# Counterinsurgency (FM 3-24, MCWP 3-33.5) > “Read the map like a book” and “take the time to learn what normalcy looks like”: the 2006 US Army and Marine Corps counterinsurgency manual asks soldiers to know their ground and their surroundings in depth. Alongside its doctrine on insurgency, it explains how situational awareness is built on foot and over time, and how to navigate towns with no address system. Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2006-headquarters-army-counterinsurgency-fm-3-24/ ## Citation and access - **Authors:** Headquarters, Department of the Army and Headquarters, Marine Corps Combat Development Command - **Year published:** 2006 - **Journal or source:** Field Manual 3-24 / Marine Corps Warfighting Publication 3-33.5, Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, DC - **Full citation:** Headquarters, Department of the Army and Headquarters, Marine Corps Combat Development Command. 2006. Counterinsurgency. Field Manual (FM) 3-24 / Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-33.5. Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, DC. - **Access status:** Hosted: U.S. government work, not subject to copyright in the United States - **PDF:** https://www.originalwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/2006_US-Army_and_US-Marine-Corps_counterinsurgency.pdf ## Tags - **Region:** Asia; Europe; North America > United States - **Data type:** Protocol or guidelines - **Observer qualification:** Not needed - **Discipline:** Awareness; Orienteering and navigation - **Year published:** 2006 ## Detailed keywords - **Species:** No animals studied. Livestock is mentioned once: “agricultural crop, livestock, and market cycles” are listed among events that affect people and operations. - **Location and habitat:** Doctrine meant to apply worldwide; the preface says it is not focused on any region or country. Historical examples and vignettes come mainly from Iraq (including Tal Afar and Baghdad) and Afghanistan, with others from Vietnam, Malaya, Algeria, Ireland and Northern Ireland, El Salvador, the Philippines, Haiti and China. Terrain discussed: urban and suburban areas (multistory buildings, tunnels and sewers), and complex natural terrain such as mountains, caves, jungles, forests and swamps. Published at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Washington, DC, United States. - **Topics:** counterinsurgency doctrine; situational awareness (“knowledge of the immediate present environment”); learning what normal looks like before acting; studying the map until it can be redrawn from memory; building a mental model of an area; terrain analysis (observation and fields of fire, avenues of approach, key terrain, obstacles, cover and concealment); urban and suburban land navigation without address systems; local and tourist maps and local place names; patrolling on foot versus in vehicles; pattern analysis of incidents in time and place; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; imagery and geospatial intelligence; social network analysis; working with interpreters; leadership and ethics; host-nation security forces; logistics; airpower. - **Statistics or models:** None - **Data type:** Protocol or guidelines: a joint US Army and US Marine Corps field manual (doctrine), dated 15 December 2006, 282 pages, drawing on historical counterinsurgencies and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It replaces FMI 3-07.22 (2004) and MCWP 3-33.5 (1980). ## Synopsis ### 1. What they did This is the United States Army and Marine Corps field manual on counterinsurgency (COIN), issued on 15 December 2006 with a foreword by Lieutenant Generals David H. Petraeus and James F. Amos. It was written to fill a gap: the Army had not published a field manual devoted to counterinsurgency for 20 years, the Marine Corps for 25. It sets out principles and guidelines drawn from historical counterinsurgencies and from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The manual has eight chapters and five appendices: - Insurgency and counterinsurgency - Joining up civilian and military efforts - Intelligence - Designing campaigns - Carrying out operations - Building host-nation security forces - Leadership and ethics - Sustainment (logistics) The appendices give a practical guide for action at company level (Appendix A), analytical tools including terrain analysis and social network analysis (Appendix B), working with interpreters (Appendix C), legal considerations (Appendix D) and airpower (Appendix E). ### 2. What they found Most of the manual deals with people, armed forces and governments. The parts most relevant to readers of this library are about awareness of surroundings and finding one’s way: Situational awareness - The manual defines situational awareness as “knowledge of the immediate present environment”. Commanders prepare soldiers and marines before deployment with this focus, but expect it to start low and grow as operations go on. - All personnel are expected to keep building their understanding of an area that is always changing, a “complex, shifting mosaic of conditions”. Watching what happens, and how conditions change, deepens that understanding. - “Take the time to learn what normalcy looks like.” Violence can mean several things, and first impressions are often highly misleading, so the manual advises getting the facts first, asking an older hand or trusted local people, and not rushing to judgement. - Moving on foot, sleeping in villages and patrolling at night keep forces close to people and places. Driving around in an armored convoy “actually degrades situational awareness”. - Leaders are asked to watch for the complacency that comes with routine and to keep troops “attentive to the environment”. Maps and knowing the ground - “Read the map like a book. Study it every night before sleep and redraw it from memory every morning”, until its patterns become second nature, and use it as a mental model into which every new piece of knowledge fits. - Know the people, topography, economy, history, religion and culture of the area: “every village, road, field, population group, tribal leader, and ancient grievance”. - Terrain analysis looks at how the ground affects movement of both sides. It covers observation and fields of fire, avenues of approach (including sewers, rooftops and smuggling routes), key terrain, obstacles, and cover and concealment, including how insurgents hide themselves, their supplies and their activities. - Insurgents use complex natural terrain such as mountains, caves, jungles, forests and swamps, and the gaps (“seams”) between units. Navigation - Urban and suburban land navigation can be difficult where there is no address system, and where a 10-digit grid reference is not accurate enough to find one apartment. The manual suggests learning how local people find one another’s houses, and using recent maps made from overhead imagery, tourist maps and locally produced maps to learn the names local people give to places. - Imagery and geospatial tools (terrain databases, special maps, current photography) can help with urban navigation. Following patterns of activity - Intelligence staff follow insurgent activity over time with pattern analysis plot sheets (incidents by hour and day), coordinates registers or incident maps (where events happened), time-event charts and link diagrams. A vignette describes how analysts traced the network of relatives and bodyguards that hid Saddam Hussein, which led to his capture. - Real-time aerial video can be used to follow insurgents’ movements during operations. ### 3. What they concluded - Every insurgency depends on its context, but the manual holds that insurgencies share principles that can guide a response. - Success needs “a flexible, adaptive force led by agile, well-informed, culturally astute leaders” who keep learning and adapting. - Understanding the area and its people comes before action. Situational awareness starts low and must be built continuously through presence, observation and contact with local people. - Small units, well trained in basic skills (marksmanship, patrolling, security on the move and at the halt, and basic drills) and trusted to use their initiative, carry out most of the work. ### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations - Skills taught: map study and memorising an area, terrain analysis, urban land navigation, patrolling, and learning what is normal in a place before judging events. - Tools described: overhead imagery, satellite and aerial photography, unmanned aircraft, geospatial products (terrain databases, special maps), and analytical charts (pattern analysis plot sheets, coordinates registers, link diagrams, social network analysis). ### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations) _These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._ - The manual does not teach tracking from tracks and signs. Its “tracking” of insurgents means following their activity through reports, imagery and charts. - Its advice on awareness echoes the tracker’s habit of knowing an area so well that anything out of place stands out: learn what normal looks like, move on foot, stay attentive to the environment, and treat first impressions with caution. - Its map advice (study the map until you can redraw it from memory, and build a mental model of the ground) is a navigation and route-finding skill that also serves trackers working in unfamiliar country. ## Cite this summary Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Counterinsurgency (FM 3-24, MCWP 3-33.5) (Headquarters and Army et al., 2006). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2006-headquarters-army-counterinsurgency-fm-3-24/