Tactics of the Crescent Moon: Militant Muslim Combat Methods

With Iraq's future still in doubt, U.S. forces are now having to leave Afghanistan. As in Vietnam, they couldn't quickly enough compensate for the enemy's elusive 4GW method. (4th-Generation Warfare is fought in four arenas at once: martial, political, economic, and psychological/religious). Due largely to the arms manufacturers' clout, U.S. forces still practice a "high-tech" version of 2GW (killing as many enemy as possible). The world is still dangerous, and Americans will be deployed again. To fare better next time, they must do something about their antiquated small-unit maneuvers. Aboard U.S. bases, learning how to surprise someone has too often taken a back seat to learning how to operate the latest equipment. One does not become any less visible or able to dodge bullets by donning advanced electronics. Instead of historical artifacts, Posterity Press books should be viewed as vehicles of overdue change. Sadly for the U.S. military, they may always be progressive.Tactics of the Crescent Moon wouldn't have been required reading aboard Stateside infantry bases, if it didn't fully describe the Islamists' method.Those who would become the next generation of American warrior should be careful to which multi-tour veteran they now listen. Some may never have been infantrymen or special operators. Others may now work for a public-affairs extension of "the military industrial complex." That complex is in no hurry to tell anyone about how poorly their expensive equipment has fared in the absence of small-unit maneuver. More useful might have been a little free "in-unit" tactical experimentation. It takes light-infantry tactics to do well at 4GW. Since the latter stages of WWII, America has had only "line" infantry. Its "modern" equivalent travels mostly by truck and fights mostly with supporting arms.Tactics of the Crescent Moon provides the full background and particulars of the Islamists' still viable method with the emphasis on its martial component. It is a heavily researched, well-illustrated, and spell-binding account of how Muslim militants continue to befuddle the West. Only those who hope to more happily end the next foreign adventure should read it.