I do appreciate the respect the author of “Hardly a War” expresses for veterans. I also agree that a wrestling match is not “really a war”. However, I disagree that comparing war and wrestling is "asinine", "disrespectful", or "foolish".

Carl Von Clausewitz in On War, Chapter 1, "What is War?" defines war through the analogy of two wresters. He writes:

We shall not enter into any of the abstruse definitions of war used by publicists. We shall keep to the element of the thing itself, to a duel. War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale. If we would conceive as a unit the countless number of duels which make up a war, we shall do so best by supposing to ourselves two wrestlers. Each strives by physical force to compel the other to submit to his will: his first object is to throw his adversary, and thus to render him incapable of further resistance.

As a veteran, I have often discussed war with my sons, especially with my older son that is considering entering the armed forces. To help try and explain the mental aspect of war, I have often associated war with wrestling. For example, in battle, it is the side that has trained harder, fights smarter, and ultimately has the will to overcome their opponent at the point of decision. Often it is the personal will of the commander or leader that presses his men far beyond what they think they are capable of to overcome adversity and defeat the enemy.

A wrestling match has similar characteristics. Often it is the wrestler that has trained harder, wrestles smarter, and is mentally tougher than his opponent that has his hand raised at the end of the match. Many times it is at the point of decision, when two wrestlers are scrambling for a takedown or a reversal, that one wrestler mentally submits. It is at this point, that a wrestler can feel that his opponent is mentally broken and start pouring it on in a series of moves routing (a military term) his opponent.

Why it may seem strange to some (at least my wife thinks it is odd), I have often used Clausewitz, the principles of war, and other military concepts to relate wrestling strategy to my sons. Of course they role their eyes when I pause the match tape to get on my soap box (they have heard each analogy a 100 times).

I appreciate the author’s point being made in "Hardly a War", but this is just one veteran that has no problem with someone calling a “wrestling match” a “war”

Mike Flynn