As the USA deployed major forces to Vietnam between 1965 and 1967, American politicians and military commanders were inspired by futuristic, space-age visions of how to fight the war. The problem, however, was that these visions often conflicted with each other and became rallying cries for opposing institutional lobbies.
Most modern armies are organized along similar lines, although there are local variations among nations and among the formal arrangements in peacetime and ad hoc groupings used for specific types of combat. The basic infantry fighting unit is the platoon, which consists of around 30 to 40 men.
In the 1980s we witnessed a number of wars - for example the Falklands conflict (1982), the Israelis and Pakistan, and the Falklands themselves, where sovereignty is still a bone of contention between Britain and Argentina. Individually these problems (and there are many more worldwide) pose very serious questions.
The basic principle of tactics is to combine fire and maneuver so that the troops first ‘win the firefight’ that is, neutralize the enemy, and then go on to overrun the enemy’s position. Traditionally the idea has been for the `base of fire’ to be provided by a static force that keeps the enemy’s head [...]
An army’s ability to fight and win is conditioned by its training. What this in fact says is that victory will go to the side that can make the most intelligent combination of what was classically know as the three arms; infantry, artillery and cavalry (which today includes armored and air mobile forces).
It is almost axiomatic that a defensive position should incorporate at least some mobile elements to reinforce threatened points; to make counter penetrations (that is, to block holes that may develop); to make counter-attacks (in other words, to carry out a direct strike on the attacking enemy) or to implement counter strikes.
The Western Front in World War I has scarred the popular mind as the epitome of fruitless, static, attritional warfare. Lines of trenches or strong points in depth, protected by barbed wire and covered by powerful artillery, resist every assault, with the attacker suffering devastating casualties.