The failure of Modern Combined Force Tactics

The failure of Modern Combined Force Tactics

I am by no means a tactician or even taken a class on Tactics. I have played plenty of war games, both table top and computer based, studied history (and thus war,) quite extensively, and able to apply a healthy dose of common sense.

Every military unit from the pikeman to the modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicles both has it’s strengths and it’s weaknesses on the battlefield. As such one unit may have advantages over another, especially in certain situations. For instance Knights on horseback can easily win against a superior number of swordsmen due to their speed and weight.

But pikemen with the long reach of their weapons can easily blunt a calvary charge, removing the Knights advantage. In turn, without the advantage of shields, Pikemen are extremely vulnerable to the various types of bowmen, especially those wielding the English Longbow.

In Combined Force Tactics, each element lends it’s strengths while it’s weaknesses are covered by the other elements. In the example above a typical army would consist of one of each of the elements. The Knights on horseback would be used as flanking force instead of initial charges. Pikemen on the front would have either swordsmen or bows directly behind them depending on the terrain and the forces available to the enemy.

Basically the swordsmen with their shields would be at the front of the battle. The brunt of any bow attacks would (mostly) bounce off their shields. As the armies closed, the swordsmen would pass through the front lines behind the pikemen and then counter attack from the side. In the meantime the Knights would be circling around to the rear or the other side to encircle the enemy and hopefully defeat them.

During World War I, troops with machine guns faced each other across open land and dug themselves into trenches. Artillery that had been so useful in previous wars did little when the infantry was dug in. The introduction of airplanes added little to the battle itself, but quickly became an important component as commanders were able to better see where the enemy troops were. The introduction of the tank changed trench warfare again as the tracked vehicles simply went through and over defenses designed to stop humans.

In the modern Military there are many more elements, but the essence is the still same. Soldiers on the ground can only carry so much firepower and see so far. Tanks can carry vastly more firepower, but are limited by the terrain. Airplanes carry less firepower, but have the ability to provide an extremely fast response to threats, and provide superior suppression fire with their speed and height above the ground. There are many more elements in a modern Military force, but for now these three remain the main ones.

The UAV or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is both one of the most hated and most loved weapons currently in use. It’s a great weapon to keep soldiers and pilots out of direct harms. The UAVs original purpose was to be an intelligence gathering mechanism only. With the added ability to carry missiles and coupled with a lack of proper tactics, we now see failure and tragedy.

The current over reliance on UAVs the US Military is failing to properly utilize Combined Force Tactics in Afghanistan, Iraq, and especially Pakistan. They are being used to gather intelligence correctly, but then attack targets with. This often leads to devastating results and loss in innocent lives.

While the terrain in such areas makes tanks and wheeled vehicles extremely impractical, the lack of a human component on the ground leads to mistakes that have effects far beyond the initial consequences. Instead of changing tactics, more technology is thrown at the problem.

Now, the loss of one UAV doesn’t even compare to the loss of one human life. But the UAV’s indiscriminate ability to kill, and worse, misjudge a situation that is only viewable from the air above, seems like it leads to just as much innocent life lost.

On a normal battlefield between two armies, UAVs would probably stand out fairly well as extremely useful weapons, especially combined with other elements such as Infantry, Tanks, Missiles, and other Aircraft. But with an enemy that uses the terrain, innocent people, misdirection and local knowledge to hide, they become fairly useless in their secondary role as weapon platforms. Doubly so when they’re the only weapon deployed.


Information Responsibility

Information Responsibility

Listening to a rather old episode of the Thomas Jefferson Hour Podcast on the MAX this afternoon, Clay Jenkins who portrays Mr. Jefferson was asked a question “If President Jefferson had an iPod, what would be on it?”

While the question was meant in a “What music would President Jefferson listen too?” Clay immediately started listing off non-MP3 related things. Books, facts, and figures. Pure information, things that could be referenced in conversation. According to Mr. Jenkins, Jefferson considered himself a scientist first, a farmer second, and lastly a patriot thrust into the role by his intellect. I am, of course, paraphrasing there but not by too much.

I began reflecting that into today’s world, nearly everyone has an iPod, or similar technology. A full generation of Americans have grown up with the single greatest source of information at their finger tips. This is something that Jefferson and his scientific and educated contemporaries would have given anything for, if they could even imagined it.

In an age the printing press was still some what of an amazement, books were extremely rare, and Dr. Benjamin Franklin’s public library was still an experiment itself, the Internet as it exists today was simply unimaginable.

Yet this same generation that has grown up with the Internet does not seem to use it to it’s full potential! Of all generations that should know how to, it seems that basic research abilities and critical thinking should be taught at even younger ages then ever before.

But instead of original thinking, plagiarism rules. Or at best unfounded research with no backup and proof.

Is this because of laziness? Is it because the anonymity of the Internet still allows anyone to say anything with little to no criticism, punishment, or recriminations? Is it because the education system, like so many other industries in the United States has not kept up with the technology that is now available? Or is this because the sheer amount of information available in hard to sift through? Or more semi-sinisterly, is it because the information is kept behind digital lock and key only to be doled out to those who know someone or can pay to access it?

I fear that the last reason is more and more becoming the true reason. Everyone is still trying to make a buck on the Internet, and thus information which should be public knowledge is instead kept from the very public that can use it. Couple this with the sheer amount of useless and worse, erroneous information out there and I begin to see why this Generation simply does not take advantage of it. They can’t easily access it!

