Guest Pillar Posted July 4, 2000 Share Posted July 4, 2000 Is the book "How to Make War" a good reference for modern wafare in terms of strategy and tactics? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlichtingen Posted July 4, 2000 Share Posted July 4, 2000 If it is the book I'm thinking of, then no. Who is the author? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertanker Posted July 4, 2000 Share Posted July 4, 2000 James Dunnigan, it sounds like. Very abstract, thinking of war from the Grand Strategy perspective. It has things like tables of how much tonnage of shells are required to eliminate a certain unit. I found it an interesting read if you are into this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlichtingen Posted July 4, 2000 Share Posted July 4, 2000 Yep, that was the one I thought he was talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 4, 2000 Share Posted July 4, 2000 What would I get out of reading it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iconoclast Posted July 4, 2000 Share Posted July 4, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pillar: What would I get out of reading it?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Dunnigan was the President of Simulations Publications, Inc., the dominant wargame company throughout the 1970s, and almost certainly has more game design credits than anyone else in the industry. IMO, his books read like extended sidebar articles from the old "Strategy and Tactics" magazine, shorn of most of the interesting historical examples that were there to explain the specific game at hand. Dunnigan's books tend to take a systems analysis view of combat, showing the interaction of the each element of combined arms. Most of his stuff tends to be written in a "layman-friendly" tone that some grognards find off-putting, in my experience. I've got an academic and professional toehold in both the military analyst and military historian worlds, thus some of Dunnigan's titles are on my shelf. If you're looking for something that will specifically help your "strategy" and tactics for CM, I'd recommend Michael Doubler's "Closing with the Enemy" over any of Dunnigan's titles. OTOH, if you want an overview of everything from what blue water/power projection navies to do how non-lethal technologies can be used in current peacekeeping operations, Dunnigan's stuff is the ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 Thanks for the advice. I think I may take a look at it. I'm trying to learn how the US Military today (or other modern forces for that matter) plan stragically and tactically. I'd like to know what the "doctrine" is for waging war and the combination of arms. I also would like a case study analyzing actions from a strategic and tactical point of view in modern warfare. For that, I've been told I should check out "Into the Storm". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelWeenie Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 Get it from the horse's mouth! Go to www.army.mil and do a search for doctrine, operations, FM, infantry, etc. A lot of the Army's field manuals (FMs) are on the web. Admittedly, they're pretty dry reading, but it's definitely an official source on everything from platoon to Corps operations. If you want the book to hold, I think you can get them under the Freedom of Information Act. (or just go to a local surplus store) ------------------ "Belly to belly and everything's better" - Russian proverb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanachai Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Iconoclast: Dunnigan was the President of Simulations Publications, Inc., the dominant wargame company throughout the 1970s, and almost certainly has more game design credits than anyone else in the industry. IMO, his books read like extended sidebar articles from the old "Strategy and Tactics" magazine, shorn of most of the interesting historical examples that were there to explain the specific game at hand. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> That Dunnigan? Man, I remember SPI, I still have about 30 SPI box games tucked away here and there in various closets. ------------------ After witnessing exceptional bravery from his Celtic mercenaries, Alexander the Great called them to him and asked if there was anything they feared. They told him nothing, except that the sky might fall on their heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 6, 2000 Share Posted July 6, 2000 Does www.army.mil only work for Americans or something? I've tried numerous times during the past month to connect to their site but I always get a "Not Found" error. Strange... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iconoclast Posted July 6, 2000 Share Posted July 6, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Seanachai: That Dunnigan? Man, I remember SPI, I still have about 30 SPI box games tucked away here and there in various closets. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yup, the same. Besides writing his "How to" books he seems to spend a fair amount of time as a consultant in Washington and I think he popped up on the "talking head" television commentator circuit during the Gulf War. I oughta' get him to autograph my unpunched mint copy of "Campaign for North Africa" sometime. <g> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iconoclast Posted July 6, 2000 Share Posted July 6, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pillar: I'm trying to learn how the US Military today (or other modern forces for that matter) plan stragically and tactically. I'd like to know what the "doctrine" is for waging war and the combination of arms. I also would like a case study analyzing actions from a strategic and tactical point of view in modern warfare. For that, I've been told I should check out "Into the Storm".