Posted on 11/25/2006 3:52:09 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
Nice catch! And that is weapon #5:
5. Remove media from the battlefield.
Excellent point that you make, and something that I hadn't considered. I think the author was saying that the Indian ponies were more mobile, which is not exactly the same thing. Mobility takes-in a range of characteristics: speed, agility, range, endurance, etc. Guderian made the point that the engines of his tanks were as important as it's main armament.
A technique resurrected by Merrill's Marauders in the C-B-I Theater of WW2.
BTW... The Taliban has recently said it would not conduct major operations this winter. Taliban forces had previously vowed to fight THROUGH the winter this year... and it was widely reported by our DBM. Unfortunately... the DBM fails to point out this pertinent reversal to its readers.
Maybe it should be pacify the ones who want to be pacified- but don't waste
any time trying to convince them to want to be pacified.
I saw the movie version of A Distant Trumpet in 1965 and thoought it was one of the better oaters.
We defeated Islamic extremists in the Moro War (see #7), even though it took a long time. Although almost forgotten, the Moro War, which lasted from 1902 to 1917, was America's longest.
Pro-Indian punditry came late in the Indian wars, with the publication of Helen Hunt Jackson's books A Century of Dishonor (1881) and Ramona (1884). However, unlike the leftist pundits who take the side of our enemies today, she was primarily arguing for better treatment of the Indians.
I don't think this pessimism and defeatism belongs to the public at large. There is an anxiety present there, to be sure, and the corrupt media have translated that into pessimism to advance their left-wing masters into power.
That pessimism isn't based on reason, so it probably won't respond to reason. No amount of heads -- including that of Osama bin Laden himself -- is going to sway the liberal propaganda machine from its intended purpose: the betrayal of America.
We MUST NOT win this war!
Malamute?
Oh.
When you decide to attack their encampment... you will find their 'herd' nearby. One would also concur that in battles initiated by hostiles... additional mounts would be brought along if only to compensate for attrition.
I wonder if the logic breaks down here:Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics.The American Indian knew they were outnumbered by the white population. "White man is like the buffalo -- endless numbers".
The Islamist believes Muslims outnumber (or soon shall, "god" willing)the Infidels. They will fight on.
No strategy will defeat the Islamists. All we can do is hope to manage them. Even a "scorched earth", "glass parking lot" policy won't defeat them. They are with us until the end times.
In the line of work I do, I have said that "I'm in this fight until the last terrorist is reduced to a puff of pink mist". And I know I'll still be saying that when I'm 89, should the Lord tarry.
Tactics is what you do with the people, equipment, and supplies you have at the point of contact with the enemy. Logistics is having people, equipment, and supplies at the point of contact with the enemy. And strategy is winning without contacting the enemy where you don't have people, equipment, and supplies.Washington won the revolution without doing much in the way of winning battles - but merely by maintaining his army in the field long enough. Which was logistics and strategy. Nathaniel Greene won his southern campaign by inducing Cornwallis to fight his war - thereby turning the logistical tables on him at the point of contact.
Grain-fed, 1200-lb. animal toting 160-lb cavalryman, 30-lb. McClellan saddle, Springfield Carbine, saddlebags, bedroll, canteen, picket-pin, etc, etc.
Grass-fed 800-lb animal toting nearly naked 160-lb Indian with loaded Winchester.
Horse feed ties the cavalry to a supply train. Horses are designed to live on grass. Horse feed is a high-energy dietary supplement that boosts their performance, but ruins their ability to thrive without it.
That should be "lose".
The stragedy that Gen. Blackjack Pershing used was to send in the "pigs". The Moros gave up enmasse. This stragedy should be used in Iraq.
I took it as meaning that a light cavalry could live off the land and could, at a marathon pace, travel a longer distance than a grain-fed cavalry could. A grain-fed cavalry would need to operate like a multistage rocket, starting out big and leaving most of your initial quantity of horses behind with enough grain to RTB.The kicker being that the grain-fed cavalry had some capability to operate in the winter, and the grass-fed cavalry did not.
If we had to fight a French Girl Scout troop today, the media would immediately label it a "quagmire reminiscent of Vietnam", declare it unwinnable, and demand that we retreat before any more American troops get cookie crumbs on their BDUs.
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