Some while ago, RUSI asked me to open its 'Expeditionary Operations in the Modern Era' conference with the beguiling invitation to 'set the scene in broad brush strokes of what the recent British armed forces' experience of expeditionary operations has been and how this experience will colour the immediate future of operations and commitments'. Beguiling because the key phrase 'broad brush strokes' will be recognized immediately by the cognoscenti as a standing invitation to the idle Ministry of Defence officer looking for a day out of the office without having to put in, too, much effort - equal measures of bluster and platitude usually sees you through. But there is a metaphor here too for the economy of force doctrine which runs like lettered Blackpool rock through our military history and of which expeditionary operations forms the centrepiece; therefore, this article might be a case of commentary imitating strategy.
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