I stopped reading his stuff and have discounted any work that lists his work as a reference since the early '90s. I think he had strong opinions and truly believed in the conclusions he presented. His methodology was flawed and his claims on the number of interviews conducted are unsupportable.
It is right to learn, even from one's enemies
Ovid
S.L.A Marshall
I still read S L A M . The River and the Gauntlet ( Eighth Army 1950)
and Battles of the Monsoon has graced the book shelves for thirty years.
SLAM and TRADOC
TRADOC produced a work as part of its historical monograph series on SLAM. It is called SLAM: The Influence of S.L.A. Marshall on the United States Army. It was written by F.D.G. Williams in 1994. Maybe it can answer your questions.
I recently thought about SLAM, yesterday, when a Brigade failed to show at our EST 2000 trainer. The operator and I are friends, so we spent the afternoon wearing out our trigger fingers shooting the scenarios.
It seems to me that SLAM may have been both right and wrong about the shooting thing. I don't doubt that lots of soldiers don't shoot their weapons, especially since lots of soldiers never see the enemy. Combat shooting is an entirely separate skill from target shooting. I coach 3P rifle, yet I felt completely humbled by the EST combat scenario shooting.
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