Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
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10689800_10204551212486450_6538052505982877382_n Military reunions are more than just re-living old times — they also are a chance to gather needed strength from each other
Despite all the resources now available to our veterans, we were missing the one thing we needed most: each other.
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Generals_Lee_and_Jackson-1937_Issue-4c It’s time for the Army to look at how it remembers and honors Confederate leaders
Twice a day, every day, the 4,000 young men and women who make up the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy file into that storied institution’s cadet mess and are served as one.
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eisenhower_d-day Inside ‘Blackhearts’ (V): Trust, honesty, and communication are combat essentials
The soldiers of the Blackheart Brigade had significant accomplishments, to include inflicting great costs to al Qaeda in Iraq, and providing time and breathing space for the central government of Iraq.
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screen-shot-2017-05-05-at-9-50-37-am Inside ‘Blackhearts’ (III): With different units holding very different views of the fight, we stepped off into the abyss
Adding to the friction involving the Blackhearts Brigade was the nature of the fight.
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2bct Inside ‘Blackhearts’ (II): Our lousy command relations frayed badly in Iraq
As discussed my the previous post, relationships — be they inside of a marriage or between military units — are built upon trust.
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1-502 ‘Blackhearts’ (I): A view from the inside
There is more to the story that has remained in the shadows for too long.
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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 16: National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster answers questions during a press briefing at the White House May 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. McMaster defended the President Donald Trump's decision to share intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during an Oval Office meeting last week. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Thoughts on General McMaster and on withdrawing from Afghanistan and Vietnam
As McMaster and the national security staff pursue possible solutions to the president’s “competing impulses” on Afghanistan, reviewing the historical record indeed might help infuse some added wisdom into our current foreign policy there.
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A U.S. Soldier with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment walks to a joint district community center after securing combat outpost Rajankala in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan Nov. 26, 2009. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Francisco V. Govea II, U.S. Air Force/Released) I was a U.S. Army officer, but nowadays, America feels like a foreign country to me
In 2010, I deployed to Wardak province, Afghanistan, as a scout platoon leader.
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32351721173_56048f84a4_k Mid-career thoughts: After a decade or so, of war, you begin to wonder if it’s worth it
The wars go on. I increasingly see a weary cynicism in my Air Force peers, and indeed in myself.
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f_troop_opening You aren’t wrong: Our military officers actually seem to be getting stoopider
That the military needs intelligent officers is not a particularly controversial statement. Underpinning that argument, however, is the assumption that the military normally recruits, recognizes, and retains its intellectual capital.
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confederate_rebel_flag-svg Time to follow Gen. Buckner’s example and pull down that Confederate flag
I know that flag means something to many white Southerners. But it means something very different to many black Americans, and to many others, such as myself.
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thure_de_thulstrup_-_l-_prang_and_co-_-_battle_of_gettysburg_-_restoration_by_adam_cuerden Mission command is not a software!
Tom posed the important general question of what to do when a subordinate commander fails to execute the commander’s clear intent under mission command orders.
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TOPSHOT - This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 14, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting the "Dropping and Target-striking Contest of KPA Special Operation Forces - 2017" at an undisclosed location in North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has overseen a special forces commando operation, state media said on April 13, as tensions soar with Washington over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. / (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images) The Supreme Art of War on the Korean Peninsula: Regime Change Through Targeting the Mind of Kim Jong Un
When I was the chief war planner for the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea, I spent considerable time studying Sun Tzu, including this passage: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
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A Navy pilot’s take: The Air Force doesn’t have a pilot crisis, it has a leadership crisis
The United States Air Force is facing a crisis, seemingly a recent one, which will define the service for decades to come.
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sherman_sea_1868 What the railroad and Civil War might tell us about our military leadership today
In the years before the Civil War, as we were discussing the other day, the United States was transformed by the railroad and the telegraph.
