Patterns of Conflict

Category: Books

Boyd - In order to win, operate at a faster tempo or rhythm than the adversary. Get inside their Observation-orientation-action loop or OODA loops.

This will generate confusion and disorder among adversaries. They will be unable to generate mental models that agree with the faster pattern they’re competing against.

Old major idea was to intentionally unbalance the distribution of forces in battle, concentrating at the decisive point for the attack. This can expose the rear of the enemy for a flank, leading to surround and collapse.

Top-down view of the conduct of war from Napoleon, Clausewitz, Jomini

Blitzkrieg allowing a region to be infiltrated in quick time, generating surprise and exploiting the speed of armored teams. Splinters and envelops the enemy, creating independent centers of gravity that the adversary depends on. Magnifies friction, paralyzing the adversary.

Achieved through extreme autonomy at the low level as well as alignment of low level officers with overall strategy.

Key to creating a Guerrilla campaign is alignment with the people.

Essence of Blitz / Guerrilla is to avoid battles - instead, penetrate the enemy to disrupt / seize centers of cohesion (psycological bonds, communications, command, supply centers). Exploit ambiguity, deception, speed, and generate initial suprise and shock followed by surprise and shock over and over and over again.

Weak point of the blitz - it is hard to sustin fast temo and cohesion in continually re-arranging strength against weakness in the process of the blitz.

Counterblitz while blitz is moving forward, get behind it and flank it.

Moral [Psycological] strength as the ability to overcome uncertainty and menace.

Psycology is genuinely predictive of outcomes, and much of this approach is based on creating a particular psycological sense in the enemy.

The psychology that leads to victory and success are listed consistently as courage, confidence and esprit de corps (camaraderie, fellowship, common loyalty).

The psychology that leads to defeat are fear, anxiety, and alienation. These lead to uncertainty and mistrust.

Focus on the creation of Initiative, Adaptability and Harmony. This is an extremely high level document.

Time is the center of this argument. Much of this comes out of embracing the complexity of continuous action and feedback. The simplifying assumption of discreteness and step / counter-step makes it into the models players have of the systems, leading them to not take advantage of tempo (even tempo comes in a discrete step/counter-step context)

At a tactical level the action is a flow rather than a process, is synthetic / creative and spontaneous instead of analytical / logical. Continuous instead of discrete.

Focus on the ability to generate many possibilities, and be able to rapidly implement and shift among them.

In the absence of a variety of possibilities, the adversary has the ability to read and adapt to the events as they unfold.

Source: Original Google Doc