I can tell when people are reading and studying what they’re supposed to be by comments and messages.

So, since not many have picked up on this term.

It’s time to break it out.

The “Straw Man.”

A "straw man" refers to a fabricated or deceptive scenario, threat, or piece of intelligence created to mislead an adversary.

By attacking this "straw man"—a weaker, artificial representation of a real situation—the Unconventional Warfare force or its sponsored resistance movement can manipulate the enemy's decision-making and gain a strategic advantage. 

The practice takes the logical fallacy of the straw man argument—distorting an opponent's position to make it easier to attack—and applies it to military and psychological operations.

To redirect resources: UW forces can create fake targets or exaggerate threats in one area to draw the enemy's attention and military assets away from the real objective.

For example, resistance forces might use a dummy staging area with fake equipment to make an enemy believe an attack is coming from a specific location, while the actual attack is planned elsewhere.

To manipulate perceptions: By fabricating false information, UW forces can reinforce an enemy's existing biases and false beliefs.

The enemy is led to attack a weaker, more extreme, or fundamentally flawed version of the resistance's position, wasting time and resources on a false target.

To create ambiguity and delay: The introduction of false or misleading intelligence can sow confusion and create "ambiguity deception" in the mind of the enemy commander.

This slows down the enemy's decision-making process, causing them to hesitate and misallocate resources.

To exploit adversary weaknesses: A straw man operation can be specifically designed to play on an opponent's intelligence gathering methods.

For instance, if an enemy relies heavily on signals intelligence, UW forces can broadcast fake radio chatter to create the illusion of nonexistent units or activities. 

Examples of the straw man tactic
Dummy equipment: During World War II, the Allies used "Operation Fortitude" to convince German forces that the D-Day invasion would take place at Pas-de-Calais, not Normandy.

They created a fictional army with inflatable rubber tanks, planes, and phony radio traffic to deceive German aerial reconnaissance and intelligence.

Fictional units: The use of fake military units is a classic deception tactic.

Commanders like the Confederate General John B. Magruder used "Quaker guns"—logs painted to look like cannons—and repeatedly marched a small force of soldiers to convince a much larger Union army that he had more troops than he actually did.

Propaganda: Psychological operations can create a "straw man mythology" by developing and spreading exaggerated or entirely false arguments about an enemy's motives or beliefs.

This can harden the convictions of a resistance force's own supporters and make the opposition's true positions seem absurd or dangerous.

Sound familiar?

It should.

It’s all I talk about and what I’ve shown for years now.

It’s the ———

45———47 🫡♠️🇺🇸

FAFO 📌♠️🇺🇸

2 + 2 = __ 📌♠️🇺🇸 #Sting

12 year old son… nowhere near service age and who knows if he’d want to serve. 🤡