[General] surprise the enemy by waiting

[Dark_Fury]

This is taken from an American military drama set in Iraq.
A few groups of US marines need to get to the metropolitan bank. They proceed through the streets in military trucks.

The leader of the convoy: Obstacles on the road. I know what it looks like.
Bypassing an ambush is exactly what ambushers expect us to do.
We're not going to surprise the enemy by waiting.
We need to seize the initiative.

Could you explain the line in bold, please? What's the leader's reasoning? I can't get it.

My current understanding of what he says:
Obstacles on the road. I know what it looks like. (= there's probably an ambush up ahead)
Bypassing an ambush is exactly what ambushers expect us to do. (= we are not going to make a detour)
We're not going to surprise the enemy by waiting. (= we are not going to stop and wait for them to attack, either)
We need to seize the initiative. (= we will attack first)

Is my understand correct?

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

We're not going to surprise the enemy by waiting means "If we wait, we won't surprise the enemy."

 

[Dark_Fury]

Oh, I see. The 'going to' was the problem. He is simply stating the facts: we wait - there'll be no surprise attack, but I though it was more like an order.
Thank you, GoesStation!

 

[SoothingDave]

He is saying that they will not be waiting. They will be attacking.

 

[jutfrank]

He's saying he wants to surprise the enemy and that waiting is not the way to do it.