*Note: This essay was originally published on the Modern War Institute’s Commentary & Analysis site. Why do bad things happen to good people? Everyone asks this question at some point. Parisian or Paris-Texan. Mennonite, Muslim, or Morman. The 1% and the 99%. This question comes for us all, regardless of place, piety, or privilege. And…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on December 9, 2015. It can also be found online here. The Forgotten War has become the Forgotten Threat. The Korean Peninsula is a strategic orphan, “usually considered background noise” compared to media darlings like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Islamic State (ISIL), Russia, and even Cuba. The…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on December 7, 2015. It can also be found online here. The Budget Control Act’s (BCA) guillotine is poised to slice off part of America’s ground combat brain with across-the-board 25-percent cuts to Army headquarters. In addition to smaller staffs, active duty billets in those headquarters are…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on October 28, 2015. It can also be found online here. Everybody has problems. If you live in Park City, you’re worried about a fungus that dampens fall aspencolors. If you live on Mars, you’re concerned about growing potatoes with your own poop. And if you live…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on October 12, 2015. It can also be found online here. Navy Lieutenant Mike Murphy. Petty Officer Second Class Matt Axelson. Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz. These Navy SEALs died in 2005 as part of Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan. Their sacrifices were meaningful, same as…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on October 5, 2015. It can also be found online here. A little over a month ago, I made the argument that the military’s purpose is not to kill people and break things but instead to serve and protect America, Americans, and American interests. Fair winds and…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on August 26, 2015. It can also be found online here. I have killed people and broken things in war. I have killed people and broken things in war, but, as a military officer, that was never the end. There was a purpose, a reason, a goal.…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on July 30, 2015. It can also be found online here. My birthday is today, and it hurts. I’m a deployed Army officer, living a half marathon distance from the Demilitarized Zone in Korea and 6,000 miles from home (which may as well read “1,000,000”). Service is…
*Note: This essay was published at War on the Rocks on June 25, 2015. It can also be found online here. Ellen DeGeneres is wrong. Misleading, maybe. Her show features military family reunions, following a year of separation, complete with hugs, kisses — all for the cameras. Sometimes even a free trip. The audience loves it; millions…
Like all good things, it started with a threat. In early fall 2013, as a response to Bashar Al Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria, President Barack Obama threatened a cruise missile strike to deter the Syrian dictator from future use of such indiscriminate weapons. The cadets wanted to talk about it. So I named (“War Council,” via the…