This is Jocco Podcast Number 451 with Carrie Helton and me Jocco Willink.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Is war an art or science?

This question has been debated amongst military professionals and academics alike for centuries.

And there's good cause for debate. On the one side, the science of war is evident.

The use of empirically tested strategies, tactics, and techniques are required for success.

Planning based on detailed analytics and systematic lessons learned allow for the execution of methodologies that are backed by historical evidence.

The science of war is real but so is the art of war. Great military leaders do not

solely rely on data analytics and proven methods.

Instead, they use their own experience and judgment.

They apply their own imagination to create innovative approaches in order to solve complex problems.

Solutions are applied that allow their forces to out-manuever the enemy.

So solid arguments can be made for both cases,

but in my estimation, after decades of studying, training for, or fighting in wars, war is actually both an art and a science.

A student must understand both the art and the science of war in order to be truly proficient.

And it is the science that must come first in order to break the rules, a warrior must first know the rules in order to

utilize the freedom granted by creativity and imagination, you first must master the fundamental discipline of combat.

The same is true for the incredible skill of Jiu-Jitsu, which I have also had the good fortune to study

train and fight in for decades. With both these fields the science must come first. In war is it impossible to create an unexpected

attack if you don't understand what is expected. You cannot deceive the

enemy if you do not understand what it is he anticipates and you

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