Fog and Friction on the Modern Battlefield

The computer age has revolutionized many aspects of our daily lives. For example, communication is now easier and faster than ever before. Veterans of previous wars would be astonished to see soldiers participating in video teleconferences with loved ones while deployed in a combat zone. Some modern theorists believe that given the realities of the computer age “fog and friction” are now obsolete on the modern battlefield. For Clausewitz, fog and friction were the central problem of warfare. Clausewitz’s fog and friction can be broken down into four elements: danger, physical exertion, uncertainty, and chance . This paper will show that while technological advances are great enablers on the modern battlefield, fog and friction still exist. Technology has not eliminated the components of danger, physical exertion, uncertainty, and chance from the modern battlefield.

“The sight of men being killed and mutilated moves our pounding hearts to awe and pity .”

The first element of fog and friction according to Clausewitz is that of danger. Danger for Clausewitz involved cannonballs and bursting shells whizzing in all directions as soldiers to the left and right are killed before you. This description of warfare is remarkable similar to that of today’s modern battlefield, IEDs, RPGs, and gunfire punctuate patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan. “After a blast, he looked down to find his severed leg lying in his lap .” Technology has given the modern soldier tools which can attack from afar without personal danger to the soldier. Aircraft can strike with precision munitions from thousands of feet in the air, rocket artillery systems can reach hundreds of miles, and armed UAVs can acquire and fire on targets without any personal danger. However, as shown by history and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an opponent facing overwhelming technological overmatch can negate his opponent’s technology advantage by resorting to an insurgency. Air power cannot win an insurgency, artillery is not effective for limited warfare in an urban environment, and UAVs, satellites, and other remote sensing methods cannot find terrorist cells without HUMINT obtained from soldiers and agents interfacing with the populace. The computer age has not removed danger from warfare. Warfare still involves soldiers occupying terrain and the dangers involved with that occupation.

“War is the realm of physical exertion and suffering .”

The second element of fog and friction according to Clausewitz is that of physical exertion. War is a collective effort of individuals. Soldiers individually, the army collectively, and the commander all have limits to the physical exertion they can endure. However, those limits are continually in flux and cannot be accurately measured. Leadership in war is about pushing soldiers to their limits to achieve the maximum effort. Those limits change as the situation changes, a defeated army surrounded on all sides can either give up or fight to the last man as the Japanese did in their defense of Iwo Jima and many other Pacific Islands during WWII. A victorious army can conduct a zealous pursuit or turn to rape and pillage the countryside. The computer age has organized the moving of men and material and made supplying an Army a more efficient process. However, soldiers or contractors still have to move that material through the war zone on a “grueling, two-day trip across 425 miles of those roadways .” The computer age has done nothing to eliminate the physical exertion involved in warfare.

“… information, how unreliable and transient it is ,”

The third element of fog and friction according to Clausewitz is that of uncertainty. Uncertainty is the ‘fog’ in Clausewitz’s definition of fog and friction. There is uncertainty in the location of friendly forces, the location of enemy forces, and most of all in the intention of the enemy commander. Modern technology has done a great deal to mitigate some of this uncertainty: Blue Force tracker and FBCB2 (Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below) assist a modern commander in knowing the location of friendly forces. Satellite imagery and remote sensing technologies allow the commander an almost omniscient ‘eye in the sky’ to see the location of enemy forces in a conventional battlefield. However, as discussed before this technology gives no advantage in a counter-insurgency in which the enemy combatants blend in with the local populace. Remote sensors cannot distinguish friend from foe; only a soldier in danger with great physical exertion can gain credible intelligence to break the fog of war. In addition, beyond determining the location of enemy forces, remote sensing and technology cannot discern the intention of the opposing commander. The computer age has not lifted the fog of war.

“The element of chance, guesswork, and luck come to play a great part in war .”

The final element of fog and friction according to Clausewitz is that of chance. Clausewitz discusses chance under the term friction. “Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult .” This is Murphy’s law stated in the 1800s. An army is a giant machine made of thousands of individual parts each of which can be affected by chance. Orders can be lost, delayed, or misinterpreted. Plans can be executed poorly or willfully disobeyed. Troop movements can be delayed, disrupted, or diverted by weather, enemy activity, or mechanical problems. Minor inconveniences can combine to create major problems that were unforeseen to the commander or staff. Danger and physical exertion only multiply the effect of chance. No development in the computer age can counteract the effect of chance on the battlefield. Chance is still a large component of the fog and friction of warfare.

In conclusion, the computer age has spawned many technological innovations that assist the warfighter, however, none of these gadgets or ‘systems of systems ’ has dissipated the fog and friction of war from the modern battlefield. Clausewitz’s ideas of ‘fog and friction’ are still valid and present in today’s conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The modern battlefield is still a dangerous place filled with physical exertion, uncertainty, and chance.