03.019 One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious...

One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;

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"...One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious..."-Sun-tzu.

One who knows how to use his army will also be able to be victor. It is not enough to be able to know the army's strengths and weaknesses, you must be able to know how to use those strengths and weaknesses to your advantage.

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Location, location, location. . .

Knowing how to use and apply large and small forces is part of what it means to be a Wise General.

A large force that is mistakenly deployed could soon develop logistics problems or incur any number of other losses in material and men. Certainly, in the Gulf War, Iraqi's strategy of massing hundreds of thousands of troops in the Kuwait desert without protective air cover was a serious mistake.

Placing troops in the best position to win at the least cost in terms of destruction and damage is what it is all about.

-BingFa

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Re: 03.019 One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious...

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Originally posted by sonshi
One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;

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{* CARDINAL999 *}

"In the Field of Observation, Fortune Favors the Prepared (and the Bold)."

"The stillness in stillness is not the true stillness; only when there is stillness in motion does the universal rhythm manifest." - Old Daoist Text

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Anybody can win a conflict with an unlimited supply and a huge force at your disposal. The real test comes down to when you have hardly anything at all. If you can take an inferior force and defeat a superior enemy, than you are an incredibly good leader.

Gonzo

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Sun Tzu said, "One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;"

Force must be correlated so that the general can apply it appropriately against an opponent at a given time and place.

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"one who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious; "

Size and strategic force of your troops are variables you have to understand and to use as better as possible.

Chang Yu said: "By applying the art of war, it is possible with a lesser force to defeat a greater, and vice versa"

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Odysseus Nobody

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Armies and organizations have their units. Armies do not work the same way as platoons. The smaller unit the more specialized tasks it can perform.

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MonteChristo
And there is only blue sky above us.

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quote:

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One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;

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Dan

"Never let morality stop you from doing what is right." Character from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

"Never let the righteous stop you from doing what is moral." SunZulu

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Interms of a current problem I have with regards to employment over the winter...I mull over this passage and feel stumped.

Large forces could be mailing out 100 resumes. Small forces could be talking to individuals with some power to help me reach my goal of reasonable employment.

This passage keeps bringing myself back to the passage of knowing both your opponent and yourself well. The futility of looking for work is always daunting and tends to set me in a bad mood. For me it is very much like a battle of which I can hardly understand the terms of engagement. I really have noyhing relevant to say regarding this passage I have never really commanded small or lage forces.

Pawn11

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The application of force

The application of force always a difficult choice given the possiblities that are always available. There are always a minimum of 2 choices. In employing force it is the desired outcome that must kept uppermost.

To give this matter some historical perspective the Gulf War of 1991 itmust be seen that in hindsight it was essentially a strategic defeat for the United States. The stated goal of restoring the sovereignty to Kuwait was for public relations. The true goal was reestablishing a balance of power for the control of the regions ' petrochemical resources. The ancilliary posturing was entertaining but irrelavant. The military victory was swift and essentially irrelavant.. When the occasion for bold action arose it was dismissed as unecessarry . That action was the killing or capture of Saddam Hussein.The presence of an overwhelming and blooded millitary presence in pursuit of a bloodied and demoralised opposing was dismissed as politically undesireable. It was at this juncture that a small action of mortal courage on the part of the American commander in chief. could have carried the day and the present situation possiblily avoided including perhaps even 9/11? A small force of moral courage can blunt the most powerful military force seldom assembled. "Sic Transit Gloria"

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Using the best tool for the job at hand is the sign of a good craftsman. Each has its own strenght and weaknesses. Each has their own specialty and limits. Knowing how (as a combination of when and where) to make them achieve their best is also what makes a skillful general. Sometimes a large army is requiered and sometimes as the adage told "Less is more".

Wallax

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One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;
A general must how to deploy a variety of troops. A large force could be a grand campaign consisting of multiple armies with concerns about logistics and support, weather and terrain, mobilization and coordination of a very large force of thousands. A Small force could be a raiding party or other specials operations used to disrupt enemy supply routs, communications or reconnaissance and espionage.

One must consider all aspects of an operation. To just focus on one aspect may tip the balance of victory to defeat.

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03.019

One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;

Size alone does not dictate victory. Knowing how to use what you have to the greatest advantage afforded by what you have is the key to victory.

Master Wu addresses both LARGE and SMALL forces. Small forces under the command of a leader who is versed in the teachings of Master Wu have as great an opportunity for victory as any large force...given the fact the small force is commanded by a leader better versed in the ways of the art of war than the commander of the large force.

All other factors being equal (if they ever actually are), large trumps small in every hand.

However, since providende rarely smiles favorably on the absolute equality of all mitigating factors, "quality" over trumps "quantity."

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What honor is there in being still when stillness is expected...what wisdom is there in choosing simply to say that you have chosen? Make way and chose or not, but wisely so.

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Size does not necessarily matter

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Originally posted by sonshi
One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;

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