Invitation and Infiltration

Any Soldier worth his salt knows doctrine.  Army doctrine dictates what we do and how we do it. Doctrine and discipline enables a force to behave like an Army -- unlike a mob. 

The Army’s doctrinal manual says there are six forms of maneuver: envelopment, turning movement, frontal attack, penetration, infiltration, and flank attack.  Americans are familiar with many of these.   The failure of Pickett’s famous but ill-fated frontal attack is a classic.  The “left hook” as envisioned by “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf and superbly executed by the XVIII Airborne Corps during Desert Storm is widely regarded as one of the most successful flank attacks  of modern maneuver warfare.

Maneuver warfare can be very effective, but it often comes with a steep price tag. Ever since I was a young lieutenant, I’ve harbored the thought that the best and most surefire way to utterly destroy a nation is relatively easy.  Simply give that nation you wish to cripple free cable and shows like Oprah, MTV, The View, Jersey Shore and Jerry Springer.  You will have them on their knees in twenty years.  Infect their school systems and you can achieve like results although it may take a little longer.   All of this without firing a shot. 

Although the above is not an example of one of the six forms of maneuver, there is one form that is nearly as insidious if executed efficiently, i.e. “infiltration.”  As silly as this might sound, the inspiration for this column was actually an email I’d recently received from a friend in California.  Even though it involves the Navy, please indulge me for a moment and see if it doesn’t have the same effect on you:

     One night, a U.S. Navy destroyer stops four Mexicans rowing towards Texas. The Captain gets on the loud-hailer and shouts, "Ahoy, small craft. Where are you headed?"    

     One of the Mexicans puts down his oar, stands up, and shouts, "Gringo we are invading the United States of America to reclaim the territory taken by the USA during the 1800's."   

     The entire crew on the destroyer doubles over in laughter.  When the Captain finally catches his breath, he gets back on the loud-hailer and asks, "Just the four of you?" 

     The same Mexican stands up again and shouts, "No, we're the last four. The other 12 million are already there."

I trust you get the idea.  The tactic is clear.  The “book definition” for what an infiltration is can be found in Army Field Manual (FM) 3-90-1, Offense and Defense, C2, HQDA, 13 APR 2015).  It says. “An infiltration is a form of maneuver in which an attacking force conducts undetected movement through or into an area occupied by enemy forces to occupy a position of advantage behind those enemy positions while exposing only small elements to enemy defensive fires.”  These “infiltrators” have executed this maneuver in a manner far better than the definition calls for; they’ve succeed in occupying terrain without being exposed to any “enemy” fires.  The only thing in question now is the actual number and ultimate effect of this highly successful maneuver. 

Let me close as an ambassador of a kingdom that is not of this world.  One whose borders are open to all – calling whomsoever may to come.  Calling not with a statue of liberty in the form of a lady bearing a torch, but in the form of a Savior on a tree bearing the sin of the world. 

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Church at Corinth explains the folly of putting our faith in the temporal.  Paul writes,

  

     “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands… Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come…Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. … Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

Invitation, far superior to infiltration.