Imagine for a moment that St. Paul was a disciple of Sun Tzu instead of Jesus Christ…
This essay definitively defines the relationship betwixt strategy and theory. It will do for strategic discourse what Mein Kampf did for Germany, what "Citizen Kane" did for cinema, and what Qaddafi's "Green Book" did for Libya.
Water of Life
1 If I speak in esoteric and academic tongues
- but do not have theory, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
2 And if I have the gift of
prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all technology
so as to overmatch my enemy but do not have sound strategy, I am nothing.
3 If I waste away my nation’s treasure, and
if I spill the blood of my men so that I may boast of glory but do not defeat my
enemy’s center of gravity, I gain nothing.
4 Strategy is patient, strategy
is effective. It is not short-sighted, [strategy] is not solely concerned with
domestic political gains, it is not connected to one’s ego,
5 it is not wasteful, it does not seek panacea
solutions, it is not overly-direct, it does not brood over minor setbacks,
7 It encompasses all scenarios, explains all victories,
predicts all successes, endures all things.
8 Theory never fails. If there are weak strategies, they
will be brought to nothing; if computers, they will achieve the blue-screen of
death; if UAVs, they will be flown in vain for lack of a pilot.
10 but when the perfect intel comes, the partial will
pass away and the OODA will come to perfection.
11 When I was a civilian, I used to talk as a civilian,
think as a civilian, reason as a civilian; when I became a Solider, I put aside
civilian things.
12 At present we see indistinctly, as in a VTC, but then
face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I fully
perfect my PowerPoint slide.
13 So Offense, Defense, Deception remain, these three; but
the greatest of these is, Deception.[i]
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