The Insurgent View vs. US Military View

[Bob's World]

Utterly, utterly irrelevant! It has no bearing on the military instrument. You could say L. Ron Hubbard, has managed to creates and convert folks to new religion without resorting to violence - unlike Christianity and Islam. If they don't "do violence" they don't register on the meter.



To paraphrase Eden, constant tactical failures eroded the US will to fight? Constantly wining caused the US to believe they could never force the NVA to quit?

The US had a Strategy in Vietnam and that protecting the territorial integrity of the RSVN. Unfortunately the US forces lacked the tactical and operational skill, or choose not to perform those actions that would break the will of the NVA.

The idea that tactical action is somehow irrelevant or that tactical success can be counter-productive or less relevant than the other three levels is a post modern myth! Military history simply does not support that contention.

If you can't consistently gain tactical success, you can do nothing.

Wilf, for a man as smart and grounded in CvC as you are, I have to admit I find it very interesting your total fixation on the military aspect of warfare. The military aspect is important, certainly, and can either create or lose conditions required for the larger victory, the grander competition; but it is just one aspect of a much larger whole that has no end and no beginning and is woven into that whole in such a manner that it cannot be considered in isolation without drawing flawed conclusions, or attributing undue importance to things that may have been very important to the military aspect, but perhaps merely a supporting effect to the larger political competition.

But I place far more value on the opinions of those who I know know what they are talking about and see things differently than I do, than I do on those who lack such credentials and merely agree. So I am listening. Don't agree, of course, but I am listening.

One of my standard positions is that "the military neither starts wars nor ends them, it is just our lot to fight them." We focus on the fight as it is so dramatic, so horrible, so visible; but it is just one aspect of the much larger competition.

As early as Sun Tzu it was recognized that a commander who had resort to combat to accomplish his ends had largely failed to begin with. The wise State Leader, the wise insurgent leader, the wise general all seek to win through superior thinking and non-violent positioning if possible. This does not make them irrelevant, just perhaps less interesting.