Sharpening The Combat Edge

Sharpening the combat edge : the use of analysis to reinforce military judgment

"Sharpening the Combat Edge" focuses on the use of analysis in combat operations and concentrates on the utilization of techniques in situations with which the authors are personally familiar. It covers primarily the systematic blending of military judgment, data collection, and simple problem solving techniques as used in the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force, Vietnam, 1968-1970. The approach is rather tentative because it was not possible in many cases to determine exactly what factors made the operations go so well. Rather the authors have laid out the most important and interesting factors in the hopes that the readers will be stimulated and perhaps decide for themselves what the critical points were.

[Includes 26 charts, 4 maps, 31 tables and 48 illustrations] "This monograph focuses on the use of analysis in combat operations and concentrates on the utilization of techniques in situations with which the authors were personally familiar. It covers primarily the systematic blending of military judgment, data collection, and simple problem solving techniques as utilized in the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force, Vietnam in 1968, 1969 and 1970. The approach is rather tentative because it was not possible in many cases to determine exactly what factors made the operations go so well. Rather we have laid out the most important and interesting factors in the hopes that the readers will be stimulated and perhaps decide for themselves what the critical points were. Fortunately, a large amount of basic data was available to support the manuscript. On the other hand, some basic data has been lost. In these cases we drew on memory and tried to double check the accuracy of our recollections. We think any general statements are reasonably accurate. “The analytic approach when tried on the battlefield seemed to help produce sizable increases in both overall performance and efficiency. Whether these improvements were due more to good basic concepts or to good execution or both is difficult to determine. “We can say that first class officers and first class soldiers are capable of outstanding battlefield performance. To list the thousands of people who contributed to this tremendous team effort would be impossible. However, the monograph is dedicated to all those members of the 9th Infantry Division and of II Field Force Vietnam who acquitted themselves so well in Vietnam.”

The systematic blending of military judgment, data collection, and problem-solving techniques as used in the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force, Vietnam, 1968-1970.