The Staff Ride

By its very nature, was is a highly complex affair with a virtually infinite number of variables. Conducted in a dynamic environment by human beings, themselves infinitely variable in personality and intellect, war is played out on the three-dimensional chessboard of terrain. That war is also highly emotional makes it especially difficult to replicate through theoretical formulations because the human variables are impossible to isolate and quantify exactly. Yet soldiers who are charged with the conduct of war must continually strive in peacetime to prepare themselves to wage it successfully. Direct Personal experience is one guide, but knowledge usually is limited in scope and is often in short supply. Theory provides one substitute foe experiences but alone is far from satisfactory. Not nearly so neat and clear-cut as theory, but far more illustrative of the complexity engendered by human factors in war, is military history. Carefully integrated into training, military history can go far to provide the vicarious experience of war needed to further the professional education of soldiers.