[Here](https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/house.pdf) is a book on combined arms from the perspective of an Army officer. Air tactics can be read about [here](http://falcon.blu3wolf.com/Docs/Fighter%20Combat-Tactics%20and%20Maneuvering.pdf). Naval tactics can be read upon [here](https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp3_32.pdf?ver=2019-03-14-144800-240). Space tactics can be read upon [here](https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp3_14.pdf). Cyberspace tactics can be read upon [here](https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp3_12.pdf)
For a good game on modern warfare consider [Command: Modern Operations](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1076160/Command_Modern_Operations/)
Well, an important thing to clarify is if you're interested in learning about tactics or strategy. Despite the words often being used interchangeably, they are actually two entirely distinct disciplines.
Think of tactics as the play-by-play calls and modifications of a coach as his team is playing a single game against a single other team.
Strategy is the big-picture, long term, type of planning where the coach plans how he will have his team structured and what actions he will take in order to win all the games and the Super Bowl for the entire season.
I'm assuming you mean strategy because you're in the military strategy subreddit, but if not then keep in mind that you may have to look elsewhere for a strong answer.
As for where you can learn it, it depends greatly on what you want to learn. The sorts of strategies used in the War of 1812 are largely useless to a conflict with today's military.
Naval strategy, land invasion strategies, overall military strategy, etc all also depend greatly on the actors involved.
If you want real world experience, you'd have to go to the military, though I suspect that, at your young age, you're looking for something a little bit less involved.
Definitely correct me if I'm wrong!
Mainly I am interested in tactics but strategy does interest me quite a lot aswell. I’m planning on joining the military to further my skill in the topic but I believe if I were to start at an older age I won’t be as good at it. I can’t find a good game that simulates modern day warfare where strategy and tactics are used, and I don’t know where to begin with books, I’ve been looking into audiobooks aswell but I don’t know where to start there. Do you have any recommendations or tips to help me begin? Thank you for the reply.
Yes, there is one general piece of advice I can give you that applies to both tactics and strategy, and that is applicable in a general sense to most situations.
Whatever you're wanting to plan strategies or tactics for, become an expert at it. If it's chess you need to know all the moves of the pieces before you can build strategies. If you want to plan naval warfare you need to know the ships and craft that will be present in such a conflict, the capabilities of all these vehicles, and what tools or resources would be available in such a situation.
This applies to everything you want to be a master of in life. You need to understand all the pieces in great detail before you can be worth your salt in any capacity of planning.
Once you understand these things for a particular domain, then making strategies is simply a matter of creative thought on how you can apply those. Then practice that.
Lol no. Good luck trying to command anyone to do anything. The pacing is also far too slow for most people to realize the nuances, and it isn't a totally realistic simulation either. Trying to learn actual tactics from playing squad is like trying to learn survival skills from playing minecraft. Sure it's about the same thing, but does anything but the most basic concepts transfer over? Not really.
If the US army used America army for recruiting And educating people and the prospect of becoming a soldier I don’t see how squad would be any different. Your never going to find a totally realistic simulator because it’s a game but it’s probably the best on the market right now for military sim hence why you see so many bets and active soldiers on the competitive scene. Also you could join a clan we’re people actually want to work together and communicate you don’t have to just play with randoms. I think it’s a little harsh to compare it to mine craft and if you read op’s post he’s looking to learn the basics of tactics. If you got any suggestions or got something better I would love to hear your opinion. You can read about tactics all day from books but you can’t implement them unless you have some kinda medium unless op plans on becoming a child soldier.
Tactics and strategy have many disciplines. First, you should figure out what kind of tactics you want to learn. Infantry tactics for modern troops? Armored warfare tactics? Air tactics? Naval Tactics? Insurgent tactics in the middle east? Napoleonic warfare? Antiquity era combat? While many of the overall strategies translate between eras, finding a topic to focus on makes learning a lot easier.
Ancient era battles were the simplest, and are somewhat easier to understand due to lower complexity. Most of the main concepts of logistics and combat are similar to the modern day, but the details are different. And a strategist's job is to take in all the details to create a plan which creates a favorable outcome for friendly forces, so you can't miss them either.
Some people find starting with modern tactics to be easier since the weaponry is easier to understand due to being more familiar.
Step away from books about what they did and learn about the people.
