day no. 15,139: assiduity in assault

"We must be ruthlessly opportunistic, actively seeking out signs of weakness, against which we will direct all available combat power. And when the decisive opportunity arrives, we must exploit it fully and aggressively, committing every ounce of combat power we can muster and pushing ourselves to the limits of exhaustion." — MCDP 1: Warfighting

Exploiting our enemy's weaknesses to produce a swift, complete end to the war is actually the most loving thing we can do for them. To be inefficient, clumsy or cowardly actually produces more long-term devastation and causalities by dragging out what could have ended earlier had we been more on point.

"An indecisive battle wastes the lives of those who fight and die in it. It wastes the efforts of those who survive as well. All the costs—the deaths, the wounds, the sweat and effort, the equipment destroyed or used up, the supplies expended—are suffered for little gain. Such battles have no meaning except for the comparative losses and perhaps an incremental gain for one side or the other." -- MCDP 1-3: Tactics

When men put their lives on the line, they should know that their lives are being sown as seed to produce a particular fruit. They should not be scattered along the path, beaten down or plucked up by passing birds. Because there must be battle, there must be wounds and bullets and dead bodies, but they don't have to be for not. A decisive battle should not only result in the consequence of loss, but should also be oriented around obtaining a particular gain.

"To be decisive, a battle or an engagement must lead to a result beyond itself. Within a battle, an action that is decisive must lead directly to winning in the campaign or war as a whole. For the battle to be decisive, it must lead directly to a larger success in the war as a whole." -- MCDP 1-3: Tactics

Winning a battle is fine in it's own right, but in order to actually serve the war effort, it must advance the ball towards the end zone. In other words, battles must be more than just holding the line, stopping the enemy from advancing, etc... They must be aimed at a positive end to which the victory in battle is another step.