The explanation to the phenomenon of how a military unit, which seemingly on the verge of annihilation, still manages to survive and fight effectively, lies in the understanding that a military organization is a living system. Recognizing the parallels between a living system and a military system's need to survive and prosper within an environment full of positive and inimical changes, this study explores the world of living systems to identify the mechanisms and processes for surviving and sustaining combat effectiveness within a military system. The emerging understanding of living systems provides a valid theoretical framework for the exploration. The theory of living systems, as developed by Dr. Fritjof Capra, and the Santiago theory of cognition, as developed by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, form the foundation of the analysis. Subscribing to the notion that the concept of self-preservation and self-organization of a living system are analogous to the terms of living, surviving, and prospering, the explorative study analyzes military systems at the tactical level of war. The study reveals three conclusions. First, a military system is a living system for it possesses human system and battlefield operating systems (BOS), both representing self-organizing networks within the system; has the natural attribute of being organizationally closed but open system; and has multi-leveled cognitive decision-making process. Second, these three criteria for living make up the components and processes that allow military systems, who are facing overwhelming odds, to spontaneously behave in a way that facilitates, what can be viewed as, miraculous survival and sustained combat effectiveness. Third, by viewing the enemy as a living military system, it leads to the discovery of planning imperatives that are applicable to designing military operations focused at exploiting and manipulating the enemy's survival ability and combat effectiveness. The study presents two c
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