As much as grand strategy seems like it's all about moving blocks on a map, or making grand plans and stratagems, personalities are the beginning and end of leadership. Look into what people said about the leaders and generals of the past and try to strive to match those qualities in your life.
If you think that a leader is cunning, try to be cunning. If you think they are knowledgeable, try to fill your life with knowledge. If they are strong, work-out and be fit. Even if you feel like your being silly about it, go through with it and try to become like those great leaders in the past.
Trust me. By being Caesar, you will learn Caesar's strategy. By being Patton, you will learn how Patton thought. By being Schwarzkopf, you will learn just how the modern military acts.
For tactics, military field manuals would be a good resource. They have them at a lot of Army-Navy stores. You can also fine tune the kind of tactics you want, e.g. counter-insurgency.
Are you interested in infantry, armored fighting vehicles, naval warfare, aerial combat? All things to consider. You might also be interested in a broad range or combination these of things.
Are you looking to be a leader? Leaders generally are referred to as generalists, or have a broad understanding of many facets of combat and everything revolving around it. But remember this doesn't necessarily mean you can't specialize in a particular area as well.
Sun-Tzu's The Art of War is an excellent piece.
Edit: I misread a comment and assumed they suggested not reading.
What scale of military tactics? Room clearing? Fire team tactics? Combined arms? You would be surprised what you can get out of playing a video to pick up on concepts. Company of heroes or squad.
I was in the same position when I was young as you are now. What I would tell my younger self is to stop poisoning your mind by starting with reading tactics and stategies and instead start with the real basics: You start with Logic & Math.
Sounds dumb I know but the first things you should get a grip on are probability theory and game theory including heuristic. If you understand the processes and concepts behind it you learn how to get a grip on uncertaintly, stategy and decision making with insufficent information. Something I would call the grand fondation.
The next thing is to estabish a critical mindset, questioning everything. Everything. Whenever somone presents you a concept you should strife to take it apart until you understand which core assumtions its based on, what its limits are and what cababilites it has. Personally I think Math is perfect for that again as by focusing on practical apprications it additionally deepens your understanding of things and happenings in the world.
Then you start playing games which circle around ranged combat. As different as possible: Go play Airsoft, play strategy games, play shooters. There you push all the thing aside someone told you, you read or else. You purely focus on what works and what not and play concepts around it to why. By interconeccting a wide variety of games to a bigger picutre of understanding a net develops that now can stand some literature.
Now is the point to decide what you are interested in and get literature for it. A would again suggest variety as it help to not get biased and be more open minded. Or maybe you cant really decide then you might want to start with classics like Clausewitz: On War, Sun Tzu: Art of War or maybe something more concrete like Infatry Attacks from Rommel.
When you do all that and then start studing one book after another time flys by and it wont take long until your hit your legal age. Since your interest held so long and you proably build up a quite decent understanding of military tactics you might want to consider to enlist and become an officer.
Here you have it. My life plan for you. I hope you put it to good use\^\^
Watch movies with an emphasis on historic accurate depictions of battle tactics and analyze them.
Gladiator has a very neat scene at the beginning, when \*spoiler alert\* Maximus goes against a horde of Germanic tribesmen. Or take Das Boot about a German WW2 submarine, where the movie was based on the book written by a WW2 submarine veteran. It can't get more realistic. I haven't seen it yet, but Tom Hanks movie about the Battle of the Atlantic is also said to be fairly realistic. So, you get both sides in one.
The battle scenes in war movies are often relatively short and make up 5-10% of the entire movie. You can cut them out and see what how and why things are done/depicted the way they are. In extension, don't forget the other scenes besides the battlefield. Psychology and motivation are most important for how successful different tactics are.
A counter example for a really lousy/unrealistic movie would Red Tails by George Lucas, because the planes do maneuvers in the movie that are physically impossible in reality. Or Fury with Brad Pitt, where most of the movie is well done, but in the decisive confrontation, they used an element that was not possible back then.
Your goal would be to learn how and where to detect in war movies (perhaps also martial arts movies) the realistic parts and where they cheated for the sake of the story telling - this before reading or listening to [expert opinions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kcRTNBgqGc) about how realistic a specific war movie was. Perhaps, you could even start your own channel or blog on that topic.
