The Center of Confusion: Otherwise Known as the Center of Gravity

The tangled web of confusion surrounding the Center of Gravity COG has morphed this war fighting concept into something that is so abstract, so confusing and so hard to form a consensus on, that the true meaning of its original context has been construed. Each service has a slightly different definition of a COG and Joint Publications offer another. During planning, component commanders and staffs will rarely agree on what to call the COG. In fact, Air centric forces will define one aspect as the COG while ground and naval forces will define another. If the COG framework that is currently utilized so ambiguous, so different, and often misunderstood it may be time to take a critical look at what the Center of Gravity really is and at what level of warfare it really exists.