This is great. But why is it also linked from "Kansas morons" in the particles?

Posted November 18, 2005 4:23 PM by Andrew Brown

Um, because stupidity is catching?

I've fixed the Kansas link.

Posted November 18, 2005 4:52 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

That was fun. I imagine the reference to "shite sandbags" in the last dream should really read "white sandbags," but I am not a military man.

Posted November 18, 2005 4:59 PM by Kieran

Rather like shite bricks, I would expect.

This looks very cool; getting down to reading it as we speak.

Posted November 18, 2005 8:29 PM by Nick Fagerlund

I read this with true pleasure. I wonder if young Mr Forethought might have given consideration to the certainty that the Boer Commando, riding up to the farm, would immediately see that it had been inhabited and in use until the day before, and that its owners had removed in haste. That is, the Boers would certainly know that the British were in the vicinity. The only place the latter could be interested in would be the drift. No Boer commander with a grain of sense would therefore bring formed bodies within effective rifle range of it until it and surrounds had been thoroughly scouted. There was never, therefore, any real chance of an effective ambush.

The final deployments suggested would certainly have come under fire from both flanks and the rear, though that would be the case with any. I would have suggested that the slit trenches should be in two rough saw-tooth lines, all at slightly different angles to each other, so that there was no enfilading all of them, and that lateral trenches were needed at both ends. Concealment of all these would be vital, of course.

The Boers would certainly have been able to approach quite close during darkness, and the ant-mounds make excellent rifle-fire cover from any one angle. I wonder if Mr Forethought gave any consideration to detached foxholes within easy range of the main works, with a sniper or two to discourage Brother Boer from taking up positions behind a convenient mound?

There could be no movement in the lines once contact was made, of course, and therefore no redeployment. It has to be got right first time.

Posted November 18, 2005 10:47 PM by Dave Luckett

This reminded me of some text adventure games. There's one called Lock and Key, for instance, where you play the designer of a dungeon. You have various traps at your disposal, which you emplace; then a strong-thewed barbarian hero is put in the dungeon, and you get to see whether your traps will keep him from escaping. On your first play-through, they certainly won't. (In fact, on your first play-through, you most likely make some very basic mistakes, since some of the rules of trap emplacement don't get explained up front.) As you keep starting over, you gradually learn more about the hero and his equipment ("Who plans to raid the king's treasury and says, 'I think I'll bring along seven pounds of BEEF! Yeah, that'll come in handy!'??" "Well, it did." "Oh, shut up.") and what will work against him -- just as our Lieutenant BF learns more about what will work against the Boers -- until you hit on the exact combination that will win the game.

It makes me wonder about the possibility of adapting Defence as IF....

Posted November 19, 2005 5:16 AM by David Goldfarb

Somewhat off-topic -- I love the little gimmick with the semi-footnote.

Posted November 19, 2005 11:36 AM by Neil Rest

Lock and Key, as recommended by David Goldfarb. Requires an interpreter.

Posted November 19, 2005 5:55 PM by Christopher Davis

In the spirit of not-rocket-Science, my attempt at at recreating an old wargaming concept for the Internet generation:

A Simple Wargame

Posted November 20, 2005 8:13 AM by Dave Bell

There's also a modern version, The Defense of Hill 781 by James McDonough. The commander's mistakes in this are, to my tactically inept eye, much less obvious than in Duffer's Drift, so I'd guess armies have learnt something about tactical training in the intervening century.

Posted November 21, 2005 7:23 AM by Paul Clarke

Would "duffer's drift" be a tendency for conversations between duffers to drift in all sorts of odd directions?

If so, thank you for defending it!

Posted November 21, 2005 10:01 PM by Erik Nelson

Very cool read. I think we should and can learn from our dreams.

Posted November 24, 2005 12:32 AM by Ashley Bowers

I found a complete copy here http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/Swinton/Swinton.asp

Posted November 26, 2005 11:39 PM by Gary Williams

For researchers or gamers who happen on this see also and currently free on the web:

JCAS and The Defense of Duffer's Wadi

D. Matthew Neuenswander
This article updates E.D. Swinton's book The Defense of Duffer's Drift written about combat in the Boer War and printed in the US in 1905. Like its predecessor, the article outlines a series of dreams of a main character in combat--in this case, a captain in command of a Stryker company who is tasked with the defense of a key piece of terrain, Duffer's Wadi. A "wadi" is a valley, gully or riverbed that remains dry except during the rainy season.

Reminiscent of Duffer's Drift, the main character makes mistakes in the first dream that result in disaster for him and his unit. In his subsequent dreams, he learns from his previous mistakes until he finally is successful in accomplishing his mission. Unlike Duffer's Drift, this article focuses on a single mission area: the ground commander's use or misuse of fires, specifically, joint close air support (JCAS).

The lessons the captain learns in these dreams are actual lessons gleaned from Air Warrior I and II after-action reports (AARs). Air Warrior I is the USAF exercise flown in support of brigade combat team (BCT) rotations at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California. Air Warrior II is the USAF exercise flown in support of BCT rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), Fort Polk, Louisiana.

JCAS and The Defense of Duffer's Wadi

D. Matthew Neuenswander
This article updates E.D. Swinton's book The Defense of Duffer's Drift written about combat in the Boer War and printed in the US in 1905. Like its predecessor, the article outlines a series of dreams of a main character in combat--in this case, a captain in command of a Stryker company who is tasked with the defense of a key piece of terrain, Duffer's Wadi. A "wadi" is a valley, gully or riverbed that remains dry except during the rainy season.

Reminiscent of Duffer's Drift, the main character makes mistakes in the first dream that result in disaster for him and his unit. In his subsequent dreams, he learns from his previous mistakes until he finally is successful in accomplishing his mission. Unlike Duffer's Drift, this article focuses on a single mission area: the ground commander's use or misuse of fires, specifically, joint close air support (JCAS).

The lessons the captain learns in these dreams are actual lessons gleaned from Air Warrior I and II after-action reports (AARs). Air Warrior I is the USAF exercise flown in support of brigade combat team (BCT) rotations at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California. Air Warrior II is the USAF exercise flown in support of BCT rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), Fort Polk, Louisiana.

FA Journal, Sept-Oct, 2004 by D. Matthew Neuenswander, D. Wayne Andrews

Posted August 30, 2007 6:19 PM by Clark E. Myers

Here's the link:

JCAS and The Defense of Duffer's Wadi

Posted August 30, 2007 7:07 PM by James D. Macdonald