BingFa
Guest
|
 Where is the nearest McDonald's?
Certainly, to the extent that an Army is able to, it makes good sense to shorten the logistics supply train whenever possible. However, depending on the nature of the conflict and the mission, sometimes an Army will want to be more or less aggressive in seeking out "provisions" in hostile territory.
Moreover, in the modern era, one needs to be very careful not to be seduced into slaughtering certain large farm animals that may in fact be carrying diseases, such as Mad Cow disease.
In any event, in many, many instances, the nature of the mission, the terrain and other factors might make it darn near impossible or undesirable to "take provisions" from the enemy.
When you consider the fact that a human being only needs to lose a very small percentage of their bodies' water before they are technically classified as being dehydrated, nearly all armies will only advance when they are nearly assured of ready access to potable water. Thus, in today's world, the development and construction of forward LOG bases is paramount to the success of any large engagement.
Indeed, it is a truth universally acknowledged that an astute observer can readily discern the likely intentions of an adversary by identifying where said potential foe is building their forward LOG bases. Of course, this is related to the axiom that if one wants to ensure the peace they have to be prepared to go to war. The idea being that one is in a far better position if they are able to create and sustain the perception that their force structure is invulnerable to attack. Although as we know, anything that has form can be defeated.
Again, depending on the terrain and environment, in today's large scale battles it is sometimes NOT A GOOD IDEA to have to rely on obtaining provisions from a foreign land. Thus, a wise General will make the necessary plans in advance to ensure that his Armies' needs for material victuals like fuel, food and water are supplied from a SAFE and reliable source.
When men in the field THINK that their source of resupply has been cut-off, it can have an adverse impact on troop morale. Thus, troops still need to be knowledgable about where they can go to seize or obtain the provisions that they might need in the event that they are put in a position where their supply lines are cut-off. This is related to Sun Tzu teaching that one must know the terrain that they are on or plan to go to.
True story.
A client/friend of mine, who is an entrepreneur of about 61 years old, was in the US Special Forces in Vietnam where he ended up serving 3 tours of duty.
Anyway, he would sometimes have to lead a small team of men on what is known as a LRRP (pronounced LURP) which stands for Long Range Recon Patrol. Mostly he just gathered INTEL but sometimes he and his men would have to do snatch and grab OPS. Anyway, my friend sometimes would take a few six packs of Rolling Rock beer with him in his pack. And once he got to his destination where they set up their observation post, he would bury the Rolling Rock beers and then mark the grid coordinates on his map. After the mission was over and his men were safely extracted, he would meet with his CO or some other group of guys and debrief them on the mission.
Invariably, he would have to show the CO his map and the question would often come up "what are these marks here at grid coordinate such-and such?" My friend would just BS his way through it.
Anyway, the next time my friend was out in the jungle on a LRRP, if he was near the buried Rolling Rock beers, and retrieving them would NOT jeopardize his men or the mission, he would go and retrieve the beers under the cover of darkness. Let me tell you, this guy was and is an amazing leader.
Those cool Rolling Rock beers were a HUGE morale booster for his men who were under an immense amount of stress.
Years later, when my friend goes to SF reunions, guys he has not seen in 25-30 years, will come up to him and say, "Hey I remember you, you were the sonofabitch that used to bury the Rolling Rocks in the jungle."
Then, like genuine warriors, they hug and laugh and tell stories like the band of brothers that they are.
Morale of the story: A leader must always look out for the well being of his men.
Always.
-BingFa
Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged
|
09-01-02 09:04 PM
