With Both Hands

Sign in Subscribe

Military

Follow-up to SURPRISE IS AN EVENT THAT OCCURS IN THE MIND OF AN ENEMY COMMANDER

A while back I had a post on the quote: surprise is an event that occurs in the mind of an enemy commander This week, Jerry Pournelle wrote in to tell me: Message: The maxim that surprise is an event that occurs in the mind of an enemy commander comes

Remember Dien Bien Phu

Dale Shewalter often remarked on the epic battle the French waged at Dien Bien Phu. At that time, all I knew was the French had lost. What I only appreciated later, was how they almost won. A brief read, but well worth your time. Marcel Bigeard, who died on June

Surprise is an event that occurs in the mind of an enemy commander

Someone came by today looking for the quote, "surprise is an event that occurs in the mind of an enemy commander." It wasn't anywhere on this site, but I came across this quote in Jerry Pournelle's Prince of Mercenaries, pg 299 in the Baen

Meekness

Since I have been reading the Prince lately, I have been very interested in matters political and the virtues of the soldier. But meekness, I never would have thought that to be one of them. Yet here is the best explanation of meekness I have yet seen: Here’s the

Military Wisdom

There is a four-fold division of military officers along two axes: active or lazy, brilliant or stupid. I found Jerry Pournelle's description striking, so I will quote him: Understand you are talking about officers, meaning that they are all presumed to be about IQ 120 or above, so