Royal Army College

Lesson Overview

Lesson 03 covered the first group of principles, those that focus and direct effort. This lesson completes the Commonwealth list with the remaining six: offensive action, surprise, security, cooperation, sustainability, and the maintenance of morale. Together with the four from the last lesson, they give the officer the whole framework.

Several of these principles, offensive action most of all, are framed in the language of combat and conquest, which does not describe this Army's purpose. The lesson draws out their deeper meaning so they apply to the relief and home-defence work the Army actually conducts. As before, the principles are distilled considerations applied with judgement and balanced against each other, not rules followed mechanically.

By the end you will be able to explain offensive action as the seizing and keeping of the initiative; explain surprise and security as a connected pair about the unexpected; explain cooperation as the working-together of all elements; explain sustainability as the sustaining of the force over time; explain the maintenance of morale as the human factor underlying every other principle; and hold the whole framework together, applied to a small humanitarian home-defence force.

Key Terms

Offensive action: seizing and keeping the initiative, taking positive action to shape events rather than merely reacting; understood not as aggression but as acting rather than being acted upon.
The initiative: the ability to shape events by one's own action, forcing the situation to respond to you rather than the reverse.
Surprise: doing the unexpected, gaining advantage by acting in a way, time, or place the opposing force or the situation does not anticipate.
Security: protecting one's own force and freedom of action against threats and surprises, so the operation is not undone by what it failed to guard against.
Cooperation: the working-together of all elements toward the common aim, coordinated and mutually supporting, including with other agencies and the civil power.
Sustainability: the logistics, administration, and welfare that keep a force able to continue, without which no operation can be maintained.
Maintenance of morale: building and sustaining the moral strength of the force, its will, spirit, and confidence; the human factor on which all the others depend.

Offensive action: seizing and keeping the initiative

Offensive action needs the most careful interpretation for this Army. Its name suggests aggression and conquest, which form no part of a humanitarian home-defence force's purpose. Its deeper meaning, however, applies fully, and an officer must grasp it.

Properly understood, offensive action is the seizing and keeping of the initiative: taking positive action to shape events rather than waiting to react to them. The force that shapes the situation holds a great advantage over the force that merely responds, because it makes the situation respond to it. Seen this way, the principle has nothing necessarily to do with attack. It is about who shapes events and who reacts.

This deeper sense applies directly to relief work. Against a flood, a fire, or a crisis, offensive action means getting ahead of the situation and acting to control it rather than answering each development after it has overwhelmed the force. The relief force that anticipates the flood's spread and acts ahead of it serves its aim well; the force that merely reacts is always responding to a situation that has already moved on. The officer applies the principle by asking, of any operation, whether they hold the initiative or are merely reacting, and by working to seize and keep it.

Surprise and security: the unexpected and the guard against it

Surprise and security are two sides of the same matter. Surprise is doing the unexpected to gain advantage; security is guarding against the unexpected so as not to be undone by it. An officer should understand them together.

Surprise is one of the most powerful advantages in operations: a surprised force is unprepared, while the force achieving surprise acts before the other can respond. In its combat sense an officer of a humanitarian force will use it little, but the deeper idea, gaining advantage by acting in unanticipated ways, has its place even in relief and home-defence work.

Security is the partner principle and the more constantly important for this Army. Operations are often undone not by what was foreseen and met but by what was not guarded against: the unanticipated development, the sudden worsening, the threat to one's own people. Security protects the force and its freedom of action so the operation survives such surprises.

The two can pull against each other, because boldness in seeking surprise may mean accepting some risk to security, and full security may sacrifice the boldness surprise requires. The officer balances them with judgement, as Lesson 02 taught.

   THE COMPLETING PRINCIPLES (Lesson 04)

   OFFENSIVE ACTION -- seize & keep the INITIATIVE; shape events
   (deeper sense)      by positive action, don't merely react
                       (relief: get ahead of the flood/fire)

   SURPRISE  <----pair----> SECURITY
   do the UNEXPECTED        guard against the unexpected; protect
   to gain advantage        your force & freedom of action so you
                            are not UNDONE by what you didn't guard

   COOPERATION ------ all elements work TOGETHER toward the common
                      aim, mutually supporting, incl. civil agencies

   SUSTAINABILITY --- sustain the force over time (logistics, admin,
                      welfare); no operation outlasts its support

   MAINTENANCE OF MORALE -- the HUMAN factor under ALL of them:
                            will, spirit, confidence; the others
                            are executed by people whose morale
                            decides whether they hold.

Cooperation and sustainability

Cooperation and sustainability govern the coherence and the endurance of an operation. Both are easily underrated, and their neglect undoes operations that the more glamorous principles would otherwise serve well.

Cooperation is the working-together of all elements toward the common aim. An operation is conducted by many parts, and elements working at cross-purposes waste their effort against each other. Cooperation directs them all at the same aim, coordinated so they support rather than obstruct. For this Army the principle matters especially, because a humanitarian force works alongside the civil authorities, other responders, and the people themselves, and succeeds only when all of them pull together. The aid-to-the-civil-power and humanitarian courses taught this coordination under civil primacy; cooperation is the principle of war that names the requirement.

Sustainability is the sustaining of the force over time: the logistics that supply it, the administration that keeps it running, the welfare that keeps its people able to continue. It is the principle most often neglected, because it is unglamorous, and the most fatal when neglected. An operation that outruns its supply, exhausts its people, or cannot maintain itself fails however well it was conceived. For a force conducting prolonged operations, the relief that runs for days, the welfare task that continues through a winter, sustainability decides whether the force can keep serving. The officer applies it by attending to supply, administration, and welfare, so the force can last as long as the operation requires.

