of action is formally subjected to test. When the
tests are completed, the courses of action stand classified in these
respects. During these tests, some courses of action may be rejected;
such are then omitted in the final classification.

These formal tests are not to be confused with the preliminary tests
already given by the commander to each course of action as it occurs
to mind. Necessarily, there is such a preliminary test, because the
commander does not wish to entertain inappropriate courses of action.
For a competent commander, the mental power to envisage solutions of a
military problem is so much grounded in experience that appropriate
suggestions are most likely to occur; in fact, discriminating thought
with respect to military problems is natural for such a commander.
This immediate discrimination is, however, merely the preliminary
test. It prevents setting up wooden soldiers only to knock them down,
but it does not necessarily subject each suggested solution to a
thorough analysis.

The commander may apply the tests to each course of action as it
occurs to his mind. This procedure, however, may be rendered
impossible by the fertility of suggestion; perhaps the commander has
thought of several courses of action practically simultaneously. It
is, therefore, often better to apply the tests to all of the courses
of action, in turn, during a separate stage of the process of
thinking. This is the procedure indicated herein, as standard, by the
sequence of steps in this section of the Estimate. The process of
testing, itself, may bring to mind those combinations of courses of
action previously referred to (page 93).

The degree of formality characteristic of the tests varies with the
nature of the problem. In a broad strategical estimate, these tests
may be searching and extensive; they may then consume much time. Yet,
if the commander, in making a quick decision of great urgency in
actual battle, does not apply the tests, he may adopt a course of
action leading to tragic results. In such circumstances, the competent
commander, under pressure of danger, grasps the whole complex
situation without loss of time. He is not carried away by any chance
impressions. He does not overlook what is significant in the
unexpected event. Because he is mentally prepared for the exercise of
command (page 114) he sees things in their true proportions (page 4).
In immediate response, he coolly chooses the same course of actio