Final Post

Wrapping up in his final sections, Sun Tzu goes onto advize about operating in an enemy occupied area, proper usage of fires, and the need for intelligence on an enemy. Sun Tzu adds emphasis on the importance of rapid movement and maneuver. Tzu goes into how a commander should not want to give away his forces until he is actually engaged with the enemy, thus an outlier is the effectivness of hasty decision making in combat situations. Tzu, then goes onto explain the importance of effective usage of fires and how important it is to conduct the right offensive actions. He goes onto say how taking only key enemy positions as well as terrain features are much more important than random onesor ones that are not essential for victory, stating that if one uses his men as such, your asking for an enemy to attack you. As stated throughout the whole entirety of Tzu's book, enemy intell and positions are essential to making combat decisions effectively.

Historical Example

Based off the previous section, an effective commander is able to exploit his oppositions weaknesses with the use of surprise, maneuver, and discipline. An example of this in history is the infamous battle in somalia where US troops had attempted to seize somalian VIPS, by dropping into a meeting area (surprise factor) and returning them to command. It had turned out to be alot harder than it was suppose to be, the US troops were ambushed and cut off from command. As if that werent enough the US troops had lost 2 blackhawk helicopters durring the process. But with the elite discipline and maneuver used by US troops were able to effectivley defend the positions of the crashed blackhawks till reinforcements arrived.

Assignment 6- Art of War

One, underlying aspect of this section of reading, is that if you can control the enemy, you essentially control the turn out of the battle. Sun Tzu goes into how commanders should make decisions based on the battlefield they are presented. He first goes onto say that if a unit already occupies the battlefield they already have a distinct advantage over the enemy in that there already prepared for a battle and are in a defensive position. He also states how the personal health of your soldiers, physiologically, mentally and physically are vital and should be checked routinely. Tzu, explains how the element of surprise is a key tool in conducting a successful attack, especially if you are able to hit the enemy at key points and at your discretion. When attempting to gauge enemy strength of an opposition, he says that size is not the only important thing to consider, but leadership, experience and firepower are even more dangerous and should be considered first. Sun Tzu, goes onto argue that a commander with better intelligence will be a victor of a battle. The importance of intelligence can be seen in our Army today. It is very easy for a unit to get trapped and ambushed in the back roads of Iraq with multiple attack points from numerous city buildings. This intelligence is absolutely critical for victory today, pointing out enemy saturated areas, firepower, level of threat zones etc. A useful tactic derived from this is counter-intelligence or deception, making the enemy think your somewhere else for example leading them to a specific area and then setting up in that area to ambush them upon arrival.

Assignment 5- Art of War

Sun Tzu’s main point in this section has to deal with what he calls energy and how it relates to battle effectiveness. He also stresses the need for a unit to have effective communication from the bottom up as well as the need to be well organized. Tzu talks about how a unit that is familiar with one another is more likely to succeed as the leader as well as the rest of the unit are familiar with everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. This not only helps in respect to effective communication but it also ensures that the unit is better suited to the changing environment in a battle situation. Thus, the units’ energy can now be redirected faster to obtain the strongest combat effectiveness depending on the situation. Tzu, goes onto explain how being able to do this is difficult to master, but if used is a valuable asset to a unit in battle. He also places emphasis on how important a commander’s decision is and the timing of that decision. He portrays this by relating a decision process to a swooping hawk, being both swift and accurate in its decision on when and where to attack its prey. The underlying points of this section are, One, Tzu is showing us what aspects are required for a successful maneuver of both units and its energy. Two, familiarization; in the manner of knowing your fellow soldiers within your unit. As said before being able to determine their strengths and weaknesses allows other solider to fill in the gaps, thus helping communication and energy output.  And again, the importance of communication within a combat unit.

Assignment 4- Art of War

This section of the text explores different elements of both offensive and defensive operations and how they apply to a victory. As I read more and more, I start to notice that Tzu speaks very broadly but his focus was evident on several points with the most prominent of them being how a leader should analyze both the enemy as well as the terrain. Again we see how terrain is brought up as being an important factor in war as it relates to victory. There are many reasons for this whether it be because you wish to utilize a key terrain feature as a defensive position or if you wish to trap an enemy force in terrain. Tzu, goes onto explain how defensive operations should be planned around impregnable terrain. Also, how every enemy advance or withdraw should be blocked to prevent attacks or withdraws (retreats). As for the analytical aspect referring to the enemy, the leader should be able to point out and exploit an enemy’s weakness, such as a low overall morale or supply. Tzu, goes onto say that if everyone in leadership is able to understand their surrounding environment, they should be able to achieve victory. As we all know a combat unit cannot go into a battle unprepared and achieve victory. Sun Tzu is portraying the importance of preparation which is overall, one of the most important factors of war, and how if you fail to utilize it correctly you will be defeated. A perfect example is in ROTC STX lanes, a SL has 45 minutes to plan and prepare before having to LD, if the SL doesn’t use this time efficiently the cadet will get a N, as well as defeat in the STX lane.

Assignment 3- Art of War

During this read Sun Tzu, discusses the different offensive strategies that a leader must have and goes onto talk about that a leader who has figured out how to win a war without actually engaging the enemy in combat has truly mastered the art of offensive operations. He also warns military officers saying they must retain their composure  at all times as not doing so could exploit a weakness in which the enemy will surely take advantage of. Another point Sun Tzu makes is how an officer must make sure all his men must know what they are doing, down to the tee. He goes onto explain how confused soldiers are more prone to enemy attacks. As stated in the previous readings, any army that is motivated and organized will be victorious. Thus, it is important to understand that a leader, to have an effective combat unit, must set the standards high and always maintain high motivation levels throughout.

In todays conflicts within Iraq and Afghanistan these offensive tactics are portrayed a lot more than the beginning of the campaigns. I say this because at the beginning of the war we didn’t know how much of an impact IED’s were going to have on our troops as well as the amount that were being produced. So now instead of eliminating all enemy insurgents the coalition is taking a lot more of them prisoner for intelligence on bomb makers, bomb sites and factories. Also, the introduction of UAV’s are the new face of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They can stay up in the air nearly 4x as long as a regular fighter jet, and can survey an area for ied’s etc.

Assignment 2- Art of War

The underlying theme in this assigned reading is, “Victory is the main object in war”. Sun Tzu goes onto explain how he believes that there are two main principles in order to obtain victory, these being hastiness in battle and logistics. On the subject of haste, he goes into detail on how if a battle or war is dragged on longer than necessary; the units fighting it will gradually lose moral and motivation over that extended period of time. As for logistics, this can be correlated to last week’s reading about the “5 Fundamental factors” pertaining specifically to terrain analysis. An example being:

As we read in “we were soldiers once and young” last semester, Col. Moore sees the advantage in taking a key land feature, the creek bed. He understands that if the opposing forces take this creek bed that not only is it an advantageous position in a firefight, but eventually the opposition would have over-ran his position. Col. Moore’s thought process is a perfect example of thinking logistically as well as swiftly.

This mindset is especially helpful and a must for the officers in today’s Army. Being swift in today’s Army goes without saying, there are millions of examples, but here is just one:

·         Urban warfare is todays battlefield, the war we fight now isn’t fought on some distant battlefield, but rather in the streets on populated suburbs with markets, businesses and homes, these areas are filled with innocent civilians. Thus the longer a unit is there the more chance they have of being ambushed and attacked. That’s why swiftness is essentially the backbone of todays coalition forces. A perfect example of this is how the US army utilizes raiding building and rooms.  As we cadets learned firsthand during our frosh-o in MOUT.