Quantification in tactical decision making is the application of mathematical measurements and estimates to tactical considerations of time, space, and relative combat power. The United States and the Soviet Union are remarkably divergent in the application of tactical quantification. The Soviets exercise a rigorous troop control methodology based on extensive quantification. The US approach is primarily intuitive with little quantitative foundation. The dichotomy in the US and Soviet approaches to tactical quantification can be attributed to cultural and historical influences. This dichotomy has achieved particular significance in light of the recent evolution of battle. The increasing complexity and lethality of modern battle has amplified the tension between the unforeseeable and immeasurable aspects of combat friction and the requirements for control and efficiency in the application of combat power. The US Army officer sees tactical decision making as an art rather than a science. In recent decades the United States has enjoyed a heritage of tactical decision making in a resource-rich environment in which intuitive errors were redeemed by overwhelming material superiority. Specific tactical quantification guidelines are not incorporated into doctrine; tactical quantification procedures are addressed in a limited academic environment but rarely practiced. The Soviet Army officer sees tactical decision making as a science rather than an art. The early disasters of the Great Patriotic War have left an ineradicable legacy of scientific troop control and tactical quantification. Tactical quantification is one component of a scientific systems approach to tactical decision making that incorporates doctrine, procedure, equipment and training without sacrificing the human component of the commander's creativity. The stark dichotomy in the US and Soviet application of tactical quantification can be examined in its historical, theoretical, and doctrinal implications. The US Army lacks a balanced appreciation for tactical quantification's role as a complement to intuitive judgment. The United States Army must develop a systems approach to tactical decision making that incorporates tactical quantification into a comprehensive framework of theory, doctrine, training and force development.

ADA 191438 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)