H. John Poole

I really thought this book was a waste of time. That being said, it is exactly what it claims to be. A book on tactics, written within the context of the tactical level, which, as any practitioner of war will know, is the lowest, simplest, most mechanistic level. This is not a criticism, mind you, it's just that tactics evolve continuously, and the tactics ("of the crescent moon") we face in Iraq and Afghanistan were completely different from the time I arrived in Iraq in March 2003 to the time I left in November of that year, much less when I went back from 2006-2007. The same goes for Afghanistan. As a professional and an expert at the tactical level, this book offered little to enhance or expand my understanding.

I find much more value in higher-level studies of the phenomena that drive the adaptation of tactics: strategic and geopolitical studies. Both fighters and civilians will do better to read military theory like Mao, Gilula, and Lawrence if they wish to truly expand their understanding of the greater forces at work. TTPs are fluid, and are obsolete as soon as you have adapted to them. Understanding the process is more important than understanding the tactics.… (meer)