<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Most of the Dunnigan titles will give you the kind of overview you're looking for, shorn of jargon and lucidly explained. OTOH, you probably won't find a detailed case study in most of his primers--the examples are brought in and expounded on for between a couple of paragraphs and couple of pages, IIRC. Way back in grad school I did a cross-national study of the cost-effectiveness of the world's militaries using the data in one of his books. This was back in the days of computer punch cards... <g> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 6, 2000 Share Posted July 6, 2000 Just out of curiosity, what was the conclusion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 6, 2000 Share Posted July 6, 2000 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iconoclast Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pillar: Just out of curiosity, what was the conclusion?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Jeez, that's asking me to remember pre-history--that *was* the punch-card era! As I recall it, the winner was someone like Nepal-- some state with a strong martial tradition (think Ghurkas), low manpower costs (think Third World payscales), and low infrastructure costs (i.e, armor or airpower). It was a pretty limited study, intended more to prove mastery of SPSS than definitively "prove" a theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 Hehe. Well, it's good to look back sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 My favorite quote from /How to Make War/ is the first sentence from the section on infantry entitled "The Standard of Living at the Front" and goes: "It is very low, and the overriding goal is not to get hit by flying objects." Remember that, Grunties. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertanker Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 I don't have my copy handy so I may be off a bit, but I use this quote in a wide variety of contexts to describe something I think is all flash and no substance: "A fresh coat of paint makes any weapon look awesome." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMC Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 The Army Homepage should work for anyone. I access it from work (a .mil DNS) and home (.de). Never had a problem. I've got Dunnigan's book and I thought it was worth a read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 While rummaging through my library last night I came across an interesting book I wasn't sure I still had. It's called /Military Science and Tactics: Infantry: Basic course/. It was edited by a Colonel P.S. Bond, USA, and the date for my edition is 1944. Although it contains some chapters of no importance to CM, like personal hygiene, military courtesy, and the like, it also contains a lot of information covering squad, platoon, and company tactics, scouting and observation, sniping, patrolling, hasty field fortifications, and detailed TO&Es for infantry divisions, regiments, battalions, and companies (both rifle and heavy weapons). It has apparently been long out of print (I came across my copy in a used book store), but it might be up on one or another of the U.S. Army historical publications websites. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 The www.army.mil NEVER works for me. EVER. I try it several times every day. Oddly enough, sometimes offshoots of it work. But never www.army.mil! Also, I went to the Freedom of Information Act page where it had links to the various branches of the military, including Navy Airforce and Army. Out of the three, you guess which one didn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark IV Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 Your first link above worked fine just now. The second does not, because the "!" is included in the url. I'm in the US, but I go to army.mil all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 Try going to http://www.defenselink.mil/. Then link to the army. I am from the states, but sometimes army.mil only works through this link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoon44 Posted July 7, 2000 Share Posted July 7, 2000 For tactical doctrines and applications, Id like to recommend some of Steven Ambrose's work, although its oral history, there is a lot of talk about training and squad, platoon, and company level combat. Another good one to read is Charles McDonald (I may have the first name wrong) he was a company commander in WW II and has written a couple of very awesome books. For modern stuff, as much as I hate to say this, go to your local college (one that has Army ROTC anyway)library they usually have a ton of Field Manuals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 8, 2000 Share Posted July 8, 2000 The latest installment of my futile attempts at connecting to www.army.mil (or army.mil for that matter) have revealed to me that it is totally impossible for me to obtain these bloody field manuals. I tried the defence link and got through to that (quite quickly too), but clicking the link of course revieled the futility of my pathetic attempt. "Cannot find server or DNS Error" OHHH, I get it now. That *IS* the army homepage. Riiiight. Ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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