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As well as access to a sufficient level of resources, the adequate fulfilment of social needs aids survival in periods of hardship. ĭuring wartime, resources and supplies including food, medical aid and technical equipment may be limited which can affect a military unit's resilience.
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Soldiers become aware of the distinction between their groups through the structured associations between them. The organisation or structure of a military unit can contribute to cohesion, as William Henderson wrote in his work, Cohesion: The Human Element in Combat : a small unit creates stronger bonds between its members than a larger one and the higher the frequency of their interactions with one another, the stronger the bond. Cohesion relates to motivation and a group becomes stronger as they become more motivated. The cohesiveness of the relationships formed between soldiers can affect their performance in combat and help them realise common goals. The larger the network, the greater chance of opportunities for offensive action to become available. Lee and Lee say that more complex combat situations can see these networks expand to include more combat units, locations, capabilities and actions, but the base structure is of an isolated or coordinated attack structure. Combat effectiveness can be represented as a real and continuous function, F ( x ) ≧ F ( y ) may carry out the attack through the organisation between the two friendly forces.
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Philip Hayward proposes a measure for combat effectiveness, concentrating on the "probability of success" in a combat environment in relation to factors such as manpower and military stratagem. Combat effectiveness is an aspect of military effectiveness and can be attributed to the strength of combat support including the quality and quantity of logistics, weapons and equipment as well as military tactics, the psychological states of soldiers, level of influence of leaders, skill and motivation that can arise from nationalism to survival are all capable of contributing to success on the battlefield.
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Determining optimal combat effectiveness is crucial in the armed forces, whether they are deployed on land, air or sea. Combat effectiveness is the capacity or performance of a military force to succeed in undertaking an operation, mission or objective.
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