Re: [HIST??] Culture shock

At 11:11 PM -0400 6/23/02, Roger Books wrote:
>I think I'm going to have to agree with Beth.	An analysis of your
>enemy that does nothing but denigrate that enemy would only
>encourage your troops to underestimate your enemy.  Seems I
>recall an American officer who underestimated his enemy, I
>believe the quote was along the lines of "Could ride through
>the Sioux nation with eighty men."  Underestimating your
>enemy causes complacency and gets people killed. G.A.Custer
>learned this the hard way.

By the same notion, over estimating your enemy can result in cake 
walks where you loose more of your troops to friendly fire and 
accidents than to enemy fire. Witness Desert Storm for example. 
Another instance is the Royal Marine detachment that worked over the 
Argie frigate that went past their point. They weren't "just a bunch 
of infantry..."

The important factor is that you either over estimate or get your 
accounting for enemy capabilities accurate. The expectation of human 
wave tactics in Korea after the initial attacks as the basis for all 
later attacks was a pretty valid one. The statement that all Japanese 
Pilots were nearsighted and couldn't fly combat aircraft worth a damn 
prior to WWII wasn't a valid notion.
-- 
--
Ryan Gill			  rmgill@mindspring.com
	|	 |
	| O--=-  |	       |	   |
	|_/|o|_\_|	       | _________ |
	/ 00DA61 \	       |/---------\| 
     _w/^=_[__]_= \w_	       // [_]  o[]\\ 
    |: O(4) ==	  O :|	      _Oo\=======/_O_
    |---\________/---|	      [__O_______W__]  
     |~|\	 /|~|	      |~|/BSV 575\|~|
     |~|=\______/=|~|	      |~|=|_____|=|~|
     |~|	  |~|	      |~|	  |~|