strategy and tactics maxims

[Redwolf]

If you have to show targets, show as many at once as possible.

Keep contact. If you have to re-spot a unit later, it raised its value substancially.

Optimize towards one goal. Downscale everything else as much as possible.

Reserves, of course.

I am probably one who uses rather few infantry, but then I usually play British in CMBO

[von Schalburg]

Here you go, Murphy's Law of Combat Operations, hope you enjoy!

1. Friendly fire - isn't.

2. Recoilless rifles - aren't.

3. Suppressive fires - won't.

4. You are not Superman.

5. A sucking chest wound is Nature's way of telling you to slow down.

6. If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.

7. Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo and not want to waste a bullet on you.

8. If at first you don't succeed, call in an airstrike.

9. If you are forward of your position, your artillery will fall short.

10. Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself.

11. Never go to bed with anyone crazier than yourself.

12. Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.

13. If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.

14. The enemy diversion you're ignoring is their main attack.

15. The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions:

o when they're ready.

o when you're not.

16. No OPLAN ever survives initial contact.

17. There is no such thing as a perfect plan.

18. Five second fuzes always burn three seconds.

19. There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.

20. A retreating enemy is probably just falling back and regrouping.

21. The important things are always simple; the simple are always hard.

22. The easy way is always mined.

23. Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at.

24. Don't look conspicuous; it draws fire. For this reason, it is not at all uncommon for aircraft carriers to be known as bomb magnets.

25. Never draw fire; it irritates everyone around you.

26. If you are short of everything but the enemy, you are in the combat zone.

27. When you have secured the area, make sure the enemy knows it too.

28. Incoming fire has the right of way.

29. No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.

30. No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat.

31. If the enemy is within range, so are you.

32. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.

33. Things which must be shipped together as a set, aren't.

34. Things that must work together, can't be carried to the field that way.

35. Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support.

36. Radar tends to fail at night and in bad weather, and especially during both.

37. Anything you do can get you killed, including nothing.

38. Make it too tough for the enemy to get in, and you won't be able to get out.

39. Tracers work both ways.

40. If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will get more than your fair share of objectives to take.

41. When both sides are convinced they're about to lose, they're both right.

42. Professional soldiers are predictable; the world is full of dangerous amateurs.

43. Military Intelligence is a contradiction.

44. Fortify your front; you'll get your rear shot up.

45. Weather ain't neutral.

46. If you can't remember, the Claymore is pointed towards you.

47. Air defense motto: shoot 'em down; sort 'em out on the ground.

48. 'Flies high, it dies; low and slow, it'll go.

49. The Cavalry doesn't always come to the rescue.

50. Napalm is an area support weapon.

51. Mines are equal opportunity weapons.

52. B-52s are the ultimate close support weapon.

53. Sniper's motto: reach out and touch someone.

54. Killing for peace is like screwing for virginity.

55. The one item you need is always in short supply.

56. Interchangeable parts aren't.

57. It's not the one with your name on it; it's the one addressed "to whom it may concern" you've got to think about.

58. When in doubt, empty your magazine.

59. The side with the simplest uniforms wins.

60. Combat will occur on the ground between two adjoining maps.

61. If the Platoon Sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.

62. Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep.

63. The most dangerous thing in the world is a Second Lieutenant with a map and a compass.

64. Exceptions prove the rule, and destroy the battle plan.

65. Everything always works in your HQ, everything always fails in the Colonel's HQ.

66. The enemy never watches until you make a mistake.

67. One enemy soldier is never enough, but two is entirely too many.

68. A clean (and dry) set of BDU's is a magnet for mud and rain.

69. The worse the weather, the more you are required to be out in it.

70. Whenever you have plenty of ammo, you never miss. Whenever you are low on ammo, you can't hit the broad side of a barn.

71. The more a weapon costs, the farther you will have to send it away to be repaired.

72. The complexity of a weapon is inversely proportional to the IQ of the weapon's operator.

73. Field experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

74. No matter which way you have to march, its always uphill.

75. If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry can prove anything.

76. For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. (in boot camp)

77. Airstrikes always overshoot the target, artillery always falls short.

78. When reviewing the radio frequencies that you just wrote down, the most important ones are always illegible.

79. Those who hesitate under fire usually do not end up KIA or WIA.

80. The tough part about being an officer is that the troops don't know what they want, but they know for certain what they don't want.

[ 06-03-2001: Message edited by: von Schalburg ]

[offtaskagain]

There is no such thing as overkill in combat.

[patboivin]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr. Johnson-<THC>-:

There is a book called something like "Napoelon's Maxims" which has just about every military saying in it. Its kind of cool looking at Sun Tzu and Napoelon and making comparisons.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks. I just ordered it.

You know I figure by the time we're old we know a lot, but then we die. So what's the use? Makes me wonder sometimes.

[Paco QNS]

Among the Sarge´s Corollaries to the Murphy´s Law of Combat Operations (read them in "Command" magazine quite time ago):

* If a soldier tells he has done something on his own, go and check it.

* If your 2 Lt tells he has done something on his own, go and fix it.

patvoibin writed:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>You know I figure by the time we're old we know a lot, but then we die. So what's the use? Makes me wonder sometimes.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well:

a)you write books (and/or)

b)you teach your children and pupils;

It is said doing both during a mere three millenia bring your genes from a cave to the Moon.

[Letsbe Ave.]

Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.

[patboivin]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Paco QNS:

Well:

a)you write books (and/or)

b)you teach your children and pupils;

It is said doing both during a mere three millenia bring your genes from a cave to the Moon. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Children don't repeat their parents' mistakes, they repeat their grandparents' mistakes.

[Andrew H.]

Don't fight a land war in Asia.

Don't gamble with a Sicilian when death is on the line.

[MrSpkr]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Andrew Hedges:

Don't fight a land war in Asia.

Don't gamble with a Sicilian when death is on the line.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Inconceivable!

[Cpl Carrot]

I have always been told:

1) Shoot the bad guys and

2) Don't get shot.

Doesn't help much does it

[Moriarty]

I don't have any snappy quotes, so I'll just offer this:

1) Armor protects infantry; infantry protects armor.

and I definitely second this:

7_ You can never have enough infantry.

[BlueFalcon]

A few hints, that may or may not have been mentioned.

NEVER send out a tank before the infantry has cleared the way. It will die and then the infantry will die.

Always make sure that you fire upon enemy units with more than one of your own units. A quick way to waste ammo is to have each unit fire on a different unit. MAXIMUM FIREPOWER!

In defense make sure each unit can fire into a portion of the units to either side's kill zone. Otherwise you will lose units piece meal. In military terms this is known as intersecting fields of fire. The army may want you to think its cool to be an army of one, but in reality the only thing being alone will get you, is killed.

Cover advancing troops! Being shot at in the open makes it real hard to shoot back. Make sure someone else can put the enemies heads down. Those advancing are worying about otherthings.

Hope this helps.

[ 06-04-2001: Message edited by: BlueFalcon ]