"The Defence of Duffer's Drift" was first published in 1907, as an essay in small unit tactics for junior leaders in the British Army. Its author, Ernest Dunlop Swinton, based the essay on his experiences in the Boer war in South Africa. The book has become a classic, familiar to generations of British and American soldiers from their professional military education. The premise for Swinton's essay is "The Defence of Duffer's Drift" by Lieutenant Backsight Forethought and his fifty-man platoon. The Drift is a difficult piece of ground and Forethought expects an attack in the near future. In a series of dreams, Forethought tries repeatedly to defend the Drift, only to make fatal mistakes. However, with each new dream, Forethought has the opportunity to learn from his errors in the previous dream. The result is an insightful exploration of small unit tactics and leadership that is as useful today as it was when first written. Swinton's prose is simple and accessible. The lessons of each defense are summed up at the conclusion of each chapter. "The Defence of Duffer's Drift" is very highly recommended to the junior leader, whether officer or NCO, as an amusing but realistic lesson in tactics.
Following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 the U.S. military found itself in a battle with a lethal and adaptive insurgency, where the divisions between enemy and ally were ambiguous at best, and working with the local population was essential for day-to-day survival. From the lessons they learned during multiple tours of duty in Iraq, two American veterans have penned The Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa, an instructional parable of counterinsurgency that addresses the myriad of difficulties associated with war in the postmodern era. In this tactical primer based on the military classic The Defence of Duffer’s Drift, a young officer deployed for the first time in Iraq receives ground-level lessons about urban combat, communications technology, and high-powered weaponry in an environment where policy meets reality. Over the course of six dreams, the inexperienced soldier fights the same battle again and again, learning each time—the hard way—which false assumptions and misconceptions he needs to discard in order to help his men avoid being killed or captured. As the protagonist struggles with his missions and grapples with the consequences of his mistakes, he develops a keen understanding of counterinsurgency fundamentals and the potential pitfalls of working with the native population. Accompanied here by the original novella that inspired it, The Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa offers an invaluable resource for cadets and junior military leaders seeking to master counterinsurgency warfare—as well as general readers seeking a deeper understanding of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just as its predecessor has been a hallmark of military instruction, The Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa will draw the road map for counterinsurgency in the postmodern world. Visit a website for the book here: www.defenseofJAD.com
This book presents a fictional account of a young, inexperienced British officer who is ordered to hold a river crossing (Duffer's Drift) with 50 men against a larger Boer force. His failures and eventual success provide lessons learned for contemporary soldiers regarding the concepts of small group tactics. Originally published in Infantry Journal in April 1905.
In Morality and Ethics of War, which includes a foreword by Major General Susan Coyle, ethicist Deane-Peter Baker goes beyond existing treatments of military ethics to address a fundamental problem: the yawning gap between the diverse moral frameworks defining personal identity on the one hand, and the professional military ethic on the other. Baker argues that overcoming this chasm is essential to minimising the ethical risks that can lead to operational and strategic failure for military forces engaged in today's complex conflict environment. He contends that spanning the gap is vital in preventing moral injury from befalling the nation's uniformed servants. Drawing on a revised account of what he calls 'the Just War Continuum', Baker develops a bridging framework that combines conceptual clarity and rigour with insights from cutting edge psychological research and creates a practical means for military leaders to negotiate the moral chasm in military affairs.
This collection of essays from ex-soldiers, military historians, chaplains and psychologists examines the unseen wounds sustained by Australians deployed to armed conflict, peacekeeping missions, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. While many psychical injuries heal, there is growing awareness that unseen wounds affecting the mind and the spirit are often the deepest and the most lasting. This book, the first Australian examination of moral injury, shows there are no easy answers and no simple solutions. It suggests where existing approaches are misguided, and how a multi-disciplinary approach is needed to gain a better sense of moral injury.
