The Second Vignette Analysis

The second vignette discusses Father John Finian’s operations with the Burmese. Father Finian’s interactions with the Burmese are an example of the SOF imperative, "Operate with and Through.” He arrived in Burma in 1952 to oversee the Catholic Mission. He viewed communism as evil and vowed to do his part to defeat it. Father Finian conducted unconventional warfare (UW) activities against the Communist party by working with and through local Burmese.
He recruited like-minded locals with an anti-communist ideology. He looked for people with personality traits suitable for conducting clandestine operations. He first developed his driver U Tien. He assessed U Tien’s motivations, ideology, and reliability through a series of tests. In one instance, Father Finian left his briefcase unsecured with U Tien to test his honesty. In another test, Father Finian lied about his personal views on the communist party. …show more content…
Father Finian used U Tien as a force multiplier to recruit more like-minded Burmese. After U Tien recruited seven others, they began planning their operations. Father Finian guided the Burmese men through their planning, but he did but he did not plan their operations for them. not plan it for them. He continually reminded the Burmese that it was their country, their decision, and their plan. His focus on the "Burmese problem" gave the Burmese men a personal stake in their mission.
Father Finian and the men created a paper named The Communist Farmer. The paper’s purpose was to undermine the Communist party’s rhetoric. The paper included speeches from communist leaders’ that spoke negatively about peasants. The Burmese became agitated after reading the paper because they lived in the same conditions as the peasants discussed. The Communist Party responded with a reactionary propaganda campaign. The campaign was ineffective due to the high level of distrust from the