Principles of War: Self Analysis – Offensive

I’m analyzing my martial arts skills, capabilities, and style through the lens of the Principles of War as defined in U.S. Army Field Manual FM 3-0. My commentaries on the definitions are available through the links below.

Mass
Objective
Offensive
Surprise
Economy of Force
Maneuver
Unity of Command
Security
Simplicity

For Mass my grade was a “C”; For Objective a “B”. This time I’ll grade myself on Offensive.

“Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative.”

This Principle of War, like the previous two, has three elements.

(1) Seize the initiative
(2) Retain the initiative
(3) Exploit the initiative.

Seize the Initiative:
My natural inclination is to counter-punch. This is an inherently defensive posture and a poor starting point for seizing the initiative. In truth, this is the opposite of seizing the initiative. It’s voluntarily giving away the initiative to my opponent. There’s an element of “seize” in countering however. When the counter is executed against the opponent’s attack I’m “seizing” the initiative from him – after first letting him have it.

My grade for the “seize the initiative” element is a “D”.

Retain the Initiative:
Retaining the initiative implies a continuous series of offensive attacks or threatening maneuvers that prevent the opponent from regaining his equilibrium. In the self defense scenario I interpret it to mean, having once penetrated his defense, prevent the opponent from reestablishing it. This is best accomplished by pressing the assault through striking combinations or continuous application of an effective joint lock or choke.

When my counter works it must flow into a continuous assault. This is designed into my personal strategy and tactics. This is how I train. For the Offensive element “retain the initiative” I get a “B”.

Exploit the Initiative:
Exploiting the initiative means to reinforce success and pursue the retreating opponent until he’s destroyed. For self defense, I interpret it as pressing my attack until my strategic objective, the safety of my loved ones and me, is secured.

My counters lend themselves to flowing directly into finishing techniques. My strategy & tactics reinforce this transition and I’ve trained this way throughout my martial arts career.

Because exploiting the initiative is inherent to my personal style I give myself an “A” for this element.

Overall Grade:
For the Principle of War: Offensive I’ve graded myself a “D” for “seize the initiative”; I gave myself a “B” for “retain the initiative”; and an “A” for “exploit the initiative”. Overall, my grade for the Principle of War: Offensive is a “B”.

My weakness in the element “seize the initiative” matches the weakness I uncovered in the element “decisive place” during my analysis for the Principle of War: Mass. I want to develop a strategy and tactics for “seizing the initiative” to successfully attack the “decisive place”.

In my next post I’ll grade myself on the Principle of War: Surprise.

Link to the Martial Arts Training Report: The Principles of War