Twenty Years of War in Afghanistan: An After Action
Professional Military Education
Release Date: 09/20/2021
Visiting the D-Day Beaches and Normandy Battlefields
Professional Military Education
Visiting Normandy and touring the beaches from D-Day, June 6, 1944, is a powerful experience. It is an experience that all American citizens should plan to do. There are incredible stories of American servicemembers that left their homes to serve and sacrifice for a cause greater than themselves. It is important to remember and honor these heroes. Many people do this every year as there are approximately 1.7 million people who visit the annually. In this podcast episode, I speak with a tour guide, Yannick Sterke, who gives tours of the Normandy battlefields. In the summer of 2022, I took...
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American Guerillas Part Three: The Old Wagoner’s Revenge
Professional Military Education
In the year 1780, South Carolina was in the grip of violence and turmoil. On December 3, 1780, General Nathanael Greene assumed command of the southern department from General Horatio Gates. Gates, the hero of Saratoga, had struggled in the Carolinas most notably at the disastrous battle of Camden. The Continental Congress relented to General Washington’s preferred commander: Nathanael Greene. Thus, Greene left his post at West Point and traveled south. General Greene had a series of challenging decisions in front of him. How was he going to rebuild a nearly destroyed army? How was he going...
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Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Marine Corps with General Bohm (Maj. Gen., USMC)
Professional Military Education
General Jason Q. Bohm (Maj. Gen., USMC) is the author of a recently published book entitled Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775-1777. In this interview, we discuss why and how the Marine Corps was founded on November 10, 1775. General Bohm explains that General Washington did not initially support the Marines. However, the Marines played a pivotal role during the “Ten Crucial Days.” This was the period from December 25, 1776, through January 3, 1777. It included key battles at Trenton, Assunpink Creek, and Princeton. The Marines’ heroic...
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American Guerillas (Part II): The Sword of the Lord and Gideon
Professional Military Education
The American Guerillas series continues with part two: “The Sword of the Lord and Gideon”. After the British invasion of South Carolina, American forces had their backs to the wall. But many Patriot militia units refused to give up. They fought valiantly using guerilla style tactics. In this episode, we discuss those tactics in depth. This episode will cover the following: The Battle of Musgrove’s Mill The Battle of Kings Mountain and the legend of the Over Mountain Men The Swamp Fox, Francis Marion’s campaign in the low country The Battle of Blackstock’s Plantation Key...
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American Guerillas (Part I): War in the Carolinas
Professional Military Education
This is the first episode in a series on the Revolutionary War in the Carolinas. The series is called “American Guerillas” and part one is titled “War in the Carolinas”. This episode will cover a lot of ground and begin with an overview of the American Revolution up until the British invasion of Charleston in 1780. After a summary of the major milestones of the Revolution, the episode will cover the following: Why the British shifted their strategy to the Carolinas Key leaders on the British side: Cornwallis and Tarleton Key leaders on the American side: William Moultrie and...
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When China Attacks: A Warning to America
Professional Military Education
Col. Grant Newsham (USMC-Ret.), has a warning for America: China is at war with us. It is time for Americans to understand that China does not believe war starts with the deployment of missiles, tanks, and infantry. From the perspective of the People's Republic of China (PRC), war has already begun. Furthermore, over the last several decades, China has used influence operations, economic policies, political warfare, and lawfare to cripple America. The results have left American communities jobless with rampant drug use, deaths of despair, and social disfunction. As one example, fentanyl...
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A Brutal Winter: George Washington’s Leadership at Valley Forge
Professional Military Education
On December 19, 1777, George Washington led the Continental Army onto a high plateau twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After fighting the British at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, Washington entered camp with a little over 12,000 soldiers. By mid-February, that number had dropped in half. Disease ravaged camp. Soldiers starved. Many of them were down to their last shirt. Some walked into camp barefoot. As if the problems couldn’t get worse, most soldiers didn’t know if or when they would get paid for their service. Despite the many difficulties, General...
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The Heroes of Wake Island: Remembering the Americans that fought 16 days against impossible odds
Professional Military Education
Wake Island was the site of a famous battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. By December 7, 1941, it was a small (but growing) naval air station (NAS). The construction and development of the island began in January 1941. As Pacific Fleet Commander, Admiral Kimmel, recognized the vulnerability of the island, Marines were brought in to defend it in August 1941. On December 8, 1941, the Japanese attacked Wake Island with a series of aerial bombardments. On December 11, the Japanese attempted their first invasion of the island. But they were soundly defeated. The Marine defenders bloodied...
