William S. Lind :collection (merged thread)

[slapout9]

A while back I finally found an affordable paperback copy of The Maneuver Warfare Handbook by William S. Lind. I thought it was a very impressive book especially the appendix by Colonel Wyly "The Fundamentals Of Tactics."
He lists 5:
1-Surfaces and Gaps
2-Mission Tactics
3-The Main Effort
4-Concept Of The Objective
5-Concept Of The Reserve

jmm99 from the my original post the 5 basic concepts are the difference. The first 3 have remained constant through all editions. The last 2 Objective and Reserve were deleted.....serious mistake IMO and the other 2 editions you mentioned have added other items to list without adding any real value IMO.

That is why I was so interested in seeing the original documents. The original truth. The lecture on the Objective is so critical IMO that leaving it out almost jeopardizes the whole theory. Why this was done I still don'tknow especially since some of the context on why we lost Vietnam would seem very relevant to the situation in Afghanistan and the War on Terror or whatever we are calling nowadays.

If it was applied today the Mission: would be be to kill capture UBL and his AQ associates. The Objective would have to be the Whole World!!!! otherwise you could never accomplish your mission, because each local objective (location of the enemy) could change quickly. For that reason Wyly points out that you assign Missions BUT never assign Objectives. Objectives are chosen by lower level commanders based upon what and where the enemy Currently is, which may change at any moment. Makes sense to me.