On Tactics v1.5

On Tactics (Taylor's Version)

I fully intend to write a second edition of On Tactics someday. The hard cover contains some errors that were fixed in the paperback, but there are still some things I would expand on and change. I’m a much more experienced writer now and writing a book in your spare time on active duty at a station (Camp Lejeune) with a limited library is not ideal. So, if the Naval Institute Press is willing I’m going to do a second edition. But first comes the PhD. Then comes the book based on the dissertation. Then On Strategy. Then, maybe, the second edition.

But there are some things I felt needed to be addressed before then, especially the concept of defeat mechanisms, the ongoing debate on maneuver versus attrition warfare, and the emerging tactical regime of reconnaissance-strike tactics. I did that in the first version of this article which did not get accepted at another journal because it was “too tactical.” The strategic studies community is still too disconnected from tactics, but fixing that is a job for On Strategy.

Instead I extended the article to include thoughts on the future of amphibious warfare so it would fit with an upcoming Journal of Advanced Military Studies issue which has just been released, fully two years after I started working on the article. It’s called Reconnaissance-Strike Tactics, Defeat Mechanisms, and the Future of Amphibious Warfare and it’s free.

I haven’t read the rest of the issue yet, but it looks like there are some interesting topics. Be sure to check them out too.