J.H. Benson

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High Diddle-Diddle, Right Up the Middle

3/3/2016

Shortly after I returned from South Viet Nam, I was a one of six Marines rewarded with a 10-month tour with 200 or so Army captains at the Infantry Officer Advanced Course at Fort Benning where we studied battalion and brigade tactics.  During our studies of the offense, we spent weeks on the various forms of maneuver to include the frontal assault (frowned upon), the envelopment, and the penetration.  I took a lot of ribbing from my Army colleagues who claimed that the Marines only knew one form of maneuver - one they called "high diddle-diddle, right up the middle."  In retrospect, they weren't far off.  High diddle-diddle isn't a bad business tactic either.