Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
I will not apologize for my horrendous title. You deserve it. When the world is a mess, you lean into your reading list. Hard. This month was a solid mix of military history and historical fiction, with author Naomi Novik once again dropping some bangers. She is rapidly turning into one of my favorite authors. …
Continue reading "April Showers Bring May Books"
The United States was born of a desire to leave behind monarchial government and instead live under a republic. Although the structure of the United States was explicitly crafted to have both democratic and anti-democratic elements, the perils of democracy have been part of the American discussion from the beginning (“When a majority is included in a faction, …
Continue reading "Failure Mechanisms in Democratic Regimes – an Army’s Role"
This past week at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer announced the upcoming formal adoption of a mountaineering badge for U.S. Army personnel. This moment acknowledged a long-lobbied for recognition of the unique skills embodied in the Military Mountaineering community. While detailing the badge, however, …
Continue reading "Missed Opportunity: The Ram’s Head and Military Mountaineering"
As many of you know - and are no doubt really excited for - next years begins the semiquincentennial of the Revolutionary War here in the United States. Or, for those of us who have trouble with a jawbreaker like that, the 250th anniversary. Now, a bunch of you - not, not you of course, …
Continue reading "Understanding the Revolutionary Era: Recommended Reading List"
One of my mentors dropped this quote on me a few years back: "The United States military is obsessed with tactical solutions to strategic problems." After I picked my jaw off the floor because it was such an apt description of the last 20 years, I began to chew on the meaning of what they'd …
Continue reading "What Barbie Teaches Us About Tactics versus Strategy"
(Warner Brothers) Aside from the Battle of Hogwarts, there is a lack of Large-Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) that occur in the wizarding world of Harry Potter; considering the prevalence of shield charms and their potential for fratricide, this is probably a good thing. The seven-book series focuses more on insurgency operations, first by Lord Voldemort …
Continue reading "Harry Potter and the Magic of Raiding"
West Point's Modern War Institute, in conjunction with Training and Doctrine Command, initiated a contest in July 2023 to elicit essays describing a novel approach to "solve the recruiting crisis". Entries were accepted until September 3, 2023. To date, the winning entries have not been announced. The below reproduced short essay was originally written as …
Continue reading "Water is Wet: “solving” the military recruiting crisis."
In 1954, General Anthony McAuliffe wrote a letter to General Henry Hodes describing “an urgent and vexing problem” within the Army: “It is my understanding that assignment to command of a company or a battery is not a popular one, a pronounced contrast to the attitude existing prior to World War II…We must give …
Continue reading "Guest Post: Dear Senior Leaders, It’s Not Us, It’s You"
A few months ago, this blog published the post "On Command: A Confession," wherein I talked about my personal struggles with the idea of taking a battalion command. Not unlike the USS Maine in 1898, that post blew up. Too soon? I got messages from other Army officers, Navy officers, even officers in foreign militaries. …
Continue reading "Are We Hearing What We Want to Hear?"
Guest post via an author writing under the pseudonym Lost CAC The military faces a recruiting shortfall. The Army, as the largest service, predictably felt the sting acutely, missing its recruiting goals by 15,000 or 25%. Army officials offered several reasons for recruiting difficulties: a tight civilian job market, pandemic-related restrictions on recruiter access to …
Continue reading "The Army, Recruiting, and Bad Faith “Woke” Criticism"
The Angry Staff Officer 
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