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.