Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
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U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Tate Whitener, a 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 Stratotanker pilot, prepares for takeoff at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Jan. 3. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew B. Fredericks) A letter from 4th deployment purgatory
An officer wards off boredom with bad food, booze, and Russia Today during a layover in Al Udeid.
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U.S. soldiers on a training mission. (Department of Defense) A Marine sergeant on how much he learned from being in an OPFOR
“Having served as an infantryman for four and a half years, I learned more about tactics and how to employ Marines more effectively in the 10 days spent at the experiment in the desert than I did in the entirety of my service."
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U.S. soldiers gather near a destroyed vehicle as their wounded comrades are airlifted by a medevac helicopter on Aug. 23, 2011. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images) A Best Defense fiction special for Halloween: ‘An Occurrence at Khan Hill’
His eyes bulged out, as the tip of the pistol slammed into the back wall of his throat.
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A port bow view of the British nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Valiant. (John Bouvia, Department of Defense) Reliefs, firings, misdeeds, crashes, affairs, drug use and other military mischief
A big Halloween roundup
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Nigerien soldiers receive a counter-IED class as part of Exercise Flintlock 2017 in Diffa, Niger, Feb. 28, 2017. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kulani Lakanaria) 10 questions from a veteran Special Operator about that night in Niger
How did this happen?
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White House Chief of Staff John Kelly speaks during a White House briefing Oct. 19 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) What this general heard from General Kelly about America — and didn’t hear
I will give Bob Killebrew the credit and thanks he deserves for his military service to the nation.
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(Tim Boyle/Getty Images) Two cheers for COIN
It has become fashionable to trash counterinsurgency.
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myrichuncle Diary of Trump’s Russian handler (5): Hey, U.S., you brought this on yourselves
Americans: You are now an oligarchy
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A german shepherd and its military handler. (Department of Defense) War dog: A dog and his handler
A dose of companionship
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Portrait of John F. Kennedy; Portrait of Ho Chi Minh (White House Press Office; Wikimedia Commons) Edgar on Strategy (Part VII): When evaluating strategies, go beyond good and evil, and keep the narrative in mind
Our propensity to see the world in terms of good and evil might be described as a shared, though ill-defined, moral conviction so strong that it blinds leaders to the complex motives, interests, and perspectives of other actors.
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Cover of The Soldiers of Empire, by Tarak Barkawi. (Cambridge University Press) Book excerpt: On soldiers’ use of racist language in the Asia-Pacific wars
The Allies [in WWII] often used analogies involving animals or insects that lived underground to describe the Japanese.
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Australian troops in New Guinea during WWII. (Wikimedia Commons) Finally, the Australian military explained to the rest of us: It’s a sentimental outfit
It is not surprising that a style of warfare characterized by aggression, individual initiative, and a distinctly impertinent attitude towards authority was celebrated.
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In the Warlords' Shadow by Daniel R. Green (Amazon.com) So many memoirs, so little understanding
Is anyone reading them?
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Soldiers from the 48th Regiment along the North West Frontier India. (Northampton Museum & Art Gallery) Buchan’s imperial boast: We do it better
Are Americans poor imperialists?
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An Air Force Airman guards his post at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, on Oct. 11. (Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Victoria H. Taylor) What’s wrong with this picture?
Hint: This is what Humvee gunners looked like in Iraq in 2003.
