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Description edit
Invariably, armies are accused of preparing to fight the previous war. In Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife , Lieutenant Colonel John A. Nagl—a veteran of both Operation Desert Storm and the current conflict in Iraq—considers the now-crucial question of how armies adapt to changing... read more
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People edit
- General Sir Gerald Templer: Commander of UK forces in Malaya in the final stages of their involvement.
- General William Westmoreland: Commander of MAC-V at the peak of the Vietnam War.
- General Creighton Abram: General in the United States Army who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968-72 which saw U.S. troop strength in Vietnam fall from a peak of 543,000 to 49,000.
Quotes edit
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“The Army learns very slowly, because you have to change the culture. The culture changes slowly because innovators are forced out. If we're going to do one thing to make the organization healthy, we have to promote people who are not like us."”
COL (Ret) Powell Hutton
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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British Counterinsurgency 1919-60, Thomas R. Mockaitis has convincingly argued that the British army developed three principles regulating its counterinsurgency operations: minimum force, civil-military cooperation, and tactical flexibility demonstrated through a 'highly decentralized, small-unit approach.''
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The American way of war is marked by a belief that the nation is at war or at peace; the binary nature of war leaves no space for political-military inter- face.42
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1. (;et the priorities right. 2. Get the instructions right. 3. Get the organization right. 4. Get the right people into the organization. 5. Get the right spirit into the people. 6. Leave them to get on with it.'
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Military operations that do not exercise minims m force instead diminish the support of the people for the government, which they feel should protect them-not destroy them.
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In Mao's own words, 'The richest source of power to wage war lies in the masses of the people.''
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The primary argument of the book is that the better performance of the British army in learning and implementing a successful counterinsurgency doctrine in Malaya (as compared to the American army's failure to learn and implement successful counterinsurgency doctrine in Vietnam) is best explained by the differing organizational cultures of the two armies; in short, that the British army was a learning institution and the American army was not.
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'Insurgents start with nothing but a cause and grow to strength, while the counter-insurgents start with everything but a cause and gradually decline in strength and grow to weakness.
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Griffith notes that 'a potential revolutionary situation exists in any country where the government consistently fails in its obligation to ensure at least a minimally decent standard of life for the great majority of its citizens.''
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'The Three Rules and the Eight Remarks' which guided the activities of the Communist Eighth Route Army:21 Rules I. All actions are subject to command. 2. Do not steal from the people. 3. Be neither selfish nor unjust. Remarks 1. Replace the door when you leave the house. 2. Roll up the bedding on which you have slept. 3. Be courteous. 4. Be honest in your transactions. 5. Return what you borrow. 6. Replace what you break. 7. Do not bathe in the presence of women. 8. Do not without authority search those you arrest.
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Otto von Bismarck suggested that fools learn by experience whereas wise men learn from other peoples' experience.; This
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First Sentence edit
There is substantial disagreement over what spurs military innovation.
Authors & Contributors edit
- John A. Nagl (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Peter J. Schoomaker (Foreword)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 959.504
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