Image (proudly) created by Matt Cavanaugh. Choices made both close and create opportunities. For a simple Valentine’s-ish example, consider that when one selects a (soul)mate for life, while that choice closes potential relationships with other partners, at the same time such a decision creates life opportunities through a committed relationship. The old saying is useful; decisions open doors and…
Image courtesy of Tremr. Make no mistake, this is not an assessment one offers with a smile. But it’s a fact: ISIS (or ISIL) has achieved victory in Northern Iraq and Eastern Syria and does meet minimum requirements for statehood. Just spend a few miserable minutes reading the most recent situation updates or listen to the Foreign…
Image courtesy of Flikr user US Army. If a soldier gets hit in a war and no one is around to film it, does it really matter? Following two highly publicized police encounters – one in Ferguson, Missouri and the choking death of Eric Garner in New York City – the New York Times…
Image courtesy of Vanity Fair; photo illustration by Stephen Doyle. Words and war are connected deeply and in ways that have shaped human history. Land armies secured the Rosetta Stone, which enabled linguistic understanding of far off ancient civilizations. Paper-making technology came to the Middle East and Europe from a Chinese prisoner of war taken at the Battle of Talas in 751A.D. And,…
Image of massive tunnel bomb exploding at Syrian army base; courtesy of Reuters (Credit: Khalil Ashawi). Note: We’re revisiting some of our most popular material from the past 10 months for our newer readers; this was originally posted May 21, 2014. Enjoy! The other day I had a valuable email back-and-forth with a professional acquaintance on…
Image courtesy of Flikr user US Army. It’s been a bit of a crazy past few days here; my wife and I just had our second daughter on Friday evening. So this will be a bit of a short post – but brief concepts can also be valuable ones (isn’t brevity the soul of wit?).…
Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control. Public Radio International runs a great news program (locally, it’s usually on National Public Radio) called “The World.” The other day the show ran a five minute segment that caught my attention: there was a violent attack on an Ebola clinic in the “West Point” neighborhood/slum…
West Point cadets departing in June 1919 for summer study on European battlefields. *Note: This essay is based on remarks to be delivered on Tuesday, 19 August 2014, at the Defense & Strategic Studies War Council event, “Summer Wars: ISIS, Ukraine, and Gaza.” The Oxford historian Margaret McMillan recently related a story taken from the opening scenes of…
Graphic created by Major Matt Cavanaugh. I seem to be writing and thinking quite a bit about the concept of strategic landpower these days. The image above is a second, better version of a similar attempt at visualizing strategic landpower. Please feel free to offer suggestions and/or comments!
Image courtesy of Life Magazine and Flikr user Vietnam History in Pictures. The US Army will not be very successful in the coming operating environment unless it develops a sense of strategic understanding in its officers (and senior noncommissioned officers). For the purposes of this essay, strategic understanding is defined here as: awareness, comprehension, and…