Military Power

Which do you think is the most important "Variable" in combat? AND Why?

Training
Technology
Leadership
Quantity
Morale
Geographical features
Reconnaissance
Weather
Deception
Other

I understand that all can be vitally important, but, say for the sake of argument that there are 2 forces that are exactly the same in all regards. you and your opponent can each choose to "enhance" your force with one attribute (you chose first and your opponent can not choose the same one as you), which do you choose, and why?

I vote for leadership. You can have the most highly trained soldiers on the planet, and they are still nothing without a designated leader. It applies to everything in life, and not just combat. You can come up with a brilliant design, and have the most expertised scientists and engineers working on creating that design, but they still need a leader. Even though Rambo kicked ass by himself, he still had a leader, it was his dignity. Even the President of the United States has his leaders, they are past Presidents. A leader does not have to be a person who is alive. That leader could have started an idea, died trying to create that idea and it takes off a hundred years later. Even your computer which you are using to read the nonsense I am typing right now has a leader, it is YOU!

The Confederacy is a great example of how leadership plays in combat. General 'Stonewall' Jackson was an extremely influencial leader. His troops would saw off all of their ligiments just to fight by his side. And when Jackson, sadly fell, that was when the collapse of the Confederacy began to develop. General Lee had a slight stroke prior to Gettysburg. It may have caused him to make bad decisions, which he normally would not have done in previous battles, but his prior leadership still clung to those soldiers which fought in that southern Pennsylvania town. That kind of leadership may have been why the Union won at Gettysburg.

And believe me when I say this, you have to have some good leadership in order to get a couple thousand people to make a mile march across an open field with tons of cannon fire being shot at you, when you have a pretty good idea how it will all turn out in the end.

So in conclusion, leadership is the most important variable in combat. It does not have to be living, and it does not have to take physical form. It can be a multitude of many different things. Leadership may be what seperates humans from everything else on this planet. We have the ability to be leaders of ourselves and of mass amounts of our own species.

"Superior training and superior weaponry have, when taken together, a geometric effect on overall military strength. Well-trained, well-equipped troops can stand up to many more times their lesser brethren than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate."

-- Col. Corazon Santiago, "Spartan Battle Manual"

"The moral is to the physical as three to one."

-- Napoleon

Just a couple of quotes to help (or muddy the waters even more)

Leadership. Good decisions can make up for more than half the other factors. For example the good leader can motivate the men (morale) or outmaneuver the enemy so that there's numerical superiority, etc.

Leadership, while very good, I think is over rated. If you rely on the leadership, what happens if the leader(s) get taken out? I chose training because with proper training, even with an inept leader, you can think for yourself and generally leaders emerge from training.

But leadership does not require training. Anyone off the street can be a leader, and they do not require training. Whether they are a good leader or not is up to them at that point.

Forestry_manDCNR07 wrote:But leadership does not require training. Anyone off the street can be a leader, and they do not require training. Whether they are a good leader or not is up to them at that point.

They have to teach the person with a leader personality what kind of formations there are, or what are the different types of warfare, after all.