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Is the U.S. military weak? Breaking down the 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength
Professional Military Education
Is the United States Military weak? The Heritage Foundation has fired a shot across the bow with its “2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength.” The Index concludes that the U.S. military in its current posture is “weak.” The Pentagon might not like the report. But, my guest, Dakota Wood, is calling things as they are rather than the way people would like them to be. “Nobody likes their baby being called ugly. But the facts are what they are.” -Dakota Wood The 2023 Index starts with an assessment of the operating environment from Europe to the Indo-Pacific. Dakota explains that...
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Epic Comeback in the Pacific! The events that led to Pearl Harbor and How the U.S. Navy won the Battle of Midway
Professional Military Education
How did the U.S. recover from the devastation of Pearl Harbor and win one of the most epic battles in naval history? Was war in the Pacific inevitable or were there diplomatic off ramps? Why did Japan attack America on December 7, 1941? Did America really know in advance that an attack was coming? My guest Dale Jenkins helps answer these questions in his book, Diplomats and Admirals. We speak at length about these topics in our interview. I thought our deep dive into the Battle of Midway was especially fun. Additional topics include: Diplomatic breakdowns that led to war between the U.S. and...
info_outlineAfter 20 years of war in Afghanistan, the United States has pulled out all military forces. The pullout was a debacle. Thirteen Americans tragically lost their lives due to improper planning. There is no proper way to describe the withdrawal from Afghanistan other than one of the worst foreign policy failures in American history. But there were many years of groundwork leading up to the failure. Now lessons must be learned from our experience in Afghanistan. America needs to study them quick. My guest, Mike Nelson, quotes the late, great Charles Krauthammer who said, “Decline is a choice.” We must choose to be better, and we can start by learning from 20 years of war. My interview with Mike is a crucial step to learning from the last 20 years. In doing so, we firmly commit to restoring American national pride and strategic competence.
About the guest. Mike Nelson is a Visiting Fellow at George Mason University’s National Security Institute and an Army Special Forces veteran with multiple deployments to Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).
Topics Covered:
- The rise of the Taliban in the 1990s after the Soviet Union’s defeat
- The Taliban’s relationship with Al-Qaeda and the influence of the Haqqani Network
- How the U.S. got involved in Afghanistan and why the U.S. decided to overthrow the Taliban
- Task Force Dagger and how early success was counterproductive
- Why some of the democracy efforts failed. Mike says, “We confused democracy with legitimacy.”
- How lessons from the Iraq War were misapplied in Afghanistan specifically the “Surge” strategy
- Why negotiations with the Taliban were flawed from the start
- How Pakistan enabled the Taliban and worked against U.S. interests
- The power dynamics in the region that include Russian and Chinese interests
- The future of Afghanistan to include how terrorist groups might use the country for operations
- Strategy at the national level and how it has failed and will continue to fail unless change occurs
Additional Readings and Resources:
Mike’s article here “It Was the Best of COIN, It Was the Worst of COIN”
Soldiers of God
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400030250/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1400030250&linkCode=as2&tag=pm05c-20&linkId=5610e2efdaeb8a65eb36368642c9775b">Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan</a>
Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ODIRLY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003ODIRLY&linkCode=as2&tag=pm05c-20&linkId=0e490c51d129ad21802f0dcff8442716">Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics Book 45)</a>
How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UYUS28/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003UYUS28&linkCode=as2&tag=pm05c-20&linkId=088794f369d0539beae8fda861e9417b">How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle</a>
Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0190600543/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0190600543&linkCode=as2&tag=pm05c-20&linkId=bf8cb711d14453eae5a1ec2c966587a0">Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism</a>
The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199754098/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199754098&linkCode=as2&tag=pm05c-20&linkId=4c5d1205cbf52349bfcd6ac94c72b7fd">The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One</a>
The Looming Tower
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U70LF8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004U70LF8&linkCode=as2&tag=pm05c-20&linkId=40e4c5b5facc3eaf049438daa7a4d95d">The Looming Tower Publisher: Vintage</a>