit'sarea of influence needs to be studied, evaluated, and constantly reevaluated during operations to enable commanders tonimbly adapt to the ever evolving situation in a counterinsurgency campaign. Incorporating the discourse on a unit'sArea of Influence into Problem Framing provides a compatible venue for detailed analysis.