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<p>American military teams are increasingly embedded at the grassroots level in foreign environments to create white space. White spaces are pockets of stability within nations whose populations often suffer from instability, factionalism, civil strife, isolation, and extreme deprivation. The information warfare literature espouses soft power at the level of policy; however, it does not provide explanations for the challenges on the ground. The aim of this study is to identify the environmental conditions that impact American military team interactions while conducting village stability operations (VSO) in Afghanistan. To this end, the research question asks: What are the conditions that facilitate or hinder interaction between American teams and Afghan groups in complex cultural environments? This is a phenomenological study of the lived experience of special operators. Using a grounded theory methodology of critical incidents, this study explores the conditions that facilitate interactions with Afghan hosts and proposes a substantive theory exploring the meaning-making and social identity adaption process of American teams.  American teams adapt their social identities based on the expression of intent, monitoring of cues, and interpretations of Afghan expectations before, during, and after interactions. Further research could be undertaken to operationalize the typologies, action strategies, and propositions brought forth by this research.
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<br>Subjects: military strategy; soft power; information warfare; sense giving; sensemaking; information seeking; social identity; cross-cultural interaction; critical incidents technique; grounded theory construction; organizations</div>
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Ross, Robert J.</div>
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