War Termination: Winning the War and Winning the Peace - What's a CINC to Do?

War termination planning is an iterative process, which spans the Peace - War - Peace spectrum of conflict. While ultimately the responsibility of the President of the United States, successful war termination depends upon the soldier and statesman alike. This research paper offers four recommendations for more effective war termination: 1. Ensure the soldier and statesman are cognizant of their cross-spectrum war termination planning requirements; 2. Sensitize the National Command Authorities to the importance of clearly articulated and militarily achievable strategic objectives and desired end state; 3. Joint doctrine must fully and clearly address war termination. Joint doctrine must not only embrace the ideals of successful war termination it must illuminate the concept clearly for the planner; and 4. The soldier and statesman must maintain continuous dialogue, not only on the status of hostilities, but also how they affect and support war termination. There is a fundamental difference between winning wars and winning peace. War termination, the process, is the bridge between winning the war and ultimately winning the peace.