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Teaching Combat

Disciplines > Warfare > The Six Secret Teachings > 6.4 Teaching Combat

Teaching set  | Observed lessons | Discussion | See also

Teaching set

Leopard Secret Teachings 6.4 (54)

Observed lessons

• Teach weapons, movement and stopping.
• Teach officers first what you want of them, repeating this three times to ensure they understand.
• Connect actions with signals, so they know when to act.
• Teach ten soldiers, then have each of those teach ten. Very soon all will understand.

Discussion

Use of weapons is basic for soldiers, though full competence takes much effort. They also need to know about maneuvering. The third point, of stopping is interesting. When a soldier isf engaged with fighting, getting them to stop and change their action can be difficult. 'Stopping' is, in effect, obeying orders even when engaged in action.

Cascaded instruction allows for rapid deployment, even through relatively small teaching groups. The biggest danger is propagated errors, where a mistake in understanding is taught and is thence carried through to many other people.

See also

Teaching

Sawyer, R.D. (1993). The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Basic Books