Posted in Strategy, tagged 4th Generation Warfare, On War series, William S. Lind on March 31, 2009| 3 Comments »
By William S. Lind
30 March 2009
With the usual fanfare, the Obama administration has proclaimed a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan. On the surface, it does not amount to much. But if a story by Bill Gertz in the March 26 Washington Times is correct, there is more to it than meets the eye. Gertz reported that:
The Obama administration has conducted a vigorous internal debate over its new strategy for Afghanistan…
Posted in Adaptability, Leadership, Learning Organizations, tagged CMDK, Derek Schneider on March 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »
I have been very fortunate to have great people working with me when I was in the Army. Derek Schneider was my company executive officer when I commanded A company 3-77 AR in Mannheim Germany from August 91-February 93. Derek made a great command team, because he was into the profession like I was, and ate up the Maneuver Warfare material I brought with me when I graduated the USMC Amphibious Warfare School (now Expeditionary Warfare School) in May 1991. Derek went on to a successful command at Fort Polk and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment which also dual hatted as the oppossing forces there, and he is now a reserve Lieutenant Colonel.
He recently took over running a bourbon plan in KY. He is doing very well. Derek applies the lessons from military history as well as the principles of maneuver warfare in his leadership. See the show below, it is very cool.
Here is a link to the Fox News Story that ran nation wide on 14 March 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLsk9bTTj_Q
Derek C. Schneider Plant Manager – CMDK Office @ CMDK: 270-691-9001 Fax @ CMDK: 270-691-9002 Cell: 270-925-2324 Derek.Schneider@ldi-usa.net
Posted in How to develop adaptability, tagged Adaptive Leader Methodology (ALM), Deciding Under Pressure and Fast, Law Enforcement and Security Consulting LESC on March 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Thank you very much for having us!! My son & I both thought the workshop was outstanding. It was nice to see, in a world so technology focused, that somebody out there realizes that the mind is a primary weapon. The training was simple, imaginative and applicable. It is an essential preparation of the “battle-mind.”
LT Robert Mazur New Jersey State Police Special Operations Section/Deployment Services Bureau
Sergeant Michael Gould thoroughly enjoyed the training; please keep us posted on any other training when I becomes available.
~DEP Chief Daniel Coyle North Attleboro PD
Posted in Adaptability, Leadership, Learning Organizations, Strategy, tagged 4th Generation Warfare, Economic crisis, Leadership crisis in America on March 19, 2009| 8 Comments »
This is what is happening when leaders tell lies for so long that they cannot go back and tell the truth when it is absolutely necessary. In this case, it has to deal with our economy and how we have lived our lives since the grand old Reagan years. It is called living a lie and ignoring reality.
My friends at Washington Monthly forwarded me this post on the article that Jame Galbraith “No Return to Normal” in regards to what happens when a country’s culture makes it bad to be honest. We don’t want anyone to commit the truth, I say almost on a daily basis. That means we have to fix the problem and make hard decisions. That is called leadership. The biggest crisis today is not oil, the economy or education, it is lack of leaders of character. (more…)
Posted in Leadership, Strategy, tagged America's Defense Meltdown, Winslow Wheeler on March 19, 2009| 2 Comments »
Watch Pierre Sprey, Tom Christie, and Winslow Wheeler talk about America’s Defense Meltdown (link goes to the Kindle edition; paperback available around 20 March). The Executive Director of the Project on Government Oversight, Danielle Brian, moderates.
Posted in Leadership, Learning Organizations, Strategy, tagged 4th Generation Warfare in America, Bob Krumm, Dependency Society, maneuver warfare on March 10, 2009| 5 Comments »
This column, which I am in agreement with, is by a friend, Bob Krumm. I was going to take the time to write a column for the President’s grade in February, but I will do it here, as I have a short time before heading out to teach. I give him an “F”, and it is for the reasons stated below by Bob. But it also not abiding to the principles of Maneuver Warfare?
What is the main effort or Schwerpunkt?
Like a poor battlefield commander, who cannot make a decision and then support it with all his available resources, the President’s effort seems it is everywhere. And the way to support his multiple efforts is to drive us further into debt instead of letting failures fail. Let’s spread the wealth, hell, people like me and those who read this blog, will keep working hard, will pay our taxes (unlike some politicans), so the President can always depend on us hardworking American citizens, to a point!
The other point he has failed us on, is to get pulled into committing us further into a campaign we cannot win without further breaking our Army and our bank-Afghanistan. History and cultural studies would tell us this is untainable. It has nothing to do with the quality of our Army, Marines or SEALs over there fighting, they are putting in a 100 percent. A great tactical victory does not compensate for a poor strategy. The Germans learned this in two world wars. We should also, such as Vietnam.
The main effort should be the economy, and it should be rewarding success (the 90% percent of people still paying their mortages, not the “octomom”, who like many, has kids without thinking where and how am I going to support them, well I don’t have to worry, I have the goverment (spell hardworking tax payer) to do that). See my column a few months ago about rewarding success.
Begin Bob Krumm’s column…
Posted in Boyd, Strategy, tagged 4th Generation Warfare, Chuck Spinney, OODA loops on March 9, 2009| 1 Comment »
It is axiomatic that high quality intelligence intelligence is a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for effective OODA Loops at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of combat. But today’s Guardian (attached below) describes the conclusions of an internal report that is highly critical of our intelligence operations in Afghanistan. It paints a horrifying portrait of an inwardly focused OODA loop that is seeing what it wants to see and is so clogged up by its own bureaucratic procedures that it brings to mind the madness of Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22.”
The analysis at issue was prepared by the RAND Corporation for the US Joint Forces Command, and although it is unclassified, its distribution was limited by being stamped “For Official Use Only.” But this is the age of networks, and it is only a matter of time, a short time, that something that is unclassified and this explosive would flood the ether. So it should be no surprise that the Rand study is now widely available on the internet.
This is something the Obama team should read carefully ASAP, and my guess is that it will be news to them. After all, broken OODA Loops mean lost wars, and our new President was just maneuvered into approving a 17,000 man increase in US troop strength in Afghanistan, despite the fact that, according to Gareth Porter, the Commander, General McKiernan, could not tell the President how these troops would be used and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could not tell Mr. Obama what the exit strategy would be.
Posted in Adaptability, Decision Making, Strategy, tagged 4th Generation Warfare, Brave New World, Decline of the Nation State, On War series, Somali Pirates, William S. Lind on March 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »
William S. Lind
March 3, 2009
On the surface, the antics of Somali pirates and the comic opera response of the maritime powers is worthy of a re-visit by Gilbert and Sullivan. Despite the presence off Somalia of the largest concentration of international warships since World War II, Somali pirates go on their merry ways, taking ships and holding them for ransoms. While they seldom make their captives walk the plank and most prefer the green flag of Islam to the Jolly Roger, they are pirates in the full sense of the word, owing allegiance to no state. Pirates might be justified in claiming they were the original Fourth Generation warriors.
Dave Hubbard's short but well written and concise book is the blue print for our health care crisis. It is a must read for everyone aspiring to be a good leader as well as a responsible citizen.
Don Vandergriff 