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When you cross a swamp, try to do it fast
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this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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chapotraphouse
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It's really good though but you have to be able to take the specific cases Sun Tzu is talking about and apply them to conflict more generally. Like the "look for different kinds of dust clouds to figure out what your enemy is doing" bit doesn't apply much today, but you can look for tell tale signals that offer insight on the actions of your enemies. Are the pigs on foot or in cars? What kinds of weapons are they carrying? Are they in regular uniforms or riot gear. It sounds obvious, but most people have the same understanding of conflict as those ancient noble failsons
Y'all massively overestimate how much the average person understands about conflict and struggle. Sun Tzu has an important place and doesn't deserve all this scoffing.
It's also really easy to look at the advice and consider it obvious when you're sitting at home reading it with plenty of time on your hands. It's less obvious when you're in a stressful real world situation.
The stuff that soldiers get taught in basic training also feels really obvious. "Stay physically fit. Be aware of your surroundings. Only point guns at what you want to kill. Follow orders quickly." None of this should feel surprising to anyone with the most basic knowledge of what a soldier does, but drilling it in until it's what you do automatically in the moment is important.
Dang, good point, never thought of the armchair stress-free aspect before.
That's one of my major takeaways from BJJ after over a decade: competition separates what you know and what you think you know. What you actually know and what you'll actually do is a really short and simple list compared to the multitudes of knowledge and trivia you'll see and collect like trading cards. I was practicing going from ashi garami to a heel hook for a year before going to a competition that allowed it and the moment I saw an opening for it I messed it up bigly and let a person I was frankly more athletic than win.
Same, but with combat LARPing. The difference between sparring in a park and a real brawl at an event with hundreds of people on the field is striking.