Sharpening the Combat Edge

"Sharpening the Combat Edge" focuses on the use of analysis in combat operations and concentrates on the utilization of techniques in situations with which the authors are personally familiar. It covers primarily the systematic blending of military judgment, data collection, and simple problem solving techniques as used in the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force, Vietnam, 1968-1970. The approach is rather tentative because it was not possible in many cases to determine exactly what factors made the operations go so well. Rather the authors have laid out the most important and interesting factors in the hopes that the readers will be stimulated and perhaps decide for themselves what the critical points were.