Comments on: Training Wheels

By: JLM

JLM — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:32:00 +0000

In reply to ACR.

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The Boss has already bought the Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire — Amazon used hard cover at less than $4.

The Boss likes a bargain.

Thanks for the recommendation.

BRC
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By: ACR

ACR — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 19:39:00 +0000

In reply to JLM. Yes, that one and the corresponding volume on Roman grand strategy, which is shorter. I'll look for the one on coups.

By: JLM

JLM — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:14:00 +0000

In reply to ACR.

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The Boss has read Luttwak’s tome on coups. It was an interesting read. I think it was published in the late 1970s.

Which book do you recommend?

The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire?

BRC
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By: ACR

ACR — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 07:50:00 +0000

In reply to JLM. The Boss would enjoy the discussions of Byzantine river crossing and other engineering also. Both of Luttwak's books well recommended.

By: JLM

JLM — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:59:00 +0000

In reply to ACR.

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Great comment. Not much has changed in the training of soldiers.

One of the huge advantages of special operations units is their cross training and ability to cover for other men when wounded or killed.

If ever you have a sick orange, The Boss is your boy as he spent a bit of time learning how to give shots to oranges.

Soldiering is a science and a noble undertaking. We do not appreciate the professionalism of our current American volunteer Army. Of course, we are getting ready to throw them on the ash heap as soon as Afghanistan winds down. We always do so and regret it afterwards.

Well played.

BRC
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By: ACR

ACR — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:16:00 +0000

“The Strategikon of Maurikos is the most complete Byzantine field manual in spite of its brevity… It was certainly the most useful of all books for Byzantine military chiefs down the centuries, and is not entirely useless even now. … immediately turning to the training of the individual soldier, the right starting point for any serious field manual then as now. Military history is often written without even mentioning how the soldiers on each side were trained. Yet that is routinely the decisive factor in the strength of armies. It is not only historians who disregard the essential importance of training in general, starting with a thorough course of initial individual or ‘basic’ training. If new recruits do not acquire their weapon and field-craft skills while still in basic training, before they are posted to their units, the latter cannot practice their unit tactics and are instead forced to remedy the lack of elementary skills of each new intake. … Only a small proportion of all contemporary armies train their soldiers seriously, and therefore enjoy a decisive tactical superiority over the ill-trained majority of military mankind. That was the aim in the Strategikon, whose primary type of soldier was neither an infantryman nor a cavalryman but rather both, and a bowman first of all. He therefore required training in both foot and mounted archery with powerful bows, in using the lance for thrusting and stabbing while mounted… Under the heading ‘The Training and Drilling of the Individual Soldier’ we read:

‘He should be trained to shoot [the bow] rapidly on foot, either in the Roman [thumb and forefinger] or the Persian [three middle finger] manner. Speed is important in shaking the arrow loose [from the quiver] and discharging it with force. This is essential and should also be practiced while mounted. In fact, even when the arrow is well aimed, firing slowly is useless.’

… The second notable point is the recommendation to quickly alternate from shooting one or two arrows, to pulling out the spear from its back strap, to taking out the bow again. That is how useful weapon training must be conducted in any epoch.”

From The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, by Edward Luttwak, pp 269-272.