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There are many things to consider when planning and engaging in warfare. Of course, Sun Tzu is a great read for understanding these things. In accordance with this guild, and for self creation purposes, that is something that is purely unique to this guild, I have devised a rather simple system intent on making decision making and planning a relatively easy and systematic thing to do. While not necessarily the most detailed, instructive, or truthfully full-filling guide, it hopefully will be something unique to the Manokan Guild.








Mission

Objective

Strategy

Tactics




MOST, or M, O, S, T, is an acronym for Mission, Objective, Strategy, and Tactics. Remember to always try to make the Most, of your situation. M is of course, for mission. The mission, and the objective, or the Mission Objective are one in the same; the objective, directly following mission, is a direct follow up and sub-unit of the mission itself. While a mission and objective are directly related, the Objective quite literally being a "Mission Objective", or MO, the Objective is such an important and integral part to any mission that it is considered important enough to be a separate entity. As it follows Mission, or M, it is a direct sub-unit of it, and Mo is standard for the Same concept of the objective and mission objective itself. The difference between a mission and an objective is such that a mission defines, lists, and exacerbates all important, relevant, and even random information associated with a mission, where as the objective is the primary goal. Were as a mission is in all actuality technically an objective, the Objective, or Mission Objective, specifically clarifies the objective of the mission in a short, concise and otherwise packed and loaded few statements, as a quick and constant reminder of what the unit's duty actually is.


S is for Strategy, and T is for Tactics, with Tactics being a direct sub-unit of Strategy, forming the Acronym "ST". Tactics, in that Regard, are in reality "Strategical Tactics", that is a Tactic is part of a Strategy. While a Strategy and Tactics are directly related, Tactics are considered important and integral enough to be considered their own separate entity, and thus form the "T" in MS (Mission Strategy), or MoSt, as objective forms the "O". The difference between Strategy and between Tactics is that a Strategy ideally encompasses a plan for an entire Mission Parameter, were as a tactic is a unit in achieving the said strategy. While different tactics can influence a strategy, and vice versa, they are slightly different in application and in use. Were as a strategy is solely a plan of action, a tactic may be a specific kind of weapon or skill used in the execution of such a strategy. For instance, using machine guns rather than machetes can be a tactical advantage, were as a strategic advantage may be troop size (say, 6,000 versus 300). A good example of the difference between something strategically important and something tactically important would instead be something like a suicide mission. Strategically, a suicide mission drains a military of soldiers, units, and resources, infringing on the wide-spread campaign of a military, were as tactically suicide missions often have a very high rate of success, and many particular activities can be achieved effectively by a unit "Giving themselves up"; such as in a suicide bombing, in were as person rushes an enemy so fast they are incapable of responding, and shooting the suicide bomber has little to no effect as their bomb explodes anyways and can potentially remove a wide range of enemies. An example of this kind of activity could be noted in WWII, in which Kamikaze war planes would dive bomb into enemy ships, promoting significant amounts of pinpoint damage very effectively in a short time period, but effectively reducing the number of well trained and very brave pilots in the war. As well, by not preserving their own pilots, they eventually wore out their out Navy and Airforce reserve, effectively depleting themselves of many useful soldiers. Another example of this is of course in the middle east, in which suicide bombers constantly barrage enemy strongholds in self destructive manners; being very hard to combat, but after a 3-4 war campaign, the effective number of units dropping by nearly 250%. While Strategies and Tactics are directly related, due to their slight differentiations which can change the course of battle, both are considered equally important, and form the "ST" part of "MOST".

Basic Definition

Mission- The mission is the total description of all the parameters present in a specific scenario or series of events, and the objective of the primary Manokan Forces, or your objective in general or specifically. The Mission is basically the entire event taken up, summarized, and given in direct context. Basic Intel, information from reconnaissance, and extraneous forms of information will be considered, weighed, and given to you for assessment and understanding, and is part of a mission. The mission of course, includes all the various details of the event and any relevant, despite how irrelevant, information present; and usually more. A mission only exists as a result of an objective, and vice versa, and typically a Mission Objective and a Mission go hand in hand.

Objective- This is usually a quick, concise, and charged Mission Objective or "MO", or in other words, a "Mission Statement". While not necessarily a Mission Statement in the way it is used colloquially and usually, the central aspects of the Mission Objective are simply a Mission Statement. Whether concise or not, the Mission Objective is the series of actions needed to be preformed by the unit receiving the Mission, and more or less serves as a finite goal by the end of the Mission; I.E. disable the Reactor, Eliminate all enemy troops, or Gather Intel. Why not necessarily detailed, an Objective specifically outlines the goals wished to be achieved by the end of a mission, or as an end result- in other words it serves as a guide for all the actions preformed by a unit, and all the strategies developed. Conversely, if things haywire or not according to plan, the mission objective keeps the duties of such units in the correct perspective.

Strategy- Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked. How a battle is fought is a matter of tactics: the terms and conditions that it is fought on and whether it should be fought at all is a matter of strategy, which is part of the four levels of warfare: political goals or grand strategy, strategy, operations, and tactics. A strategy also involves a full fledged goal or action in which an entire party will be clinging to, were as tactics are usually the execution or ways in execution of said strategy.

Tactics- Military tactics, the art of organizing an army, are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics. They basically involve the plans for the actual execution of said strategy- such as using a nuclear bomb or giving a specific area to target. Tactics also involve smaller movements, such as a Squad engaging in Guerrilla warfare of shock tactics or preforming specific maneuvers. An example of a used tactic would be "Blitzkrieg", or lightning war, a tactic in which Hitler used to try to use sudden, "Shock Force" to surprise and overwhelm the enemy before they could mount a defense. The strategy of course, was to use this tactic to take several key strong holds of the enemy and capture ports, political centers, and cities in order to force their enemies into some form of stand still and to gather new territory and "workers". The difference between a strategy and a tactic is very thin, however, given the importance of both, both are included in the MOST acronym.