CONFUSED WARFARE

HBO's Game of Thrones is by popular opinion one of the best things on TV right now. However even a series of such stature can have its flaws. In Game of Thrones these flaws lie primarily in the military aspect. Perhaps the writers didn't do their research or went with what they thought was cool; either way we end up with some poor choices indeed. Such as:
Tireless archers: At the start of the Battle of the Blackwater, Ser Davos ordered his archers to draw their bows and then to hold them drawn back. The archers hold for nearly one minute. Given that a real longbowman could shoot at a rate of 6 arrows per minute, that's a long time. Why waste stamina holding back one arrow when you could be using that stamina to shoot five more? It's an issue seen occasionally but it is at the Blackwater where it is most glaring.
The Lannister archers also made this mistake, but luckily for them they hardly needed to shoot more than once, because…
…Nobody Uses Shields:  Most Baratheon soldiers rushing towards the city wall had not bothered to bring a shield to battle. Were they not expecting to get shot at?  Those who've had the foresight to carry shields must have used up their intelligence in making that decision, because, caught under the rain of arrows, they didn't bother to raise their shields to defend themselves.
This features most prominently in the Night's Watch, where not a single member seems concerned with self-preservation.
One-handed Weapons Only: Despite the fact that both sides involved at the Battle of the Blackwater have been preparing for it for weeks if not months, almost no one brought any battlefield weapons to the fight. No spears, pikes, halberds, poleaxes or the like; instead almost all had opted to go for one-handed swords and axes. There is nothing wrong with swords, but swords are side-arms, not primary weapons. What makes this even more inexplicable is that racks of spears were clearly visible on the Baratheon ships. This is the equivalent of going to war with a pistol when you have a pile of AK-47s lying around.
If there is something that is done badly at the Blackwater, the Night's Watch can do it even worse. The use of anything beyond one sword appears to be beyond their comprehension. Recently, military genius Jon Snow said, “A lot of Wildlings fight with a weapon in each hand. First thing you want to do is disarm them to try and even the odds.” Instead of just using one sword, why not start the fight such that the odds are stacked more evenly in your favour? Use a two handed weapon or carry a shield, you fool.
Bar Fight Tactics: The Baratheon army landed on the beaches and ran off to some point at the city walls. And then under the hail of rocks being hurled at them they followed Stannis' orders to the Mud Gate. If the Mud Gate was indeed their objective, why not head for it directly and spend less time being killed? Apparently Stannis has got more important things on his mind than strategy, such as perfecting his scowl.
When the Lannister Army came to engage the invaders did they form ranks? Did they have any sort of strategy? Of course not! And the Baratheon army failed completely to take advantage of the disorganised rabble heading their way and instead just wildly charged in. What we end up with resembled a drunken brawl more than a battle.
The Baratheon army ends up losing the fight when they are routed by a cavalry charge. Lining up in ranks and using the spears they left behind would have come in handy, since horses don't like charging into walls of pointy steel.
True that in the heat of combat, soldiers may lose their cool and break formation, but not a single commanding officer objected to this. Stannis himself spent nearly all the battle on the same five feet of the battlements.
The armies of Westeros are some of the most poorly drilled and poorly equipped in popular culture. In fact the only army in the series shown to have discipline and proper equipment are the Unsullied. When and if Daenerys comes to Westeros she won't even need her dragons to win. You can almost hear the conversation between the Westerosi commanders.
“The Unsullied have completely decimated our vanguard, Sir!”
“What? Impossible!”
“They're using these really long pointy sticks. We can't get close.”
“If only we had something to defend ourselves with, like a thick sheet of metal we could hold in front of us or something…”
“If only…”