Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Where to camp on a battlefield?

If there was one spot on one battlefield in the world where you could camp alone overnight, where would it be?

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If there was one spot on one battlefield in the world where you could camp alone overnight, where would it be?

There are of course, the classic sites of the ancient world — Marathon, Cannae, Thapsus. There are modern spots like Waterloo and Austerlitz. Antietam is a nice place, especially above the bridge. And there is the spot where American paratroopers first landed in southern Sicily. There is Normandy. And we have outliers like Dien Bien Phu and Fallujah.

But I think the one place I would pick over any others is the Chosin Reservoir. Yes, this is a sign of my own limitations — it is one of the battles I have studied so much. But in many ways it strikes me as so human, where will, leg strength, and esprit de corps mattered so much.

Even so, I wouldn’t do it in winter.

Your suggestions?

Photo Credit: James Lyle/Wikimedia Commons

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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