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You assemble the army by gathering all the best soldiers there are.You pick only those who are extremely brave and capable.You make sure that they are fully provided with all the best equipment and that ratio of infantry and artillery support is well balanced.You check over and over again that there are no mistakes in logistics and that they will get anything they may need.You inform them in details about the mission and you discuss about the best options.And you train them for months to be fully assured that the mission will be complete success.
Than you gather them,cut off their hands - to make sure that they are totally useless and you leave them bleed to death.
That's marriage.The age of the defeat.