To raid." Here the objective, e.g., "infliction of loss and
damage by raiding", is inferred.

In the foregoing instances, the action to be taken is indicated in
general terms. The extent to which the action may properly be
indicated depends on the nature of the problem and is necessarily left
to the judgment of the commander. Two possibilities, between which
there may be various intermediate cases, are as follows:

(a) To destroy the enemy force by simultaneous attacks on
the escort and convoy.

(b) To destroy the enemy force by an attack with the main
force on the escort, following this immediately by an attack
on the convoy with a flanking force before the convoy can
scatter so widely as to make ineffective the pursuit of any of
its units.

For a further application, it will be noted that the national policies
referred to early in this discussion (page 7) are national courses of
action, considered and adopted as methods of attaining national
objectives.

The expression "courses of action", in the sense of a plan considered
or adopted as a solution of the problem, has the defect that it
appears to emphasize the action, rather than the paramount component,
i.e., the objective. So long as this fact is borne in mind, the
limitations of the term "courses of action" need not operate to
influence, adversely, the solution of the problem.

As noted above, the commander brings to mind courses of action by the
mental act of "envisaging", i.e., "viewing with the mind's eye or
conceptionally", "seeing as a mental image", bringing fully and
distinctively to view. How is this done?

Although the time available for the process depends on the particular
problem, the process itself is the same for all. During the
clarification of the problem, the commander will have entertained
certain ideas,--ideas as to such matters as the existing situation,
the desired new situation, the possible physical objectives, the
relative positions and movements of the forces involved, and related
matters. His training and experience cause these ideas to evoke
others, which are associated in his mind with problems of the
past,--in particular, with the bearing of such ideas on the outcome of
those problems.

This process of thinking, if it is to be effective as well as
reflective, requires mental access to certain sources of ideas. These
sources may lie in the study of history, or in the wealth of doctrine
and