Recommended Reading and Viewing

Top Billing! Steven Pressfield –  General Hal Moore

Steve interviews General Hal Moore who fought the Battle of Ia Drang and wrote the bestselling, We Were Soldiers Once….And Young:

SP: Of all the people I’ve had the honor to meet, you are without a doubt the one who knows the most about thinking creatively under fire-literally. Many of the readers of this series are artists and entrepreneurs, who are fighting their own wars every day. Bullets and bombs might not be flying, but the enemy (usually interior) can be pretty real just the same. That’s one reason why I wanted to talk to you, Gen. Moore-to see if we can cross-pollinate a little, from real war to the “war of art.”

One of the axioms you’re famous for is this:

“There is always one more thing you can do to increase your odds of success.”

What would you share with civilians (and active-duty service members) about increasing success? In your years of service, what was it that you did to increase the odds?

HM: I learned early on there’s always one more thing an officer can do to increase the chances of accomplishing his mission and getting his men back alive. In fact, it’s incumbent upon any commander leading men into harm’s way to beat his brains out, ahead of time, to figure out that one thing-and every other element he can come up with, too. I instinctively think ahead. I run scenarios before things happen. I plan ahead for things I know are coming-and, more important, for what I don’t know is coming. Surprises. When you’ve rehearsed for multiple contingencies, even if it’s only in your imagination, you can deal with crises when they happen (and they always do) with a higher degree of calm, which in turn keeps everyone around you in a problem-solving mode and not a panic mode. I’m a great believer in reading. A military commander should know as much of the history of warfare as he can, so sudden reversals don’t catch him by surprise. There’s nothing new under the sun. Everything that happens to you and me under fire has happened already to Hannibal, Napoleon, Alexander, you name it.

Committee of Public Safety –  Worth Reading: Special Operations and Strategy: From World War II to the War on Terrorism

….What politicians really want is a giant red button they can push and, voila, victory is had, quick, easy, cheap, and bloodless. The best way to win a bigger slice of the power that the politicians are dishing out is to take your tactical solution and present it as a strategic (and therefore political) solution: the Easy Button. Macgregor’s particular Easy Button is Armor and, unlike many aspiring Easy Button advocates, Macgregor was actually allowed to push his Easy Button. His operational concept was the kernel around which the plan for the second invasion of Iraq in 2003 congealed. Unfortunately, his preferred solution was similar to Bernard Finel’s “repetitive raiding“: speed into Iraq, destroy Iraq’s government, set up a new Iraq government, and withdraw to avoid irritating the natives.

Macgregor was outraged when his preferred strategy was ignored in favor of whatever strategy it was that guided the American occupation of Iraq from 2003-2007. In his eyes, like Finel’s, an occupation would lead to a quagmire. Even worse, it would open a window of opportunity for Macgregor’s Light Infantry opponents, especially that irritating David Petraeus. Macgregor left the Army in disgust and Light Infantry was able to defeat Armor in a long war of attrition between 2003 and 2007.

Joseph Fouche is giving the War Nerd a run for his money as the Satirist-in-Residence of the .mil/strategy blogosphere.

Page 1 of 2 | Next page