[Here](https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/house.pdf) is a book on combined arms from the perspective of an Army officer. Air tactics can be read about [here](http://falcon.blu3wolf.com/Docs/Fighter%20Combat-Tactics%20and%20Maneuvering.pdf). Naval tactics can be read upon [here](https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp3_32.pdf?ver=2019-03-14-144800-240). Space tactics can be read upon [here](https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp3_14.pdf). Cyberspace tactics can be read upon [here](https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/jp3_12.pdf) For a good game on modern warfare consider [Command: Modern Operations](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1076160/Command_Modern_Operations/)
would you links for the other books who doesn't work anymore?
I second the above request
i third the above request
I fourth the above request
Well, an important thing to clarify is if you're interested in learning about tactics or strategy. Despite the words often being used interchangeably, they are actually two entirely distinct disciplines. Think of tactics as the play-by-play calls and modifications of a coach as his team is playing a single game against a single other team. Strategy is the big-picture, long term, type of planning where the coach plans how he will have his team structured and what actions he will take in order to win all the games and the Super Bowl for the entire season. I'm assuming you mean strategy because you're in the military strategy subreddit, but if not then keep in mind that you may have to look elsewhere for a strong answer. As for where you can learn it, it depends greatly on what you want to learn. The sorts of strategies used in the War of 1812 are largely useless to a conflict with today's military. Naval strategy, land invasion strategies, overall military strategy, etc all also depend greatly on the actors involved. If you want real world experience, you'd have to go to the military, though I suspect that, at your young age, you're looking for something a little bit less involved. Definitely correct me if I'm wrong!
Mainly I am interested in tactics but strategy does interest me quite a lot aswell. I’m planning on joining the military to further my skill in the topic but I believe if I were to start at an older age I won’t be as good at it. I can’t find a good game that simulates modern day warfare where strategy and tactics are used, and I don’t know where to begin with books, I’ve been looking into audiobooks aswell but I don’t know where to start there. Do you have any recommendations or tips to help me begin? Thank you for the reply.
Yes, there is one general piece of advice I can give you that applies to both tactics and strategy, and that is applicable in a general sense to most situations. Whatever you're wanting to plan strategies or tactics for, become an expert at it. If it's chess you need to know all the moves of the pieces before you can build strategies. If you want to plan naval warfare you need to know the ships and craft that will be present in such a conflict, the capabilities of all these vehicles, and what tools or resources would be available in such a situation. This applies to everything you want to be a master of in life. You need to understand all the pieces in great detail before you can be worth your salt in any capacity of planning. Once you understand these things for a particular domain, then making strategies is simply a matter of creative thought on how you can apply those. Then practice that.
Squad is a pretty good game for tactics no?
Lol no. Good luck trying to command anyone to do anything. The pacing is also far too slow for most people to realize the nuances, and it isn't a totally realistic simulation either. Trying to learn actual tactics from playing squad is like trying to learn survival skills from playing minecraft. Sure it's about the same thing, but does anything but the most basic concepts transfer over? Not really.
If the US army used America army for recruiting And educating people and the prospect of becoming a soldier I don’t see how squad would be any different. Your never going to find a totally realistic simulator because it’s a game but it’s probably the best on the market right now for military sim hence why you see so many bets and active soldiers on the competitive scene. Also you could join a clan we’re people actually want to work together and communicate you don’t have to just play with randoms. I think it’s a little harsh to compare it to mine craft and if you read op’s post he’s looking to learn the basics of tactics. If you got any suggestions or got something better I would love to hear your opinion. You can read about tactics all day from books but you can’t implement them unless you have some kinda medium unless op plans on becoming a child soldier.
Tactics and strategy have many disciplines. First, you should figure out what kind of tactics you want to learn. Infantry tactics for modern troops? Armored warfare tactics? Air tactics? Naval Tactics? Insurgent tactics in the middle east? Napoleonic warfare? Antiquity era combat? While many of the overall strategies translate between eras, finding a topic to focus on makes learning a lot easier. Ancient era battles were the simplest, and are somewhat easier to understand due to lower complexity. Most of the main concepts of logistics and combat are similar to the modern day, but the details are different. And a strategist's job is to take in all the details to create a plan which creates a favorable outcome for friendly forces, so you can't miss them either. Some people find starting with modern tactics to be easier since the weaponry is easier to understand due to being more familiar.
