Manuever warfare was:Anti-Tank guns

DracSpy@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 99-02-11 12:55:48 EST, you write:
>
> << That's a really interesting book, which points up a lot of flaws in
> how
>  people view battlefields.
>
>  John M. Atkinson >>
> What are some of those flaws?
>

Just a few very quick points (Remember the book is about 6 years old
now).

1. The US Army says they are proponents of Maneuver Warfare but the
actual mechanics are really thinly veiled attrition based warfare.
(Personally I think one should read USMC FMFM-1 Warfighting. They've got
a better grasp.)

2. Artillery or fire support. Well it's really not much support at all.
The redlegs have developed their own thing which does little to support
joe schmoe the tanker or infantryman. (Note that Airforce CAS is no
better. They control their own CAS that's why the USMC has the best
system) FS requests has become such a  mysterious art form that only
arty guys can do it. The problem is the artillery is much more
interested in fighting their own battle (the deep interdiction thing ala
the artillery raids and MLRS raids of Desert Storm, than they are with
finding time to provide fire support for infantry platoons and
companies. This has been a complaint in combat arms for a little while
now. Every branch is always trying to prove how they have the biggest
dick  (ask John the engineer <grin>), and this is the artillery branches
way of doing it.

3. A lot of future doctrinal policy is validated through simulations but
Army simulations are flawed due to the utter lack of modeling for lack
of a better term "morale". Sort of what I was going into before. He
devotes a couple chapters to this.

4. Many wrong or incomplete lessons were drawn from Desert Storm in an
attempt to validate the DOD and the US Army's current warfighting
doctrine. Despite the overwhelming success a lot of stuff was screwed
up. (One of the biggest being the primacy of air power in all
situations....)

Anyway it's been several years since I read it but those are a few
issues.

Los