Re: Enemy Appreciations and SOPs

--- Thomas Barclay <kaladorn@magma.ca> wrote:

> War by doctrine alone probably mostly went 
> away after the meat grinder battles of WW1. We 

"Doctrine" has become a dirty word among civillians
and amateur historians after WWI.

Professionals went right on writing it and applying
it.

Doctrine, in a good army, is a guideline and set of
rules of thumb which give good ways to deal with most
situations.  I would argue that superior doctrine went
a long way to creating the victory in Storm--for
instance the Iraqis had better and more artillery
(almost none of which was destroyed by the air
campaign), but superior US artillery doctrine created
by 40 years of planning to deal with Soviet artillery
superiority in Central Europe resulted in such a
lopsided victory that it's overlooked a great deal
today.

Now, to become too attached to bad doctrine (the
problem in WWI) is bad, but fighting without doctrine
is the same as fighting without training--amateurs get
lucky, professionals win in the longterm.  

John

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