A classic in small unit tactics in the British and U.S. Army, this book is recommended, without qualification, for the modern professional soldier. What would you do? Lieutenant Backsight Forethought (BF to his friends) has been left in command of a 50-man reinforced platoon to hold Duffer's Drift, the only ford on the Silliassvogel River available to wheeled traffic. Here is his chance for fame and glory. He has passed his officer courses and special qualifications. "Now if they had given me a job like fighting the Battle of Waterloo...or Bull Run, I knew all about that, as I had crammed it up...." While BF's task appears simple enough, the Boer enemy causes a multitude of problems, but you, astute reader, with a sharp mind and quick intellect, will no doubt, solve the problem before the first shot is fired. This version of Duffer's Drift is published by Army Flashcards. Army Flashcards produces premier military educational material. In this edition, the lessons of Duffer's Drift are related to the present day experience of the American Soldier and Officer.When I was a young Army Captain and Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy, Icame across Duffer's Drift lying on a random book case in our offices. I remember picking it up, flipping through the pages, and wondering at what kind of curiosity I'd stumbled across. I rememberreading about the adventures, and subsequent demises, of LT Backsight Forethought and how eerilysimilar it sounded to my own adventures as a LT (without all of the recurring deaths obviously)!War is timeless. We come to the battlefield with new equipment and weapons, but the same humannature. In my decade plus in the Army (and more years to come!), I've found that our nature in waris to become complacent and overconfident. War is a dull bore punctuated by moments of intenseconflict and emotions. It's during the lulls where we begin to believe that what we are doing is goodenough and that our enemy is not as capable as we once thought. Then, inevitably, we suffer a loss, whip ourselves back into the shape and state we should have been in, and perform better.... for atime.I've spent the majority of my career training Soldiers, Cadets, and other leaders to master theirprofession of combat during a time that we collectively call the War on Terror. Starting with the fallof our towers and the tragic loss we all felt, the War on Terror has spanned nearly 20 years andseveral conflicts across the planet. In the military we are guilty of looking at these conflicts as"counter-insurgency" fights, then we excuse ourselves for neglecting our doctrine and basic war-fighting principles as if they don't apply anymore. I saw this tendency over and over again intraining, and have yet to master a way to break the mind set. To be completely honest, one of thebest ways I've found is to make others read Duffer's Drift!There is something about this tale that terrifies us. Though we read about BF far away in SouthAfrica, we can't help picturing ourselves in places more familiar. I'm transported to Shir KhanAfghanistan, where as a young LT, I supervised the construction of an outpost on a remote anddusty hilltop on the Tajikistan border. Had I been attacked like LT BF, would we have survived?After reading Duffer's Drift, I must honestly answer no! I likely would have suffered the same fateas the heroes of our story!I encourage you take this tale to heart. Even if you have yet to see combat, do your best to pictureyourself in the most dire of circumstances, then consider how you can apply the lessons from LTBF to that situation. I'm here to tell you, it could make all of the differenc
Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence in the expanded and updated third edition from 1996, with a new introduction by John E. Laird. Herbert Simon's classic and influential The Sciences of the Artificial declares definitively that there can be a science not only of natural phenomena but also of what is artificial. Exploring the commonalities of artificial systems, including economic systems, the business firm, artificial intelligence, complex engineering projects, and social plans, Simon argues that designed systems are a valid field of study, and he proposes a science of design. For this third edition, originally published in 1996, Simon added new material that takes into account advances in cognitive psychology and the science of design while confirming and extending the book's basic thesis: that a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action. Simon won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1978 for his research into the decision-making process within economic organizations and the Turing Award (considered by some the computer science equivalent to the Nobel) with Allen Newell in 1975 for contributions to artificial intelligence, the psychology of human cognition, and list processing. The Sciences of the Artificial distills the essence of Simon's thought accessibly and coherently. This reissue of the third edition makes a pioneering work available to a new audience.
This manual is a dual-Service US Army and US Marine Corps publication introducing new terms and definitions and updating existing definitions as reflected in the latest editions of Army field manuals and Marine Corps doctrinal, warfighting, and reference publications. It complies with DOD Military Standard 2525. When communicating instructions to subordinate units, commanders and staffs from company through corps should use this manual as a dictionary of operational terms and military graphics.
When Cook's newborn baby entered the world, he had nothing but hope for its future. However, it was immediately clear that this was no ordinary child-it's murderous screams seemed a dark portent. As it grew, things only got worse, and the child's mother began to despair. The new parents hoped their child would grow out of it, but soon came to realise that its inauspicious beginnings were only a sign of things to come. Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer who wrote in a variety of genres, including the novel, politics, history, and social commentary. Today, he is perhaps best remembered for his contributions to the science fiction genre thanks to such novels as "The Time Machine" (1895), "The Invisible Man" (1897), and "The War of the Worlds" (1898). "The Father of Science Fiction" was also a staunch socialist, and his later works are increasingly political and didactic. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
