Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
It's never easy being that new person on staff. It's even less easy when you're not organic to the battalion or unit that you're attached to and have to begin all that relationship building stuff from scratch. It's like Mean Girls except with maneuver officers. Which is somehow worse. Being a task force special staff …
Continue reading "Tips for Task Force Engineers"
By Matthew Ader Captain Roger’s performance at the Battle of Wakanda has been widely and rightly panned. But nothing has been said about the profound failures of his enemy, the Thanosians. Despite every possible advantage in manpower, materiel, and circumstance, they still failed. All students of the military art should examine how they so masterfully …
Continue reading "Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory on Wakanda"
Sustainment. It’s always the elephant in the room; the thing that “warfighters” don’t want to talk about. Neglect it, however, and maneuver suddenly ceases, combat support can’t support, and the whole operation collapses. So how do we get that elephant from the brigade support area to the front lines? Let me start, right off the …
Continue reading "Getting the Elephant in the Room to the Front Lines: Engineer Sustainment at JRTC"
By Matthew Ader The world is blessed that Steve Rogers never made it past captain. The Battle of Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War is a master class in how not to use an infantry battalion. However, from his failure, we can extract some fundamental lessons: STAY MOBILE To set the stage – Captain Rogers and …
Continue reading "Military Lessons Learned from the Battle of Wakanda"
In the U.S. Army we have a long tradition of victory - or so we tell ourselves. We proudly carry the campaign streamers from past conflicts on our unit colors and enjoy hearing about the exploits of past heroes. Victory is our expectation. But what if that isn’t what happens? Now, I’m not talking about …
Continue reading "Training for Defeat"
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything on here. And for that, I blame command, which sucks away all the years of your life. It’s basically “The Machine” from Princess Bride, just with more soldiers with DUIs. Basically what one month of command feels like. However, the topic of command is fascinating in and of …
Continue reading "The Perils 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"
Scene: the ghostly apparitions of the Jedi Council can be seen seated around the room in the familiar circle of the Jedi council. Yoda shifts uneasily in his small seat, which is odd, because he's a ghost . Yoda: "So, wondering as to why we are here, you are." Qui-Gon Jinn: "We've gathered the Joint …
Continue reading "Jedi Council After Action Review"
My fellow Imperial Officers and classmates, I hope this communique finds you well, I've enjoyed reading the updates from my classmates from Coruscant to the Outer Rim. I apologize for being offline for the past few years. In my last three years in Fleet Strike Force 2, the pace of action has often prevented me …
Continue reading "Guest Post: Stormtrooper Performance in Contemporary Operations"
This is an excerpt from First Order Center for Lessons Learned Publication, Light Infantry Operations in Forested Terrain and Treatment of Indigenous Peoples. Scene: Imperial stormtroopers are seated in rows of benches as a hologram of the Forest Moon of Endor looms over them. Their company commander steps forward to begin the briefing. Captain: "Listen up, troopers, …
Continue reading "Mandatory Briefings: the Imperial Edition"
The Angry Staff Officer 
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