Gray and strategy (III): Not using time in warfare? Then it may be used against you
I was glad to see Gray in his 17th essay tackle time as an issue in warfare. This was something that I puzzled about in Iraq but never really felt I came to understand. In the first two years of the war I had the sense that time was wasting, that opportunities were passing by ...
I was glad to see Gray in his 17th essay tackle time as an issue in warfare. This was something that I puzzled about in Iraq but never really felt I came to understand. In the first two years of the war I had the sense that time was wasting, that opportunities were passing by not to come again, but that no one seemed to be noticing this. (I also was amazed back in 2004 that the phrase "tactical patience" was seen by some officers as a contradiction in terms.)
"Time is rarely neutral," he writes. "If it is not used wisely by one belligerent, it is likely to be a vital weapon in the enemy's arsenal."
I would have understood the war better if I had seen this sentence back in 2004: "in irregular warfare, that between guerrillas and regular forces, time can actually be the prime weapon of the militarily weaker side."
I was glad to see Gray in his 17th essay tackle time as an issue in warfare. This was something that I puzzled about in Iraq but never really felt I came to understand. In the first two years of the war I had the sense that time was wasting, that opportunities were passing by not to come again, but that no one seemed to be noticing this. (I also was amazed back in 2004 that the phrase “tactical patience” was seen by some officers as a contradiction in terms.)
“Time is rarely neutral,” he writes. “If it is not used wisely by one belligerent, it is likely to be a vital weapon in the enemy’s arsenal.”
I would have understood the war better if I had seen this sentence back in 2004: “in irregular warfare, that between guerrillas and regular forces, time can actually be the prime weapon of the militarily weaker side.”
More from Foreign Policy


Is Cold War Inevitable?
A new biography of George Kennan, the father of containment, raises questions about whether the old Cold War—and the emerging one with China—could have been avoided.


So You Want to Buy an Ambassadorship
The United States is the only Western government that routinely rewards mega-donors with top diplomatic posts.


Can China Pull Off Its Charm Offensive?
Why Beijing’s foreign-policy reset will—or won’t—work out.


Turkey’s Problem Isn’t Sweden. It’s the United States.
Erdogan has focused on Stockholm’s stance toward Kurdish exile groups, but Ankara’s real demand is the end of U.S. support for Kurds in Syria.