MilStack Saturday (7 September 2024)
The best Substack articles on military subjects I read (or listened to) in the past week
Most of the articles included in this list rolled off the presses (so to speak) in the past seven days. A few, however, are older pieces that I discovered (or rediscovered) in the week that ends today.
What To Do About Clausewitz suggests that, rather than reading what various pundits have written about Clausewitz over the years, we go straight to the (remarkably holistic) source.
In Tension describes the art of placing highly skilled surgical teams behind the line of fire. (Closer is quicker. Further is safer. Local factors matter.)
A pair of splendid articles challenge simplistic notions about the motivations of Americans who fought in the Civil War (A Connecticut Yankee in the Confederate Army) and the First World War (The Iron Republic).
Egalitarian Conquerers complements both of these pieces by looking at the way governments ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people’ have fueled the rise of empires.
Aligning the Ivy League uses the work of John R. Boyd to make sense of the Harvard plagiarism scandal. (What does this have to do with tactics? Read the piece in conjunction with Evil and Corruption and you will find out.)
To Remain Relevant introduces an article of the same name that recently appeared in Real Clear Defense. Signed by Walter Boomer, James Conway, and Anthony Zinni, this second piece both chronicles the follies of the reigning missile mania and offers an alternative.
Saved Rounds 9.6.24 looks at the rebuilding of a US Marine infantry battalion that had fallen on hard times. (The judicious use of decision games played a big role.)
Did I miss anything? Please use the comments section to post links to recently published articles that might interest readers of The Tactical Notebook.
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As usual a lot of great reads. (Half way through the stack, yikes!) but having read the Connecting File post yesterday when it was published one can’t recommend it enough. Too much to unpack here for everyone, but everyone should read it. Then they should thank General Alford for showing the way. Again too much to say about General Alford’s leadership abilities and what a stark contrast in comparison to the current managerial class attempting (very badly) to “manage” the US Marine Corps. It won’t end well, if major changes are not made. The Connecting File post in which Gunner Cargile recounts the ways that true “leadership” made a difference and turned a lousy battalion into a great one. While we champion the notion of team work it points out that one individual can make an enormous difference and leadership matters. Thanks again for the Milstack, Saturday morning isn’t being wasted!
Perhaps my latest post is of interest to your readers?
https://open.substack.com/pub/democura/p/sharpening-our-military-command-part?r=2neqzu&utm_medium=ios