The Strategic Corporal

[SWJED]

This is a special forum - reserved for tactical discussions on the day-to-day things our Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, Coasties and their coalition counterparts have learned in the conduct of Small Wars...

[RTK]

To hinge off this, I, along with a friend of mine, am working on a project to provide the US Army and Marine Corps with a book that captures tactical lessons learned in combat. This project is intend to transcend branch of service, as the Transportation Corps soldier may have as much to lend on convoy operations as the Civil Affairs officer has to bilateral engagement as the infantry or armor soldier has to direct fire engagements. We're looking for some submissions. That's where you come in.

Attached is the concept brief and an example. There is imagery attached to the vignette, though including such would not meet the council's filespace requirements. Feedback is welcome. So are submissions. I must say, however, that we're in more need of submissions than feedback, so fire away. Thanks.

[jcustis]

Discussion of the strategic corporal, specifically his training and education, can be shaped by leaning back on Clausewitz's concept of coup d'oeil, or "stroke of the eye".

From an online Air and Space Power Journal article by Majors Caraccilo and Pothin: http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/a...araccilo2.html

The 19th Century military philosopher, Carl von Clausewitz, wrote that, "the aspect of war that always attracted the greatest attention is the engagement."1 To gain and maintain the initiative, as Bergerud states above, is based on the commander’s ability to make quick and knowledgeable decisions. Clausewitz calls this quick recognition of the truth the commander’s coup d’oeil or intuition. It is the leader’s ability to recognize at the precise moment in battle the truth, or in other words, a high level of situational awareness "that the mind would ordinarily miss or would perceive only after long study and reflection."2

I think many confuse the concept of the strategic corporal because they feel the military is trying to hoist responsibilities on them typically appropriate to a platoon commander. I would agree that even within the Marine Corps, we confuse the issue to some extent.

In the realm of a strategic corporal's decision-making process, perhaps we need to focus on developing his cou d'oeil, or ability to recognize the pattern of what is happening before him. When I was an infantry officer in training, pattern recognition was a theme used to justify the volume of reading required of us, as well as the repeated iterations we conducted on the sand-table.

Having said this, I'd like to offer a question in this thread: Are the tactical lessons we are looking for actually supporting pattern recognition?