When the enemy adopts a policy to attack convoys, truck drivers become front line combat troops. An ambush is an attack with the element of surprise and surprise provides the ambusher an uninterrupted shot and kill. The lethality of the opening volley depends upon the planning and employment of the
weapon systems. Yet, no matter how well planned, something will generally survive the initiation of the ambush. After that first shot or volley, the element of surprise is lost and the convoy’s reaction creates chaos in the kill zone. It is in this chaos that the truck drivers can turn the fight back on the ambushers. To understand this, convoy commanders must then become tacticians.
Tactics is not something a student of war can expect to learn by reading a manual. To follow a procedure or repeat a technique is to establish a pattern of predictability. There is no one right answer to every question. Each problem requires its own solution. Certain principles, however, remain consistent throughout each problem. The student of war must understand the difference. This concept of war is so vague and elusive that a great number of military
philosophers have tried to articulate it into a concept that students can understand. Because it varies from situation to situation, tactics is not a doctrine. War is chaos. Simply put, in combat each side makes mistakes. The side that protects its weaknesses and exploits that of the enemy, wins. For the infantry, tactics is not a study of battlefield formations and maneuvers but doing whatever is necessary to bring all one’s weapons to bear against a weak spot in the enemy position and exploiting it. It should not be much different with convoys. Most victories are determined at one decisive point in the battle. The trick is finding that location that
provides the tactical advantage at the decisive time. Winners train to make this a habit.