What is the answer and fix? I really do not know. Other then my own humble attempts to make that information free and provide links to other sites and books that are too, there may not be much I can do. I could go into teaching, but the head aches do not yet seem to be worth the rewards in my mind.

Global Commercialism does not allow quality products

Global Commercialism does not allow quality products

Economics is a rather interesting field of study. The school of thought that a global economy strengthens all the players has been the dominant economic model for the last 50 years or so. As such we have large multi-national companies that leverage cheap labor in Third World countries to make billions of dollars. Or they exploit natural resources in Third World Countries that are then refined and remanufactured and sold for many times the raw products value in First and Second World Countries.

Recently people have been starting Buy Local Campaigns. These campaigns are currently mostly geared towards produce and food purchases. The usual stated goal is to only buy foods that were produced within 200 miles (or in many cases less) of the point of sale. This means local farmers, local gardeners, farmers markets, food co-ops and tend to lean heavily towards organic and pesticide free foods.

Such movements have yet to catch on in the material goods realm, although apparently a lot of the “big” stores and companies are coming out of the gate and fighting fire with fire by using misleading advertising to state that buying local means any store, not just locally owned stores. We have “green washing” which means people trying to promote non-Green products as Green, and now we have “local washing” meaning people trying to promote themselves as local companies/products when it’s obvious they’re not. One has to wonder when the back lash against such false advertisement is going to hit.

My biggest problem with Global Commercialism as it stands is that over all quality of manufactured goods has gone drastically downwards. It’s near impossible to find anything not made in China in big stores, or even in the local mom and pop stores it seems. Of those items you do find, is junk. Yes the price is right but these days homes are filled with thousands of dollars of low priced fiber board furniture that needs to be thrown away the first time it gets wet. Plastic and ceramic dishes made of possibly contaminated materials. Family “heirlooms” that show cute cherubic angels are mass produced by millions.

Companies like Eddie Bauer supposedly have a high quality image attached to their name. Yet everything bought from them breaks or tears within five or six uses. Clothing items should not start falling apart at the seems after two months of use. Floor lamps are made of easily bendable materials that make you afraid to touch them for fear they’ll break. Even fully assembled they are still wobbly and crooked.

I could go on for ages describing poor quality items that surround us ever day. But the question is, who is the real culprit? Is it the stores that shove these items down our throats? Or is it the consumers who do not know what quality manufactured goods really are? Is it the US Government’s fault for allowing the trade deficit to grow so large and have low to no taxes on foreign goods?

Or all three?

My suggestion is the next time you need some furniture such as shelves. Build them your self. Shop around and demand quality from your goods. Buying something twice as expensive that lasts twenty years is cheaper in the long run then re-buying it once every three years.

If you own a company, go out of your way to make high quality products. Resist the temptation to build as cheap as possible at the cost of quality and reliability. Make good quality, charge what the product is worth, and advertise as such.

In the long run, this will make the world a better place.

Willamette Week Back Cover

Willamette Week’s Back Cover is a cross section of Portland at it’s best and worst.

This weeks ads:

  • Missing a Limb? (Prosthetic Specialist visiting Portland)
  • Mac Repair (two ads, no PC repair ads)
  • Yoga (two ads)
  • Professional Dominatrix (two ads)
  • Credit Card Debt Reduction
  • Home buying classes
  • Medical Marijuana (three ads)
  • Open Adoption services
  • “Help getting Pregnant”
  • Hypnosis (two ads)
  • Models needed for Adult Website
  • Adult Website
  • Adult Photo taking workshop
  • Belly, Ballroom, and Bossanova Dance Lessons
  • Hair Stylist Classes
  • Tattoo and Piercing (two ads)
  • Wood Floor Refinishing
  • Video Duplication Services
  • Family, Divorce and Bankruptcy Lawyers
  • Nail fungus laser treatment
  • Guitar Lessons (two ads)
  • Wetsuits, Pizza Delivery, Kite powered carts, Antique Jewelry and Garden Center
  • Years from now anthropologists and sociologists will be able to pin point Portland easily. Kinky freaks who recorded themselves while giving guitar lessons on refinished wood floors that were also used for yoga and dancing while eating tatooed pizza, and working on a Mac.

    Things I’m going to have when I’m rich

    Things I’m going to have when I’m rich

    1.) Someone to shell peanuts for my consumption.

    2.) Someone to clean the bathroom after every use.

    3.) REALLY fast Internet. Not just “Wow, that’s fast!” but “Huh… you must have already had that page up.”

    4.) Rides on vintage airplanes

    5.) A factory to build good quality, Logo-less, black hooded, zippered front sweat shirts.

    6.) String of restaurants around town that all have reserved tables for myself.

    7.) Full scale replica of the U.S.S. Oregon which I will donate to the City of Portland (again) with the cavet that it may not be donated for the war effort.

    8.) Old limo like the one from Addams Family.

    9.) Pearl Handled six shooter that will be stolen by my Nemesis which I will then need to heroically get back after we battle to the death.

    10.) Physical Nemesis, not merely an ideology, but someone real.

    11.) A building at the Zoo, filled with live exhibits. The “Richard Hamell Sasquatch Natural Habitatorium and Interpretive Center” has a nice ring to it.

    12.) Good quality fedora and hiking boots

    13.) A giant Douglas Fir growing through the middle of my house.

    14.) Nice view from the bedroom of my house. Waking up to the Pacific Ocean, or Downtown Seattle would be cool

    15.) Luxury Dirigible for traveling around the world.

    16.) Autographed picture of Jamie Farr