Following the United States’ catastrophic experience in Vietnam, the nation struggled with both its sense of strategic thought and conception of future war. Nuclear strategy had overwhelmed the national strategic discourse to the detriment of conventional weapons and missions. However, military thinkers emerged in the 1970s to counter the dominant thinking and return the study of war to the realm of human interaction, political calculus, and the underpinning of chance. One such theorist was Air Force pilot, aircraft designer, and strategist John Boyd. His extensive study of history and social sciences facilitated a revolution in thought and enabled advances in the military education system and doctrine development. Boyd’s innovative thought …show more content…
According to Boyd, attrition warfare, such as what America practiced in Vietnam, was the employment of mass, firepower, and protection to reduce an adversary’s forces and capabilities, as well as seizing and holding terrain. Conversely, Boyd saw maneuver warfare as the creation, exploitation, and magnification of ambiguity, deception, novelty, fast transient maneuvers, and effort to enable disorientation, surprise, shock, disruption, and the loss of cohesion in an adversary. Ultimately, Boyd advocated for creative and rapid thought process that functions within the adversary’s decision-making cycle to accomplish maneuver warfare’s aims. Boyd used his presentation “Patterns of Conflict,” which surveyed war and warfare throughout the course of history, to portray these ideas, and he briefed any audience willing to …show more content…
The Marines understood that the Corps would continue to fight in future wars. However, if it was to survive a conflict against a larger force with more firepower, then the Marine Corps had to adapt to a new approach to war and warfare. Boyd’s ideas were, in fact, just the stimulus the Marines needed. The work of Boyd’s colleagues, such as Bill Lind, had already begun to circulate amongst Marine publications, such as the Marine Corps Gazette. Boyd no doubt benefitted from the Marines’ exposure to maneuver concepts, and found influential advocates, such as Col Mike Wyly at the Corps’ Amphibious Warfare School (AWS) and General Al Gray, the commander of the 2d Marine Division and future Commandant of the Marine
The relationship between conventional and guerilla operations was a key element of the Vietnamese communists’ “Dau Tranh” strategy to fight and win the Vietnam War. A brief description of the Dua Tranh (meaning struggle) strategy is appropriate since it was the basis for North Vietnam’s success. The strategy consisted of an armed struggle and a political struggle. The armed struggle began with Stage One hit and run guerilla tactics to “decimate the enemy piecemeal and weaken then eliminate the government’s administrative control of the countryside...
The Marine Corps today has developed itself into an elite fighting force based on strong naval traditions. The basic Marine is amphibious, which means that the warrior is capable of fighting on land and sea. The idea of an amphibious landing was developed through the training of the Marine Raider Battalions, which was tested and perfected in combat. Although there were two Raider Commanders with very different views on how to prepare their marines, Evans Carlson and Merritt Edson were responsible for training lightly armed Marines for amphibious assaults.
As Marines, we have a well-known motto “One Team, One Fight” that creates an image of strong unity that everyone regardless of rank or size plays an important role. Everyone is necessary to complete the mission. In this book, one particular Marine, (then) Captain Bill Barber, has a story that since has become a crucial tool used as teaching material today for multi-level Marines everywhere. This book serves as a testimony to Captain Barber’s will in the midst of extreme opposition and sets the example of the for mentioned mindset
Appy’s book is valuable to its readers in showing how Vietnam became the template for every American war since, from novelties like the invasion of Grenada to the seemingly never-ending conflicts post-9/11. But before all that, there was Vietnam, and, larger lessons aside, Appy’s book is a fascinating, insightful, infuriating and thought-provoking study of that conflict, from its earliest days
...am War is not just history but the fundamental part of our history. Therefore, it needs to be taken seriously. Only if we take it seriously, can we prevent ourselves from doing the same mistakes again. It also teaches how the war policies and authorities can blind us from the real reason behind the war. It is important to also know the enemy and plan accordingly. One can clearly see that higher technologies can go wrong when accompanied with failed strategies. Most important of the all it makes the readers reconsider their definition of just-war. Most important of all, “Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam” by Christian G. Appy teaches us how education and economic advantages can help us from facing the worst.
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
E-History (2012, N.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/essays/battlecommand/index.cfm.
Frustrated by the commissioning programs of the time, Sledge begins his journey by resigning from the officer candidate program in an effort to more quickly reach combat. He subsequently volunteers to be a sixty millimeter mortar-man and joins Company K, Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment (K/3/5) of the First Marine Division. It is within this command framework that Sledge experiences two of the bloodiest campaigns of the Second World War...
- - -, ed. "The Anti-War Movement in the United States." English.Illnois.edu. Ed. Oxford Companion to American Military History. 1st ed. Vers. 1. Rev. 1. Oxford Companion to American Military History, 1999. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
Fussell, Paul. "Vietnam." The Bloody Game: An Anthology of Modern War. Ed. Paul Fussell. London: Scribners, 1991. 651-6.
Lieutenant General Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, through dedication to his mission and the welfare of his marines, was a visionary leader even by today’s standards. In his youth, Chesty attempted to join World War I before he had reached the required age. He attended Virginia Military Institute, but dropped out after one year to satisfy his urge to experience combat. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a private and remained enlisted for only a year before his commissioning as a lieutenant. Unfortunately, the war ended before he was able to experience combat. When a force reduction ensued after the end of the war, Lt Puller was sent to the reserves and given the ...
He was also a Gulf War veteran who commanded an armored cavalry. His desire in writing this book was to examine, through the recently declassified documents, manuscript collections, and the Joint Chief of Staff official histories, where the responsibility for the Vietnam foreign policy disaster lay, but also examine the decisions made that involved the United States in a war they could not win. This book details the discussion of government policy in the stages of the Vietnam crisis from 1961-July 1965. It examines the main characters of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara, in addition to the military, which included the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It began in the Kennedy era amidst the Bay of Pigs incident and how that led to mistrust of the military planning by advisors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Amongst military theorists and practitioners who studied war, its origin and implications, Carl von Clausewitz assumes a place among the most prominent figures. With his book On War, he demonstrated his capability to provide thorough historical analysis and conclusions of the conflicts in which he was engaged, and as a philosopher he reflected about all encompassing aspects of war. Today, Western armies conduct modern warfare in a dynamic environment composed of flexible and multiple threats in which civilians form a substantial part. Studying Clausewitz provides current military and political leadership useful insights to understand twenty-first century warfare. He explains the nature of war, provides an analytical tool to understand the chaos of warfare, and he argues for well educated and adaptable leadership capable of creative thinking. Although he died before his work was complete, his writing style was ambiguous and unclear at some moments, and current technology reduced some of his tactics obsolete, his work still arouses and inspires military and political strategists and analysts.
War is the highest, most comprehensive test of a nation and its social system. War is a contest that not only tests the skill and strategy of two adversaries, but also their strength and will. Victory goes to the side which has the correct military strategy, which makes best use of the art of military science and which most successfully limits the war-making capacity of the adversary. (as cited in Pike, 1986) Through the use of the dau tranh strategy, the North Vietnamese effectively leveraged all aspects of civil, political and military resources in order to defeat a militarily and economically superior force.
Chapter 7- Maneuver After planning and strategy comes tactical maneuvering which is very difficult as it includes devious attacks into direct ones and converting your misfortunes unto opportunities. For being deceptive, fast and compact place a huge role in winning a war. In order to win, we need to stay united which makes it difficult for the brave to move alone and for the weak to retreat alone. Thus there is a danger of the army in losing its spirit and the commander losing its presence of mind.