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.

Assignment 1- Art of War

The first part of this read goes into how Sun Tzu portrays how a lot of the same concepts and principles are still used in Armies in the present day. He exemplifies the importance of what he decscribes as being “the five fundamental factors.” These are:

1.       Moral Influence

2.       Weather Assesment

3.       Terrain analysis

4.       Command

5.       Doctrine

He goes into detail about all 5 of these factors saying:

·         Moral Influence- this pertains directly towards motivation and willingness to engage an enemy in combat, if a leader cannot motivate those under him or give them purpose and direction as well as well as a role of importance, the subordinate is lost, unmotivated and doesn’t see the point in what their doing ( a recipe of disaster). Thus, a true leader is needed to prevent all of the above from happening.

·         As for the second and third (weather effects and terrain analysis) in my eyes are pretty close in comparison as both are vital to a mission and both cannot be overlooked as stated by Sun Tzu. Both are vital for gaining strategic positions and holding them. For instance, If it’s raining on a steep hill which your squad has set up an entrenchment on, you’d want to make sure it stable because if it rains you don’t want the thing collapsing and falling apart during a fire-fight in the rain.

·         Sun Tzu goes onto describe a whole list of traits a commander or anyone in a leadership position should posses if they wish to be successful

·         Motivation and Doctrine can be considered related as well, in that the end result is based directly off of the leaders teachings and style.