This paper presents the author's views regarding the center of gravity, a concept which has created a surprising amount of disagreement among people studying operational art. The problem seems to stem from differences in interpretation of Carl von...
This monograph considers the utility of constituting both a striking force and a supplemental tactical reserve when conducting a mobile defense. It considers the conclusions of a 1993 Combined Arms Command (CAC) study of the mobile defense which...
On 28 March 2001, the United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's embedded "think tank," the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities, announced its intentions for developing a follow-on volume of the Small Wars Manual. This Small...
This monograph provides the context for a better understanding and appreciation of the difficulties U.S. military planners face in their labors to develop an effective plan to 18win the war. 18Winning the war 19 is not as simple as defeating an...
This is a study of the effectiveness of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as Commanders in Chief during the Civil War. It begins by comparing their backgrounds prior to assuming the Presidency; then comparing their military strategies and command...
Eight years of persistent conflict and increasing engagement requirements across the globe have followed the end of the Cold War. Appropriately, leaders and theorists recognize the professional military obligation and importance of adapting...
After toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein in a few weeks, the decisive operational maneuver victory was not enough to defeat the enemy’s will to fight. Instead of challenging US forces in a conventional military battle, the enemy has now sought...
This monograph examines the U.S. military operations in Beirut, Lebanon 1982-1983 and Somalia 1993 in the context of Clausewitz's theory of a culminating point of victory. The dynamics of peace operations present a unique challenge to military...
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relevance of Adaptive Campaigning to recent Australian Army operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The context for Adaptive Campaigning is set by reviewing Australia's way of warfare and the evolution of...
Nearly twenty years ago, as a new student in the Army's Command and General Staff Officer's College, Infantry Branch officers introduced to me the relatively newly codified doctrinal term "center of gravity." Throughout the "best year of our lives"...
One of the most complex challenges facing the U.S. military today is the problem of imposing stability over the chaos that follows major combat operations. Despite the U.S. military’s predilection to distill warfare into the linear, Newtonian...
The U.S. Army currently lacks a fully comprehensive and synergistic air and missile defense strategy for combating current and future air and missile threats at the tactical level. While Army Air Defense Artillery currently provides offensive and...
This monograph analyzes a recent study by the Air force to establish an Air Battle Force (ABF) for projecting tactical airpower in peacetime contingency operations. This ABF would be a single unit, trained and equipped with several different types...
This monograph addresses the concept of air operations and their relationship to campaigns. It determines whether air actions should be considered as operations or campaigns. The monograph first addresses the definitions of the terms “campaign”...
The diversity of future threats, the distances imposed upon a US based force, and declining fiscal and manpower resources, has forced an emphasis on rapidly deployable contingency forces. The Air Force, in light of this changing economic and...
This monograph investigates how the Air Force concept of air occupation applies to operational campaign planning. The post Cold War era and a New World Order poses new challenges for operational planners. They must meet the changing geopolitical...
American's find the Bosnian Serb practice of "ethnic cleansing" morally unconscionable. As United Nations peacekeeping efforts have proved unable to halt the ethnic violence, the U.S. public has increasingly looked to its military for a solution....
This monograph examines the operational commander and his information requirements. Specifically, this paper attempts to identify the core elements of information which the operational commander requires to support his decision-making process. The...
This monograph examines the moral domain of AirLand Battle-Future. The focus is on the nature of combat at the tactical level. Military tactics have traditionally been, first and foremost, a contest of wills. Any battle, past, present, or future...
This monograph examines the dimensions of time and space for military operations and the process for synchronization. The specific military operations addressed are: linear warfighting as described in FM 100-5, “Operations,” May 1986;...