Irregular warfare is everywhere in this new Army video

Irregular warfare is not what you think. To understand it, you actually have to think bigger. That's the message in a new video on the topic from the U.S. Army's Special Warfare School. It's a sophisticated, menacing clip, but one that was quietly released on social media on Thursday, September 26, by the U.S. Army's John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

Simply titled “Irregular Warfare Clip,” the video begins simply: a musician plays a violin and pastoral footage of a family playing near fields. While a clock ticks in the background, militant scenes are shown. Aerial reconnaissance of urban landscapes, combat photography in urban areas, including night vision photography, and tank firing. As the music builds, these idyllic scenes only appear briefly.

See for yourself:

According to the Army's Special Warfare School, irregular warfare consists of several things. Chaotic. Multidimensional. A competition for power and influence. One description that sticks in the mind is “strategic competition” for images of Earth from space. The term, the United States' common term for its struggle for influence with China, comes seconds after a striking shot of the Hong Kong skyline.

The video also includes several clips showing what the Army sees as ideological battlegrounds and places where the U.S. is fighting for influence. There is footage of protests, from people marching in the streets – seemingly from 2020 – to demonstrators standing on barriers with fire in the background. Instead of soldiers in combat gear, the second half of the video shows dressed figures in political office. There are also several scientific aspects, from the firing sequences of rocket engines to objects made on 3D printers. Next, while the text describes irregular warfare as a “unity of effort,” footage of a conductor conducting a symphony connects some of the ideas. Irregular warfare is a major issue that is not limited to actual battlefields.

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It is not clear what the video's purpose is, whether it is an internal training tool for SWCS soldiers or is intended for wider release. At just over a minute and a half long, it's a bit lengthy for a television commercial. Notably, the school did not share it on any social media platform beyond uploading it to YouTube. It currently has less than 4,000 views. Task & Purpose contacted SWCS about the “Irregular Warfare Clip” but did not receive a response at press time.

There is some overlap with another video uploaded to the school's YouTube page. The “Special Warfare Center Command Video,” released Sept. 24, provides a more general overview of the school’s activities. It features rougher footage and is not as elaborately produced. But it describes what kind of training and skills soldiers learn at school.

“We have a functional responsibility to integrate the irregular warfare role in support of joint forces,” the narrator says in this clip.

The video, with its sharp editing and high production value, is similar to the Army's 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) video “Ghosts in the Machine,” which was released earlier this year as part of a psychological operations recruiting effort. This video relied heavily on montages and powerful imagery to illustrate the importance of psyops in conflict.

It remains unclear what “Irregular Warfare Clip” is for, but it is clear that someone in the army is paying attention to editing lessons.

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