While much attention is spent on adjusting weapons systems and training soldiers and Marines to use them, what may be of more value in an urban fight is the work being done years before a conflict erupts.

Experts frequently tout the success of psychological operations units in the run up to the second battle of Fallujah in late 2004. They worked to inform the city’s residents that the battle would soon unfold and warned them to evacuate.

As a result, an estimated 90 percent of the population fled, freeing up Marines to fight with fewer constraints than if there was a substantial number of civilians present.

In addition, simply knowing the human terrain, from culture to leaders and friendly residents, ahead of time can either prevent conflict or inform U.S. and allied forces of enemy locations, capabilities and plans.

Such information can also help to more quickly bring the city back to life through partnering with local friendly leaders to restore services, improve infrastructure and win the support of the civilian population.

Using lessons learned, soldiers and Marines are training for urban combat When retired Marine Lt. Gen. Ron Christmas was a young lieutenant in training, officers received a grand total of a one-hour lecture on urban combat.

Lt. Col. Xavier Colon, commander of the Army’s 5th Battalion, Special Warfare Training Group, said psychological operations trainees learn early on to do interagency work.

He said the PSYOP personnel do a deep assessment of an area, looking at its infrastructure, how people communicate, who controls the networks, radio, TV and newspapers. They look at the local economy and legal systems to give an ambassador an overall picture of how information moves through and is used in that location.

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A soldier with the 615th Military Police Company, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade provides security during urban operations training at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany. (Gertrud Zach/Army)

By understanding those pieces of the larger puzzle, PSYOP and intelligence professionals can better understand the target audience, which includes the civilian population and enemy fighters, to influence them if they are susceptible to certain narratives.

Those PSYOP work with Special Forces, civil affairs and others to share the information.

As an example of the long-term nature of the work, Colon pointed to work against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The group conducted ongoing armed conflict in the country for decades until it gave up its arms last year and became a legal political party.

“On the shaping side, it takes a long time,” Colon said.

The future battlefield: Army, Marines prepare for ‘massive’ fight in megacities For a long time, both the Marines and Army failed to do anything substantial to prepare for large-scale urban combat — other than to avoid it whenever possible.

U.S. military personnel had assisted the Columbian government first in a counter-drug role and later in a counter-terrorism role against FARC. Now, the Army is helping the Colombian government form its own psychological operations and civil affairs branches.

Those intelligence and human factor lessons are not lost on observers when looking at past and future fights.