The Philippine Scouts and the practice of counter-insurgency in the Philippine-American War, 1899-1913.
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More than one-hundred years ago, the United States fought a counter-insurgency campaign in the Philippines similar to those currently being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan. Winning against a guerrilla opponent has been a challenging goal that requires allies from the population. Success in the Philippines demanded the U.S. Army develop methods of warfare now considered basic to modern counter-insurgency. How the Philippine Scouts’ applied these methods will be explored in this thesis. The Scouts comprised the first host-nation security force the United States formed to conduct counter-insurgency operations. The Scouts’ success in achieving security permitted the United States to gain control of the archipelago. The actions of the Philippine Scouts brought not only combat victories, but also insured political, social, and economic progress under a civil government. This type of progress, in a modern counter-insurgency scenario, allows the United States to transfer all governance and security responsibility to a host-nation.