Most warriors understand reconnaissance – the need for it, it’s objectives, and how to conduct various reconnaissance techniques. Yet when tasked with an Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) asset, few small unit leaders are comfortable with this asset. In fact, it is commonly viewed as a burden. And so now it’s…
Read MoreKnow Your Gear: In Praise of the Kalashnikov
Let me be clear, I am not an aficionado of the Kalashnikov, better known as the AK-47, or more properly the Automat Kalashnikov Modernizirovannyj (AKM). Yet there are countless millions who have been singing the praises of the AKM for the past half-century. It did not become a beloved weapon…
Read MoreFailure in Training
I’m riding across Missouri with four members of One Shepherd’s staff, headed to a 3-day immersive field exercise. Invariably the war stories start flying – as that is the birth right of all troops. And this is good because war stories often turn into lofty discussions of what went wrong…
Read MoreWorst Case Scenario: Outnumbered Assault!
We’re bound to be outnumbered sometimes. That is unless the MILSIM scenario planners intentionally set the opposing forces at exactly an equal number of troops – and that almost never happens! The natural instinct under such conditions is to bunker-down tight and form the team into a small defensive perimeter.…
Read MoreManagement of the Defense: Conviction of Purpose
Few tacticians give the defense its due. But for the record, history does. The slaughter of Union troops at Fredericksburg, Virginia; the massive carnage of Confederate forces at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; the unimaginable horror at Ypres, France; and the wasting of a million Chinese lives along the 38th Parallel between the…
Read MoreDeliberate Attack
This article was originally published on odjournal.com (Olive Drab: the journal of tactics) and has been transferred here with permission.
Read MoreAdvantage of the Offense: Seeking the Initiative
The effort of the offense is to maintain a tempo of operations that the defense cannot match. Too abstract? Yeah, I agree. Let’s look at the offense through another lens. In a recent conversation I made the claim that the significant difference between TACSIM (law enforcement scenarios) and MILSIM (military…
Read MoreMovement To Contact
This article was originally published on odjournal.com (Olive Drab: the journal of tactics) and has been transferred here with permission.
Read MoreViolence of Action: Forward Momentum on the Battlefield
What is the objective of armed conflict? The answer, in its purist form is to impose will. This means to impose our will upon our opponent, both for brief moments of time and for a lasting duration. Imposing will for a lasting duration is decidedly not a military objective –…
Read MoreHasty Attack
This article was originally published on odjournal.com (Olive Drab: the journal of tactics) and has been transferred here with permission.
Read More