Thanks for the initial responses. I'll provide a bit more of my train of thought on this thread. I've spent some time this summer travelling and talking to junior leaders with little or no combat experience. I was struck by the gap between what I've seen in combat and their perceptions of combat from training.

I enjoyed reading The Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa: With E. D. Swinton's "The Defence of Duffer's Drift" (Paperback). IMO, it can serve as a good primer for a leader preparing for deployment, however, it is simply a book about the different ways to do a raid. It does not cover the more difficult, "wicked" problems that many face on the ground.

So, I thought I'd try this out and see if it is helpful. If so, then I may consolidate it into an essay for SWJ. I would like council members to respond from their vantage point- this is not a simulation . If you're an academic (cough, cough Marc ) tell us what you would recommend to a ground commander as a SME advisor. If you are military, tell us how you handled these scenarios in the past.

Obviously, there are no right answers. The initial post from Marc and George Singleton reflect that. In the end, a commander will use his intuition and METT-TC, but I'm hoping that some of the answers here may help a young commander on the ground sorting through the business.

During my time at NPS, one of the best exercises I joined in had a small group of military and academic professionals. The military included SF, Seals, Navy EOD, and Regular Army with combat experience in Iraq, Afghan, Phillipines, Colombia, and Central America. The Academics ranged from various fields in social sciences plus a couple computer and Operations Research dudes. Sometimes our individual experiences blinded us towards finding an appropriate solution, and sometimes our unique experiences allowed us to provide the best solution, but overall, the discussions led to better insight for everyone involved.

So with that, I'll be quiet and let y'all speak.

v/r

Mike