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When Sun Tzu the famous ancient Chinese military general put forth his thoughts on war, I wonder if he'd have envisioned how long those theories and strategies would last through time. It is interesting that we still hold these military strategy philosophies in such high-regard. Okay so let's discuss the concept of upgrading his ancient observations of war for the future of war.
I'd like to first point to an interesting work by Giulio Douchet called; "The Command of the Air" which was written in 1909 and then revised in 1929 by the author. You can get a copy of this work which was republished by the University of Alabama Press, (2009), ISBN: 978-0-8173-5608-8, and this book is based on and re-printed from Giulio Douhet's 1929 work.
Now then, on page 69 the author suggests that there needs to be a "third part" to the Sun Tzu's philosophy of war which would include the "Art of Aerial Warfare" - which makes sense, as there were not any military aircraft back in Sun Tzu's day and the ability to fly in the battlespace pretty much changes everything right? Okay so, I have a few questions here:
A.) Rather than us using Douhet's comments, wouldn't we be better acclimated to Consider; "Colonel Boyd" and his OODA Loop theories?
B.) And to this point of a third part to Sun Tzu, what about a fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh; cyber warfare, robotic warfare, mind control, Mother Nature force multipliers, and the future with; advanced energy weapons, dimensional manipulation, and space wars?
Now then to the Professor of Military studies who is always looking backwards and studying what other people say or have said, I'd suggest they think about my question; "B" here, because I am serious, and to those professors who will not look forward but only back, let me suggest that Douhet was right back then, just as I am now. So, here is my message to the Military Historian Professors that make kids sit through their lectures:
Dearest Professor, please just answer the question "B" in full! Oh you can't, I see. Okay so, in essence you are breaking the very cardinal rule of always looking at past wars and missing the future game-changers, then may I ask why I am paying real money to sit in your class my dear sir? Why are we learning from Giulio and memorizing what he said rather than studying how he thinks, not what he thought in hindsight? His thought process has proved him mostly right over the years on most things, he may not be batting 1000 but he did okay by historical prediction standards; remember "the future ain't what it used to be!"
Yes, for Douhet, some was good, some not so good, over all decent philosophy, but we can easily better his efforts, but we have to jump out of the box, so one last time before I start ditching your class Mr. PhD Professor of Military History and for fear of being brainwashed and indoctrinated into linear thought, as I have toilets to clean at home and more important matters to tend too. So, let me ask you one more time to answer question "B" until you exhaust all possibilities.
Because everyone in this class will have to live in the future period which includes B, especially if humans cannot learn to solve their differences without their warring ways, and if they only look back without looking forward, well then it is basically: guaranteed.
"Get the hell out of my class Lance!" I can hear the Military PhD Professor yelling at me now.
Still, I ask; why can't we take this class to a higher level, why can't we look into the future to see what lies ahead? We must if we hope to control the higher ground, and despite what we may believe now, that "higher ground" might not be only "space" with satellites, scramjets, and hypersonic delivery systems, and not the space as we currently know it.
Tell me my dear reader, student, and military professor; why are humans so unable to use their minds? Where is all this mental blockage coming from? Please think on that, I am leaving now before the professor kicks me out of here.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Military Technologies. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/
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