Comments on: Reforming xGW

By: Capturing My Thoughts: XGW, Coming Anarchy, Boyd, and Categories of Conflict « PurpleSlog

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:34:28 +0000

[...] My Thoughts: XGW, Coming Anarchy, Boyd, and Categories of Conflict CA states: These categories provided the basis for Lind’s later work on 4GW. The advantage to Boyd’s [...]

By: purpleslog

purpleslog — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:23:16 +0000

Boyd is a good starting point, but it is not sufficient.

Where does genocide warfare (aka primal warfare) fit in? It doesn’t in Boyd (or in Lind’s GMW). It has a place in XGW.

Boyd’s Moral warfare is a subset of Lind’s GMS’s 4GW. There is not hint of the tools available in XGW’s 4GW in Boyd or Lind. Check out Unrestricted Warfare for an idea of the possible scope (perhaps though Unrestricted Warfare should be consider something separate from 4GW).

Also, in Boyd there is no place for 5GW aka Secret War aka Invisible Warfare.

By: ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » What use is xGW?

ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » What use is xGW? — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:11:28 +0000

[...] has an interesting rejoinder to my suggestion for reforming xGW by doing away with the chronologic aspect. Curtis says something very striking in his post: If xGW [...]

By: Soob

Soob — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:21:05 +0000

“I maintain that xGW should abandon the timeline altogether.”

Amen. The idea that strategy prior to 1GW (Napoleonic) should simply be relegated to “pre-modern” warfare is ridiculous and constrains the theoretical framework. The chronological aspect has always been the number one element of GMW that I’ve found inconsistent with reality.

By: Dreaming 5GW

Dreaming 5GW — Fri, 30 May 2008 03:43:47 +0000

Triangulating Clausewitz and Boyd…

Recent discussions re: “GMW vs xGW” [1] [2] [3] suggest that William Lind’s Generations of Modern Warfare model is insufficient and that the newer model xGW proves more useful for understanding warfare in our present era—as well as…...

By: Benjamin Walthrop

Benjamin Walthrop — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:07:35 +0000

Your thoughts on the naval aspects of the categories of conflict that you have brought to our attention would be appreciated.

The US Navy in particular has had a component of manuever warfare and attrition warfare (especially at the founding of the nation through WWII). In WWII, I believe the Navy shifted to manuever conflict, and if the new maritime strategy is a guide the US Navy may have recently codified a shift to Moral Conflict.

By: Dan tdaxp

Dan tdaxp — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:35:23 +0000

Excellent post.

Just one clarification: I think I, like you, was a fan of GMW (the Generations of Modern War). Further thought and discussion have made GMW unacceptable as an analytical tool. XGW has branched off from GMW.

I think it is best to say that XGW is a response to GMW, that builds off GMW, and contradicts GMW.