Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
“He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.” - Sun Tzu In war, timing and will are two of the intangibles that are hard to train for. A battle can be all but won when suddenly the unforeseen takes place: Jackson arrives at Antietam; Sheridan rides back to Cedar Creek; the …
Continue reading "Warfighter: Battle of Endor"
Secret Base on [REDACTED] Dear Mom, Taking a moment to drop you a line. As you know, life here in the Rebel Alliance has been kind of crazy of late, what with the whole Death Star business and everything. You hear about Alderaan? I’m not even sure if I believe the news, sounds like …
Continue reading "Day in the life of a Rebel Alliance Tower Guard on Yavin 4"
SPOILERS AHEAD. Most determine the great struggle in Star Wars to be that between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. But from a military perspective it has always been between a highly regimented Empire and a loosely organized Rebel force. And even within these communities there have been contentions as to how best …
Continue reading "A Leadership Vacuum: “The Last Jedi” and Mission Failure"
By Lt. Col. Jim Davitch The Star Wars storyline divides neatly into two sides: good and evil. The latter possess a qualitative and quantitative edge in terms of military hardware and personnel. The former clings to intangible advantages in pluck, optimism, and desperation. It is desperation that encourages the scrappy underdogs to take chances they …
Continue reading "The Force Awakens to High Risk HUMINT"
Scene: a bar on the back-end of the galaxy. “Look, I've got some stuff to say. I was a proud servant of the Empire for a full 20 years. And I saw some serious shit. Hi, yes, my name is NL-689, but all my mates called me Null. Served all over the galaxy and it …
Continue reading "Stormtrooper Goes on Veterans Day Rant"
The Last Jedi promises something not seen before - a Star Wars equivalent of a strategic heavy bomber. To date, the Star Wars Universe has provided a science fiction examples to many real-life military roles (with varying degrees of artistic licence). Imperial Star Destroyers have largely stood in for the Navy, whilst the Army and …
Continue reading "The Star Wars Bomber Gap"
Scene: Interior of a First Order Star Destroyer. A First Order Army officer takes a seat at a desk, apparently well pleased. There’s a knock at the door and another officer walks in. Captain Arlis: Come on in XO, how are you today? Lieutenant Fivret: Good morning, sir, I’m fitter than a Mandalorian helmet, thanks. …
Continue reading "First Order Change of Command"
Strap yourselves in, folks, it's time to ruin yet another timely classic by giving it the old "analyze it to death" treatment. And this time, we're going back a ways. A long time ago, to be exact, in a galaxy far, far away. More precisely, we're going to the ice planet of Hoth. If you've …
Continue reading "Warfighter: Hoth"
With the recent news that Arrested Development creator Ron Howard will be directing the new Star Wars one-off movie about Han Solo, we would be negligent if we did not consider what that could look like. So, without any more introduction, I give you... Now the story of a family of dysfunctional Jedi who lost everything and the one …
Continue reading "Here’s Some Memes, Go See a Star War"
It's no secret that we in the U.S. military love us some Star Wars. If you needed a concrete example, however, one need look no further that the Twitter feeds of various Department of Defense agencies, units, and installations on May 4, otherwise known as #StarWarsDay, or #MaytheFourthbeWithYou. The parent organization, the Department of Defense, …
Continue reading "How the U.S. Military Celebrated Star Wars Day"
The Angry Staff Officer 
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