Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
I would suggest that as a cliche of military activities the "No plan withstands contact with the enemy - Helmut von Moltke" line should be excised with extreme prejudice.
If anyone relies on that quote to justify not planning, they should be excised with extreme prejudice!

You make a good point Sam, but I think thst the value of Moltke's quote stems from the idea that commanders and staffs cannot remain wedded to their plan in conditions on the ground prove their assumptions to be invalid or if things have changed to the point where the plan is irrelevant. You plan in order to be prepared to achieve your objective, but it needs to be flexible enough to deal with changes rather than serve as a script to be adhered to at all costs. As Eisenhower said, "Plans are nothing; planning is everything."