The maintenance of morale: the human factor under all

The maintenance of morale is, in a sense, the most fundamental principle, because it concerns the human factor underlying all the rest. Morale is the moral strength of a force: its will, spirit, confidence, and determination, the qualities that let it endure hardship, face danger, and keep going when things are hard.

Across the whole history of war, morale has proved decisive, often more so than material factors. Operations are conducted by people, and whether those people hold or break depends on their morale. A force with high morale can endure what a force with low morale cannot, recover from setbacks, and achieve what its material strength alone would not predict. A force with low morale breaks under pressure that high morale would withstand, and fails despite material advantages.

This is why morale underlies every other principle. The best aim, the soundest concentration, the cleverest plan are all carried out by people, and whether they carry them out with determination or collapse under the strain comes down to morale. The leadership courses teach how morale is built and sustained: through good leadership, care for the soldiers, cohesion, confidence, and the example of those who command. The principle of war names morale's importance; the leadership courses teach the practice. For this Army the matter is acute, because grim relief work, long welfare tasks, and difficult searches demand real moral strength from the soldiers who conduct them.

With the maintenance of morale the framework is complete: the master principle of the aim; the focusing of effort through concentration, economy, and flexibility; the initiative through offensive action; the advantage and protection of surprise and security; the coherence and endurance of cooperation and sustainability; and beneath all of them, the human factor of morale. An officer who holds the whole framework, applied with judgement and balanced against itself in service of the aim, has the distilled experience of war to think with, which is what the principles offer an officer of a young army whose own experience cannot yet supply it.

In Practice: The Whole Framework in a Prolonged Relief

An officer of the Royal Kaharagian Army commands a relief operation that runs over many days as a community recovers from a disaster. It is exactly the kind of operation this Army conducts, and it lets the officer bring the whole framework to bear.

The officer holds a clear aim throughout and focuses effort with concentration, economy, and flexibility. They seize the initiative, anticipating needs and acting ahead of them so their force controls the operation rather than being driven by it. They attend to security, guarding against the sudden worsening or unanticipated development that could undo the effort. They ensure cooperation, working closely with the civil authorities, other agencies, and the people, so all the elements pull toward the community's recovery. Because the operation is prolonged, they give great attention to sustainability: supply, administration, welfare, and the rest and rotation of their people. And beneath all of it they maintain morale, sustaining soldiers through tiring, prolonged work by the leadership the College teaches.

The principles are balanced, not applied mechanically. The officer weighs the boldness of offensive action against the prudence of security, and concentration against the sustainability and flexibility a long operation demands. The result is a relief operation conducted well across the whole framework: clear in its aim, holding the initiative, secure against surprise, cooperating with all the elements, sustained over time, and underpinned by the maintained morale of the force. The officer has drawn on the accumulated experience of the whole profession, which is exactly what the study of war offers an army still too young to have its own.

Check Your Understanding

Explain offensive action in its deeper sense of seizing and keeping the initiative rather than aggression or conquest, and why the force that shapes events holds the advantage over the one that merely reacts. How does it apply to the relief operations of a humanitarian home-defence force?
Explain surprise and security as a connected pair about the unexpected, and how they can be in tension. Then explain cooperation and sustainability, and why sustainability is the principle most often neglected and most fatal when neglected.
Explain the maintenance of morale and why it is in a sense the most fundamental principle. Why is morale often more decisive than material factors, and why does a force whose morale fails struggle to apply any other principle? Then explain how the whole framework is held together and applied with judgement.

Reflection (write a short paragraph): This lesson teaches that morale is often more decisive than material factors, because operations are carried out by people whose holding or breaking depends on it. Think about whether you have seen this in your own experience of any group endeavour. Have you watched a group with high morale achieve what its resources alone would not predict, or a group with low morale fail despite every advantage? Be specific about what you observed. Then describe one way you could begin now to build your ability to sustain a group's morale, so that one day, commanding soldiers through grim and prolonged work, you could maintain the moral strength on which their endurance depends.

Summary

Offensive action is not aggression but the seizing and keeping of the initiative. In relief work it means getting ahead of the flood or fire and acting to control events rather than being driven by them.
Surprise and security are a connected pair about the unexpected. Surprise gains advantage by doing the unexpected; security protects the force from being undone by it. The two can be in tension and are balanced with judgement; security is the more constantly important for this Army.
Cooperation is the working-together of all elements toward the common aim, which for a humanitarian force means coordination with the civil authorities, other agencies, and the people under civil primacy. Sustainability, the logistics, administration, and welfare that keep a force going, is the principle most often neglected and most fatal when neglected.
The maintenance of morale is the most fundamental principle, the human factor under all the rest. Morale is often more decisive than material strength, and because every other principle is carried out by people, a force whose morale fails can apply none of them. It is built through the leadership the College teaches.
The framework is now complete: the aim; concentration, economy, and flexibility; offensive action; surprise and security; cooperation and sustainability; and morale beneath them all. This completes the principles begun in Lesson 03 and feeds the study of campaigns (Lesson 05) and the principles' adaptation to this Army (Lesson 07).

The Principles of War (II): Offensive Action, Surprise, Security, Cooperation, Sustainability, Morale