The Defense of Hill 781: An Allegory of Modern Mechanized Combat

ISBN: 0891414754

Author: McDonough, James R.

Condition: Used

Brilliant, hardhitting description of modern war on the U.S. Armys premier training ground. A must-read tactical primer for todays warrior.-John C. Doc Bahnsen, Brigadier General, USA (Ret.)At the turn of the century a small, humorous book on tactics was published. The Defense of Duffers Drift quickly became a bestseller and today is still widely read. The Defense of Hill 781 is a modem version of this classic-a tactical primer with ample funpoking, but with serious lessons to be learned.Lt. Col. A. Tack Always Finds himself in the California high desert, alone, disheveled, confused. A guide soon appears to inform him of his situation: He has died and is now in Purgatory (his humility in the Army was somewhat lacking) where he must atone for past sins. Purgatory is, aptly, the U.S. Armys National Training Center (NTC), and Lt. Col. Always may earn his way out by completing a successful mission. Through a series of six missions, the reader plans and fights with Lt. Col. Always, making the split-second decisions that determine victory or defeat, life or death.Through successive difficulties, some important lessons are burned into the commanders brain-lessons about tactics, about people, about what it takes to fight a winning battle. Like Duffers Drift this book is a valuable resource for all military tacticians. For the armchair general, it is a fascinating look at how the members of a military unit work together in combat.