Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Adjusting in war: Have we adopted any enemy tactics over the last decade?

I was enjoying a Sierra Nevada Torpedo or two (yum-oh) and reading The Complete Roman Army and this line jumped out at me: It was a point of pride for the Romans to be willing to copy and employ the effective tactics or equipment of their enemies. . . . This made me wonder: Have ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Wikimedia
Wikimedia
Wikimedia

I was enjoying a Sierra Nevada Torpedo or two (yum-oh) and reading The Complete Roman Army and this line jumped out at me:

I was enjoying a Sierra Nevada Torpedo or two (yum-oh) and reading The Complete Roman Army and this line jumped out at me:

It was a point of pride for the Romans to be willing to copy and employ the effective tactics or equipment of their enemies. . . .

This made me wonder: Have we copied any enemy tactics over the last decade? If not, is there a good reason (like the tactics are inhumane) or is it just the "casual arrogance" that Andrew Exum identified?

 

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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