Combat Team: The Captain's War: An Interactive Exercise in Company Level Command in Battle

by John Antal

You are the combat commander in this innovative interactive book. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891416358
• ISBN13: 9780891416357
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Presidio Press
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Great book

I was expecting this to be a dry informational book. But it briefs you on the basic of tanks, and throws you into battle in an interactive, sectioned book where you choose what will happen next. You learn a lot from the story, from your mistakes, and from appendixes in the back. If you end up dying in combat, or even succeeding, there's is a section which tells you what you did right or wrong with quotes from famous generals and military theorists like Patton and Sun Tzu. Great book, great read, and cheap! Love it! www.aaronsinfo.com

Review from Parameters Magazine

An  unusual book that deals with leadership at the tactical level.  "Combat Team: The Captain's War, An Interactive Exercise in Company Level Command in Battle, is by John F. Antal, an Army officer presently serving in the office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The premise of the book, which the author describes as a "scrambled text"; is that the reader commands a company-sized combined arms team and leads it through a series of combat situations. The "scrambled text" requires an action at the end of each section of the book. Readers will jump to specified sections of the narrative based on a roll of the dice or decisions they have made while working through each section. This replication of a profoundly nonlinear process illustrates the passage from Clausewitz's On War with which Antal introduces the Foreword: "Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war." From PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly, The United States Army's Senior Professional Journal,  Winter 1998, pp. 143-44.

Combat Team; effective leadership both teaches and learns

Few Americans will ever actively lead a combat unit, like the combined tank and mechanized infantry force led by the fictional Army captain in John Antal's COMBAT TEAM, yet almost anyone who must direct the efforts of others, whether it be in business, education or healthcare, can and should learn the central lesson of all the books in Colonel Antal's series of three interactive combat scenarios. To succeed, a commander at any level must develop and consider all reasonable options, then delegate authority enhanced his or her expertise, augmented in turn by what the teacher gains from the student. As the captain commands he also learns from his lieutenants, sergeants and privates. This principle should guide us all, regardless of uniform, or mission in life.

Superb study of company level warfare!

This book is a must read for every professional soldier and Marine ... or for that matter, anyone interested in ground combat. If you want a glimpse of what combined arms, ground combat might be like in Kosovo or Korea, read Combat Team!

Realistic, detailed, thought provoking

Should be required reading for all Army officers. If you want to be able to save "Private Ryan" someday, Captain, then you'd better start working on this book. Antal is a master of leadership and tactics and excels in his ability to teach the reader these difficult subjects. He is also a fascinating storyteller. His characters and the events they experience are vibrant but ,unlike other novels, you don't just observe the action you live it. Your active participation in the decisionmaking process lets you come as close as possible to truly experiencing the leadership challenges faced by today's young commanders. A must read for anyone who wishes to improve their leadership skills and to better understand America's Army.