Guadalcanal Plan: Operation Shoestring

We've all heard the sayings: “Haste makes waste,” “Look before you leap,” “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” They all make the same point: Be careful, especially when undertaking a difficult task. Prepare yourself. Think about the things that can go wrong, and have a plan ready when they do.
However, sometimes you have no choice. An opportunity arises, you decide to respond, and you go ahead with whatever plans and resources you can cook up at the moment. Just ask the US Marines who landed on the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal in August 1942. The landing was a colossal improvisation, concocted on the fly to take advantage of a recent dramatic turn in the Pacific war. The official name for the Guadalcanal landing was “Operation Watchtower,” but the Marines, with their sardonic sense of humor, had a better name: “Operation Shoestring.”