In chapter 15, James’s platoon is granted R&R. As someone who has been deployed in combat to both Iraq and Afghanistan, it is always important to allow Soldiers a refit and rest period. During my tours in Iraq, Soldiers were granted rest cycles in either the Green Zone, or what was known as freedom rest in Quatar. In both cases, the Soldiers were…[Read more]

In combat, one of the most prevalent techniques of combating the enemy is to continuously improve your position. Whether it is a simple fighting position or a tactical strongpoint in a COIN environment. Countless times, we are convinced that our position is complete and there are no more needs for improvement. Then someone comes along, whether…[Read more]

Analyzing the reading from McDonough, I see where a lot of your points come in. A lot of memoirs and autobiographies that I have read start out this way. James portrays his schooling and training as a positive precursor to the inevitable experiences of war. There is a redundancy in Chapter 2 that I’ve seen before in many modern war biographies.…[Read more]

All,

In my professional career, there have been many instances where knowledge is expected. In many other instances, knowledge is expected to be learned in a short amount of time. Some of the best military leaders in the history of this nation were natural commanders because they came to the table with a natural ability to influence the leaders…[Read more]