Image courtesy of the Wall Street Journal. Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… Should retired generals and admirals be allowed to “cash in” and keep their commissions? I realize this is thin ice, but as a commissioned officer and member of the Profession of Arms, I…
Image courtesy of Flikr user US Army. Note: Departing for Gettysburg Historical Staff Ride, so this is coming a day early. Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… No West Point cadet will attend academic classes today due to the Simon Center for the…
Images courtesy of the Royal Society (L) and Zazzle (R). Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… In war, as in the Profession of Arms, two major concepts often collide – the search for truth – and obedience. George Orwell wrote about this indirectly in 1946,…
Image courtesy of CNN and House of Charity. Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… How much time do we as a society reflect on the damage we inflict on other societies in war? Any at all? Don’t get me wrong, I’m clearly not…
Image of 106 year old Armenian woman protecting her home (1990) courtesy of Historical Times. Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… I’m in a bit of a rush to leave Latvia today, but thought I could get one quick idea off before the…
Image courtesy of Flikr user The U.S. Army. Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… In Iraq and Afghanistan, one commonly heard phrase was to “employ money as a weapon system.” The idea was a simple one in Iraq – if you can get what…
Friday’s Last Word: Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… Image courtesy of Defense Imagery & Video Distribution System and Montana NG Public Affairs. In 2012, Time magazine noted a Congressional Budget Office report (critical selection available here) that found in 1980 it cost $57,000 to field a troop (all services…
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Friday’s Last Word: Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… Many know Victor Hugo’s 1862 story, Les Miserables, particularly the tortured existence of the protagonist, Jean Valjean (depicted on screen by Hugh Jackman). Valjean spends years in a French prison for stealing bread for his sister’s…
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Friday’s Last Word: Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… It’s no secret that the United States is a massive enterprise. While in graduate school, this chart from The Economist caught my eye. It depicts each of the 50 U.S. states as world country equivalents.…
Image courtesy of Olive Drab. Friday’s Last Word: Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… I have always thought Learning to East Soup with a Knife – John Nagl’s book on counterinsurgency in Malaya and Vietnam – was the just about the worst book title ever. Several times I’ve tried to…