i got no answers earlier, so I'll try again...
Did Rhodesians read their own printed doctrine?
how often was it updated?
What was the best way for passing around lessons learned?
Was the school house training useful? or was field experience the primary trainer?
What were battle drills that were trained?
Was there the concept of the "strategic corporal"?
...and what if they did? Generally that makes no difference. Doctrine is merely "what is taught." What they did in practice is what is relevant.Originally Posted by Jslade0
Hopefully not. That was a very poor concept, poorly articulated. At best it just said, "we're not very good, and we need to be." That was the bit most people missed.Was there the concept of the "strategic corporal"?
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
The "strategic corporal" a poor concept?
Let me know what I missed again please.
a.) You cannot have a "Strategic Corporal." Everything a Corporal does is tactical. Yes, tactics must serve strategy, but that's true for everybody. Did anyone ever say "Strategic Soldier?" No? Why? Cos it would be dumb to say it.
b.) At best you have a Corporal who "does not undermine Policy by doing something stupid." - my favourite example being the sinking of the Lusitania - OK, not a Corporal but an example of minor tactical action that changed Policy, and had strategic implications, but its actually very hard to find good examples of where decisions by NCO's have ACTUALLY changed Policy and had a real strategic effect. It's extremely rare at best.
c.) Poor concept because it explicitly aimed to put an un-realistic burden on the Corporal, when what it was really meant to do was raise the bar to a useful minimum level. - so "We have to be a lot better." - or "Doing stupid stuff, will always be stupid." The implications for training men to believe that their every action might weigh on Policy was and is horrendous.
The British Army never took it seriously - at least no one I know. BUT Gen. Krulack, did do some good stuff with the "Three Block War." I used to "um and err about that", but actually the idea can be made into something useful.
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
I suggest you start with the Rhodesian COIN manual first.
Then we can take it from there.
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