TacticsScience or Art?

Working alone late one night a young woman is surprised by a burglar who begins beating her. As the fight becomes more vicious she is suddenly able to break free and run outside where she see’s a ladder leading to the flat roof of the building. Recognizing it as her best means of escape, she quickly climbs it just as the assailant reaches the bottom. At the top she notices a large tool box left by a workman and that there is no other safe way off the roof.

What Should She Do?12

1. Tactical operations are an “imperative” (participation is not an option)

2. Some terrain provides advantages (roof provided defensive advantage)

3. Timing is critical (fast is not as critical as faster)

4. Innovation and ingenuity can be the key advantage

5. Weapons are not always conventional

6. Attacks do not always require weapons

7. The weaker adversary always seeks refuge

8. Success and survival are sometimes synonymous

9. It ain’t rocket science (most times the concepts are so clear as to be intuitive)

10. Did she make any mistakes? If she had been in a similar situation in the past, would she have done anything differently?

What Should She Do?

DO THESE PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS MANIFEST THEMSELVES IN OTHER TACTICAL SITUATIONS?

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• Metaphor for tactical operations♦ Looked like a pussy cat, smelled like a pussy cat,

felt like a pussy cat, so what happened?

• Well-meaning citizen♦ Wrong tools, no knowledge, just wanted to help!

• Thinking tactically, not strategically♦ Only one blunder—one wrong step,

but fate was sealed thereafter

• What lessons might be extrapolated?

“Pinky the Wonder Cat”10

“Neglected Sciences”

Fog

Friction

Initiative

TempoCenter of Gravity

Critical Vulnerability

Risk

Terrain Analysis

Intelligence Estimate

Essential Elements of Information

Assumptions

Other Intelligence Requirements

SMEAC

Key Terrain

Avenues of Approach

KOCOA

SALUTE

Critical Requirements

Critical Capabilities

Crisis Decisionmaking

Competing Interests

Management by Default

Silence is ConsentDecision Points

Trip WiresManagement By Exception

Mission Tasking

Commander’s Intent

Planning Guidance

Expressed Consent

C2

C3C4

C4I

Commanding TerrainEnvelopment

Pincer

Hammer and Anvil

Deliberate Plan

Contingency Plan

Hasty Plan

IntelRep

IntelSumEvent Horizon

Defilade

Enfilade

Maneuver

Mass

Economy of Force

Objective

Offense

Nine Principles of WarMobility

Flexibility

Boyd’s Cycle

OODA Loop

Orientation

Implied Tasks

Specified Tasks

Density

OBE

Info Fusion

IPB

Main Effort

Focus of EffortGeneral Support

Direct Support

ROE

MOOSEMUSSConstraints

Restraints

Satisficing

Crisis

Conflict

Heuristics

Implied Objective

Command & Control

EMON

SOP

End State

SWOT

Concept of Operation

Course of Action

Alert Order

Execute Order

Warning Order

Frag Order

Strategy

Tactics

Tactical Dilemma

Deceptive Diversion

Physiological Diversion

Combined Arms

Situation Awareness

2/3 Rule

Tightly Coupled

Loosely Coupled

Precedent Decisionmaking

Incremental Decisionmaking

Groupthink

Abilene Paradox

Intelligence Paradox

Devil’s Advocate

Asymmetric Strategy

Deconfliction

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The most formidable warriors are students of their profession! General Al Gray

29th Commandant of the Marine Corps

Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bulletsLt. General George S. Patton

United States Army

X = ?2 X = 4

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• We justify our tactics with smoke,mirrors, myths and magic♦ The average law enforcement

tactician would be hard put toquote a single source, theory ordoctrine to justify their decisions

• In the medical field, most lawenforcement tacticians would bethe functional equivalent ofwitch doctors

• There is tactical science that will support sound planning and decision making

Shaman, Wizards Myths & Magic

7

What if the Next Time. . .6

• Accountants study math, doctors and nurses study medicine, weather forecasters study meteorology

• Tactical science dates back to at least 500 B.C.

• Besides books, manymilitary manuals and“lessons learned”are free on the Internet

Tactical Science6

• Forces a command staff to:♦ Implicitly trust subordinates

(who may not be any more enlightened!)♦ Make decisions without being aware of supporting doctrine

(indigestion or stomach cancer?)

• Civil liability coupled with an inadequate defense (when no one is an expert, anyone can be!)

• Potential tactical fiascoes in Biblical proportions!(Ruby Ridge, Waco, M.O.V.E, and others less well-known)

Consequences of Ignorance4

ProblemTraining Experience Education

The “wisdom of the ages” is expressed as doctrine, concepts, theories, precepts, tenets,

adages, dictums, heuristics, axioms, principles, laws, and proverbs

Knowledge allows us to start, not at the beginning, but where the experts left off! ~Carl Lewin

There is Nothing More Practical Than a Good Theory

Solution

3

TrainingProvides skills

Instills confidence

Improves methods

Fosters expertise & proficiency

Teaches how to do thingsbetter

This is a Science Course!Education

Provides knowledge

Explains importance

Improves understanding

Fosters ingenuity & adaptability

Teaches whether we’re doing the right things

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A Whitman’s Sampler of Tactical Science

1

Questions?