ebooks Combat Team: The Captain's War: An Interactive Exercise in Company Level Command in Battle by John Antal in History

Review

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Binary and limitedBy Paul H.I read Antal's other book (Infantry Combat) a number of years ago and felt like I actually learned some valuable insights (albeit as an "armchair" expert). This book however seemed too binary and simple. I finished it to the "best" outcome in one pass and most of the potential for bad outcomes relied on a dice roll. By binary; I mean that if you made the right choice (which seemed obvious) things went very well; if you made the wrong choice; you were dead within a couple of pages. Overall; I would say that this text oversimplifies the decision making process in combat too greatly by limiting the number of choices and with the abundance of information available. The best plans are truly simple (overly complicated plans almost never work); but if you've read anything about armor tactics; this book isn't worth much for educational value. There is no real information quandary and the fog of war seems very thin in this text. I would expect that any commander would make the right decisions in these situations; thus the limited value of this book. It would seem obvious that sometimes in combat; there is no perfect solution with an ideal outcome; just a choice about how to deal with a deadly situation in the best possible way.That being said; I did enjoy reading this text and it was a nice entry-level exam that; in my own mind; validated what I felt I understood about armored combat.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Find something more recentBy Patrick McCurdyWritten before 2001; so most of the tactics and applications are outdated.12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. Review from Parameters MagazineBy A CustomerAn  unusual book that deals with leadership at the tactical level.  "Combat Team: The Captain's War; An Interactive Exercise in Company Level Command in Battle; is by John F. Antal; an Army officer presently serving in the office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The premise of the book; which the author describes as a "scrambled text"; is that the reader commands a company-sized combined arms team and leads it through a series of combat situations. The "scrambled text" requires an action at the end of each section of the book. Readers will jump to specified sections of the narrative based on a roll of the dice or decisions they have made while working through each section. This replication of a profoundly nonlinear process illustrates the passage from Clausewitz's On War with which Antal introduces the Foreword: "Everything in war is simple; but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war." From PARAMETERS; US Army War College Quarterly; The United States Army's Senior Professional Journal;  Winter 1998; pp. 143-44.