The Art of Command
1/29/2010
Factors that Form the Military Disposition
Terrance Jones
Founder
The Beckwith Combatives System
“Military dispositions take form like water. Water shuns the high and hastens to the low. War shuns the strong and attacks the weak. Water shapes it current from the lie of the land. The warrior shapes his victory from the dynamic of the enemy.”
Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
Term Association
“War shuns the strong and attacks the weak.”- This is a symmetrical distinction where war overcomes the inclinations of the strong when their approach to war is not respectful of the volatile parameters of the same. Hence, even a seemingly insignificant lapse in symmetrical offensive related operations which are geared towards optimizing threat reduction will work against the strong. By contrast, the exertive environment of war ultimately “attacks” and completely overwhelms the weak.
“Water shapes it current from the lie of the land.”- Sun Tzu starts with the military disposition and clearly assesses the same with terrain association variables concerning water and land. The water “shapes” or forms its movement or "current" by adapting to the configurative posture of the land while maintaining the natural constitution that makes water a viable representation of the formless and the form.
“The warrior shapes his victory from the dynamic of the enemy.”- A soldier or “warrior” is aware of the fact that many victories that must be realized in order to “shape” or facilitate a decisive and sustainable victory.
While Sun Tzu associates the military disposition with water, it is even more important that we understand that dispositions are formed and influenced by the “flow” of information which travels like “boulders on a torrent” (Sun Tzu). Thus, the form of information merges with and strengthens both the disposition and physical response capabilities of the warrior.
1/28/2010
The Distinction of the Combat
Terrance Jones
Founder
The JISS Corporation
“Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting. The highest form of warfare is to attack strategy itself.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Term Association
“Excellence lies not in winning every battle”- This is an articulation that respects the cumulative and relative benefits of the formless over the finite benefits of a perceived trend or form.
“Defeating the enemy without ever fighting”- This is a scenario where war is not exertive. This occurs often the leader uses strategic thought to limit the costs of war. Hence, one can use intelligence and strategy to beat their opponent to the battlefield.
Excellence in War is not perfection, however it can equate to the same. Winning can be associated with control, however there are distinctive differences between the two in war. Winning battles is indicative of a victory that is ambiguous concerning long term benefits and transitory advantages. Controlling the parameters of war gives one sustainable benefits that affect all phases of the war in addition to the post war reality of the same in given nation. Such control requires redundancy in oversight and discernment, yet leaders who have this type of control value the calculations of diplomacy over the costs of estimates.
1/27/2010
“Oh, subtlety of subtleties! Without form! Oh, mystery of mysteries! Without sound! He (the skillful warrior) is master of his enemy’s fate.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Term Association
Subtlety of subtleties- The introduction of a strategic thought.
Without form-Thoughts have no form but often create and influence the same.
Without sound-The calculations of strategic thought has no sound, however the wisdom of forethought speaks with a resounding voice of clarity.
Assessment
Sun Tzu is articulating that strategy and tactics favor the subtlety of tact and the path of wisdom. War often leads to physicality, however it is preceded by calculations that are intellectually driven. The wisest of men used strategy and tactics to avert physical engagements and the costs and exertions contained therein. Strategic thought is formless, while strategy can represent the formless and the form. The mystery of warfare is that men do not see the great potential in using the formless to shield their nations from diametrical related engagements that create the form of theatre, regional and global war.