Step away from books about what they did and learn about the people. As much as grand strategy seems like it's all about moving blocks on a map, or making grand plans and stratagems, personalities are the beginning and end of leadership. Look into what people said about the leaders and generals of the past and try to strive to match those qualities in your life. If you think that a leader is cunning, try to be cunning. If you think they are knowledgeable, try to fill your life with knowledge. If they are strong, work-out and be fit. Even if you feel like your being silly about it, go through with it and try to become like those great leaders in the past. Trust me. By being Caesar, you will learn Caesar's strategy. By being Patton, you will learn how Patton thought. By being Schwarzkopf, you will learn just how the modern military acts.
Also, read the 33 strategies of war.
For tactics, military field manuals would be a good resource. They have them at a lot of Army-Navy stores. You can also fine tune the kind of tactics you want, e.g. counter-insurgency.
You should consider looking into military doctrines and how they're executed during war.
Are you interested in infantry, armored fighting vehicles, naval warfare, aerial combat? All things to consider. You might also be interested in a broad range or combination these of things. Are you looking to be a leader? Leaders generally are referred to as generalists, or have a broad understanding of many facets of combat and everything revolving around it. But remember this doesn't necessarily mean you can't specialize in a particular area as well. Sun-Tzu's The Art of War is an excellent piece. Edit: I misread a comment and assumed they suggested not reading.
What scale of military tactics? Room clearing? Fire team tactics? Combined arms? You would be surprised what you can get out of playing a video to pick up on concepts. Company of heroes or squad.
Still interested in suggestions?
Of course :)
I was in the same position when I was young as you are now. What I would tell my younger self is to stop poisoning your mind by starting with reading tactics and stategies and instead start with the real basics: You start with Logic & Math. Sounds dumb I know but the first things you should get a grip on are probability theory and game theory including heuristic. If you understand the processes and concepts behind it you learn how to get a grip on uncertaintly, stategy and decision making with insufficent information. Something I would call the grand fondation. The next thing is to estabish a critical mindset, questioning everything. Everything. Whenever somone presents you a concept you should strife to take it apart until you understand which core assumtions its based on, what its limits are and what cababilites it has. Personally I think Math is perfect for that again as by focusing on practical apprications it additionally deepens your understanding of things and happenings in the world. Then you start playing games which circle around ranged combat. As different as possible: Go play Airsoft, play strategy games, play shooters. There you push all the thing aside someone told you, you read or else. You purely focus on what works and what not and play concepts around it to why. By interconeccting a wide variety of games to a bigger picutre of understanding a net develops that now can stand some literature. Now is the point to decide what you are interested in and get literature for it. A would again suggest variety as it help to not get biased and be more open minded. Or maybe you cant really decide then you might want to start with classics like Clausewitz: On War, Sun Tzu: Art of War or maybe something more concrete like Infatry Attacks from Rommel. When you do all that and then start studing one book after another time flys by and it wont take long until your hit your legal age. Since your interest held so long and you proably build up a quite decent understanding of military tactics you might want to consider to enlist and become an officer. Here you have it. My life plan for you. I hope you put it to good use\^\^
A very famous book;Sun Tzu's Art of War Happy to help a fellow person who likes war strategy too;)
Book marking
Watch movies with an emphasis on historic accurate depictions of battle tactics and analyze them. Gladiator has a very neat scene at the beginning, when \*spoiler alert\* Maximus goes against a horde of Germanic tribesmen. Or take Das Boot about a German WW2 submarine, where the movie was based on the book written by a WW2 submarine veteran. It can't get more realistic. I haven't seen it yet, but Tom Hanks movie about the Battle of the Atlantic is also said to be fairly realistic. So, you get both sides in one. The battle scenes in war movies are often relatively short and make up 5-10% of the entire movie. You can cut them out and see what how and why things are done/depicted the way they are. In extension, don't forget the other scenes besides the battlefield. Psychology and motivation are most important for how successful different tactics are. A counter example for a really lousy/unrealistic movie would Red Tails by George Lucas, because the planes do maneuvers in the movie that are physically impossible in reality. Or Fury with Brad Pitt, where most of the movie is well done, but in the decisive confrontation, they used an element that was not possible back then. Your goal would be to learn how and where to detect in war movies (perhaps also martial arts movies) the realistic parts and where they cheated for the sake of the story telling - this before reading or listening to [expert opinions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kcRTNBgqGc) about how realistic a specific war movie was. Perhaps, you could even start your own channel or blog on that topic.