Drone Warfare from a grunt’s perspective

Folks love to say that the new and shiny thing "is the future". Air power was the future and would replace ground warfare, tanks and mechanized forces were the future that would replace the infantry, and now we have "drones are the future and will replace (x)". While it would be convenient and a lot …

Quick Hits: Surgical Strikes

The new year is upon us and we are already rife with controversy in the realm of foreign policy and military options. Almost everyone has heard of and is following the surgical strike that killed General Soleimani at a Baghdad Airfield. Of course, the usual "experts" have weighed in and taken to their foxholes on …

Out of The Army: A moment of clarity on my last day in uniform

When I was ending my time in service in the Army, I had a moment of clarity on my final day of active duty. When you finish your time in service, you go through about a month long process of clearing- it's a bunch of paperwork, confirming you turned in gear, attended a few transition …

Fighting Generals: The End of Frontline Leadership?

Alexander The Great led his Armies from the front, being wounded multiple times and throwing himself headlong into the melee and overwhelming odds. Even though it wasn't the "Roman Way" to challenge opposing generals, the men who commanded Rome's Legions usually shared the hardships with their men, and on occasion, found themselves also embroiled in …

Military Discipline, Barracks Life and Soldiering

Armies are built on small units that work together as a whole. Depending on how well these smaller teams coalesce into a bigger unit, is one of the main factors that will contribute to battlefield victories and sustained success. These units are bought together through discipline and individual bonding between soldiers. Throwing a group of …

Connections of Combat: Military History and War Through the Ages

Like any campaign, my first deployment to Afghanistan was marked by moments of sheer thrill, terror and ecstasy and also with moments of boredom, doubt, and drudgery. During one of this slower moments, I pulled out a paperback copy of The Iliad. Not wanting to delve into anything new or too deep, I picked the The Iliad because …

Quick Hits: New Guys Get No Love

No one likes the new guy. And, if you're the new guy, you always want to avoid the first couple of dudes to talk to you. They are looking for an easy friend because no one likes them. In one way or another, you have to prove yourself to be accepted by the new tribe …

Early Tank Warfare: Armies fight for allocation not Victory

World War One is frequently seen as a watershed time in warfare. We had seen modern war start to develop as far back as the Crimean War, really develop a brutalist, Total War aspect during the Civil War, and come into it's own during WWI. One of the themes we hear all the time is …

Quick Hits: Power Moves and Power Vacuums, Syria, Kurds and Turkey Edition

With Donald Trump giving an implied blessing for Turkey to conduct operations in the Kurdish region of Syria, many of the usual talking heads were in shock, outrage or disbelief. How could this happen and how could we let our allies suffer like this? Well, anyone who spent some "boots on the ground" time in …

The Roman Gladius in the 21st Century

As we develop and field new technology in conflicts across the globe, we wrestle with the question of who to equip with the latest technology and how to ethically incorporate these added layers of lethality onto the battlefield. Like we said in an earlier article, commanders and leaders have a duty to make sure that …