In this section Tzu focuses on the cost of war. He claims that a quick victory should be the goal of war; "there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare." However, his strategy has been largely ignored in the Iraq War and we are now seeing the consequences. Public support for the war is waning and the cost is draining the already poor economy.
Another focus of this section was the idea of foraging materials from the enemy. The idea is that it is more valuable to use resources from the enemy because then you still have yours at home or in reserve. However, I also believe this tactic has been ignored in the Iraq War and for good reason. This is not the typical war fought against a country, but rather it is being fought against an insurgency group within the country. In order to win the war the Iraqi people have to be won-over and if we were to exploit their resources this would never happen.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Laying Plans
I lied. I'm going to do my blog this semester on The Art of War. Flags of our Fathers was a good book, but it was a more of a story about the lives of the men and not really about the battle.
The first chapter of Sun Tzu's book is on the laying of plans. He begins by laying out five constant factors of war. These are moral laws, heaven, earth, the commander, and method and discipline. Even though this was written in the 6th century BC I think these factors have a direct correlation to the US Army today. Tzu describes moral law as the ability of troops to follow their leader completely. This can be seen today in the Warrior Ethos which are centered upon never quitting and placing the mission first aka following the leader. Heaven is basically the weather which is always a consideration when planning missions. Earth is the equivalent of terrain analysis; another important factor in a leaders planning process. The commander talks about virtues which are roughly equivalent to the Army Values of today. Finally, Tzu touches upon method and discipline which can be seen in the chain of command.
The first chapter of Sun Tzu's book is on the laying of plans. He begins by laying out five constant factors of war. These are moral laws, heaven, earth, the commander, and method and discipline. Even though this was written in the 6th century BC I think these factors have a direct correlation to the US Army today. Tzu describes moral law as the ability of troops to follow their leader completely. This can be seen today in the Warrior Ethos which are centered upon never quitting and placing the mission first aka following the leader. Heaven is basically the weather which is always a consideration when planning missions. Earth is the equivalent of terrain analysis; another important factor in a leaders planning process. The commander talks about virtues which are roughly equivalent to the Army Values of today. Finally, Tzu touches upon method and discipline which can be seen in the chain of command.
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