“The problem is that a laudable pursuit of precision can boil down to flattering orderly minds at the expense of a realistic understanding of the complexity and interconnectedness that is the story of strategic history. ” Colin Gray warns, in the opening sentences of the chapter “Irregular Warfare and Terrorism” in his book Another Bloody Century, of the dangers of oversimplifying the categories of war. Viewing war as regular or irregular without being absolutely clear about the definitions of each and the context in which the terms are used is useless. Regular forces are known to use irregular-style tactics just as irregular forces have used conventional warfare to achieve their political objectives. It is imperative, therefore, that U.S. military forces are trained to fight wars that fall on a spectrum of wars and educated to distinguish the type of war they face. In order to protect national security interests, as outlined in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, the U.S. military must rebalance itself and be able to conduct operations across the full spectrum of conflicts to win against both a regular and irregular adversary, fighting a wide range of conflicts. tactics and strategies ranging from terrorist tactics to large-scale, multi-phase conflict against a peer or near peer maximizing force and nation capability. When comparing and contrasting U.S. military operations and capabilities regarding regular versus irregular warfare, it is important to understand the definition of irregular and the spectrum of conflict. In recent history, the term “irregular warfare” has been used interchangeably with or alongside insurgency and counterinsurgency warfare. This usage and comparison is too narrow. ...... middle of paper ...... range of problems and conflicts. Special operations units will also focus on defeating irregular threats such as Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, as well as developing partner capabilities and capabilities. Special operations units will also focus on preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (low-end) and cyber defense. Ultimately, the force will be able to assist partner nations in responding to disasters. The terms irregular and regular when describing the enemy are too narrow and must be considered in the context of a broad spectrum of conflicts. The current QDR recognizes this requirement and clearly outlines priorities for the force to balance capabilities to counter both types of enemies and their tactics and strategies. The priorities for the military will continue to serve politics, whether it is a regular or irregular threat.