# Clausewitz for Kids



## The Bread Guy (6 Sep 2011)

I'm not making this up - put together by Caitlin Fitz Gerald (according to her Twitter profile:  "MA in IR. Into foreign policy, security, civ-mil, and Middle East studies. Writer. Volunteer. Artist. Boston sports fan. Yank Arsenal supporter. Grammar nerd.").  A bit of a taste:


> .... Very few people could stay calm, seeing this for the first time - Badger, you can open your eyes now – You will grow used to it, so that you barely notice most of it, but danger does not mean only heroism and glory.
> 
> War is physically demanding. It will make you more tired than you’ve ever been. When people are tired, their minds fall under a cloud, and they have a hard time keeping up their efforts.
> 
> ...


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## Greymatters (13 Sep 2011)

_Intelligence is what you know about the enemy and about his country, however you might learn it.

A commander gets many, many reports, and a lot of them will say different things, more will be false – wrong – and most will be uncertain – you will not know whether they are right or not.

A commander must be confident enough to rely on his own judgment of what is most likely to be true, and confident enough to ignore many of the reports he gets._


Oversimplified, to the point of being wrong and misleading...


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## Journeyman (13 Sep 2011)

Greymatters said:
			
		

> Oversimplified, to the point of being wrong and misleading...


You are free to believe that what it says about the current practice of Intelligence is wrong and misleading. 

I assure you, however, that it's a very close, albeit simplified, version of _what Clausewitz wrote_ -- which I gather, was the author's intent.


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## TangoTwoBravo (14 Sep 2011)

Greymatters said:
			
		

> _
> A commander must be confident enough to rely on his own judgment of what is most likely to be true, and confident enough to ignore many of the reports he gets._
> 
> 
> Oversimplified, to the point of being wrong and misleading...



Is the commander relying on his own judgement the part that you don't like?


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## Greymatters (14 Sep 2011)

I dont disagree with a commander relying on their own judgement.  Its pretty much a requirement for any officer  or NCO of significant rank to be able to make the right decisions.  Especially back in the day of Napolean and even up to WW2 when a commander often had limited or no communications between units or with higher units and had to be able to make his own decision based on orders, last known information, and 'feel for the ground'. 

However I disagree with the comment that, in this day and age, a commander should ignore many of the reports he gets, that most will be uncertain, or that a significant portion will be false.  If he/she has competent operations and intelligence staff, they will filter out what is false or incorrect, and be able to provide him with timely and accurate information about what is known.  

Most important, a commander should never eliminate information or consider it false just because it contradicts their personal opinion or belief of what is going on.  In areas where nothing is known, or nothing can be confirmed, then  the commander must rely on his/her personally acquired experience, knowledge and instincts.  

... Damn, having written it out, this sounds very similiar to what was previously written.  Perhaps I just dislike what it implied?


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## Infanteer (14 Sep 2011)

Well, it's you against Carl.  I'd say you've got some ground to make up.


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## a_majoor (15 Sep 2011)

Infanteer said:
			
		

> Well, it's you against Carl.  I'd say you've got some ground to make up.



op:


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## lethalLemon (15 Sep 2011)

Hmm... interesting.

I still prefer the original simply for it's feel when reading, but this would be useful for academic studies/research etc as it is simplified and easy to read.

I'm in the process of reading _War and Peace_... Once finished, everything should be easier to read - haha.


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