Learning the principles of war by rote is all very good, but sometimes it's useful when learning them, to have some kind of narrative to put those principles into some kind of context. A study of military history and after action reports can be helpful, but as a teaching aid, The tactical narrative followed by tactical problems, self testing questions, and some options for consideration puts a bit of life into learning basic principles. A classic of this kind of tactical narrative method of officer leadership training is "The Defence of Duffer's Drift". The Defence of Duffer's Drift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by Captain E.D. Swinton, D.S.O., R.E. It's a document of its time...and British colonial culture, but its general structure has influenced many authors who have followed in Maj Gen Swinton's footsteps. A more recent example of the genre is The "Defence of Jisr Al Doreaa, set in the Iraq theatre of operations. The Similarity to the defence of Duffer's Drift will become apparent. Enjoy the reading...and consider how this same method could be adapted and used to sharpen your own wits in defending your BOL / homestead. http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/AIWFC/COIN/repository/Defense_of_Jisr_Al_Doreaa(2008).pdf The US Army has gone all digital with the Defense of Jisr Al Doreaa narrative....for those who are more X Box afficionados than text readers.....here's the You Tube version for you. Other interesting examples of the genre are: The Defence of Booby's Bluffs, written in the 1920's by Brig Gen William J Mitchell, is an American addition to the Genre: The Battle of Booby's Bluffs - Introduction The Defence of Bowler Bridge: A study in Minor Tactics....A 1930's British effort at this genre.... The Defence of Bowler Bridge Spoiler alert for Defence of Duffer's Drift readers. Read the narrative first. http://www.stanford.edu/class/polisci211z/1.4/1.4.pdf
