The limits of Combat I: Possibility zones, resource mobilization, and attrition processes

Possibility and impossibility zones associated with modeled combat behavior are identified and described in this paper. A relatively simple coefficient-based combat model was used to generate military and insurgent force strength data by iteration. Possibility zones are sets of coefficient values that permit the generation of computer-stable values. Impossibility zones represent conditions where computationally-stable solutions cannot be obtained. The possibility zone analysis reveals that increasing the size of the recruitment pool can reduce the size of the possibility zone. Increasing the level of area fire against the insurgent force can increase the size of the possibility zone. Increasing the level of aimed fire against the military force by the insurgent force can reduce the size of the possibility zone. Increasing levels of insurgent force recruitment reduces the size of the possibility zone. The implications of these findings, the nature of possibility and impossibility zones, and the use of these zones in military training and to support the command and control of actual military forces are discussed.