Instructions and the Philosophy Preparing the United States Military to Consistently Win

By Richard Pearlman, Dec 2007

• Wars are easy to start. All that is necessary: wealth to afford an army and lots of young men with warrior instincts, and a BIG idea.
• Two types of war exist: 1. Fast, overwhelming advantage, and thus conquering and 2. wars of attrition.
• A war of attrition always remains an easy entry. Anyone with the production can play. A BIG idea is always involved.
• Fast wars need very little strategic planning; it's all over before you can think or plan. The BIG idea is not so important as fighting is enough, in the short run, for the warriors.
• Technology advantage is a very real advantage. Soldiers cannot make up by trying harder or mass sacrifice. In the long run, fighting technology will win. Technology advantage also includes production capability.
• Overpopulation limits large geographic wars. Every little nook and cranny in the world is filled with people, and most importantly, with access to guns and other military weapons. No more 1,000 T-34's against 1,000 Tigers.
• And TV is everywhere too, recording and making everything personal. No more big tank battles, no more great invasions, no more carving up the world. So what can a military do? It has to spend more time staying away from civilians.
• Politicians rarely listen to their trained and experience military people. Think of all the wars that could have been won.
• It's not necessary to fight to win. This crosses the grain of the warrior who has no idea of any other manner of winning except through combat and confrontation. To win without fighting the warrior instinct requires the driving force of a big idea to lead them through the non-violent road to winning.
• Never leave an enemy behind. Either convert them - say as the Romans managed to accomplish - or disable them. Never play games.
• The days of large expensive war machines could be over. The deadliness of shoulder fired missiles and such make tanks and close-in air support very dangerous, if not suicidal. On the other hand, if no one is shooting at you these big toys are really quite a bit of fun. Whether they can win wars of attrition is the question.
• The permanent and paid army should concentrate on training, not fighting. If you want to fight a war you need the draft.
• A permanent and paid armed forces makes political wars possible. If a draft was required for each "fighting action" politicians might acquire more common sense.
• Too many costs of the military are carried off the books. We now have our military begging from private businesses. First, I don't like my military having to beg for money for veterans, among other things, and two, why should an employer pay twice for the same military actions.
• Remember, we are not at war with Iraq. I'm not sure what to call what we are doing over there: a police action. What did we call our excursion to Viet Nam; we didn't declare war then either.
• Casualties are casualties when they are due to military activity. If a soldier dies outside the activities area it still counts.
• Not every army is built to fight, in many countries the military is built for show and control. Nor does every country feel a need for a fighting army. Nor is every army separate from political control.