War without End

I am also proud to say that George Wilson, the dean of defense reporting and friend, has written the very insightful piece below that explains how American exceplionalism has gotten us into committments that are bankrupting. The only ones who don’t think so are inside the beltway.

Don

 

War without End? Monday, June 15, 2009 CongressDailyAM www.congressdaily.com

By George C. Wilson

Is this Global War on Terror going to last forever? Has it already changed our nation from an historically defensive Athens to an offensive Sparta whose military looks everywhere for trouble and finds it? Who is calculating the cost-to-benefit ratio of sending Green Berets and other Special Operations troopers into remote corners of the world to assassinate suspected terrorists?

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My week at West Point, fantastic!

I was invited by COL Casey Haskins to observe application of Outcomes Based Training and Education (OBT&E), Adaptive Leader Methodology (ALM) and the Combat Application Training Course (CATC) in the field environment during Cadet Summer Training (CST).

The summer training was the first full implementation of OBT&E, in which ALM and CATC falls under as a way to reach outcomes. The main theme was let the cadets do as much as possible, while making mistakes.

They conducted platoon level free play force on force exercises during Cadet Leader Training (CLT) which consists of rising seniors (“firsties”) in platoon on platoon scenarios. I missed the last scenario, but still discussed with cadets about their observations of training. Their comments were very substantive and positive. Their only criticism was the use of MILEs did not work as well. I also had several discussions with various “TACs” on their observations of training. Story after story on how cadets reacted to free thinking OPFOR, as well as the stress of missions, told of its success.

I also observed the certification of rising juniors (“cows”), who in turn will be training the plebes during their Cadet Basic Training (CBT). I was also asked by the cadre to give a short presentation on ALM to the class.

Summary: COL Haskins and his cadre did (are doing) an excellent job implementing OBT&E and its techniques ALM and CATC to reach the outcomes. With great instructors/leaders like Major Chad Foster, they are setting the example of how to do OBT&E, ALM and CATC.

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Stop Letting Cheney Frame the Torture Debate

Military Reformer William S. Lind (not to be confused with the anti-reformer Raytheon lobbyist now ensconced in the Pentagon as the Deputy Secretary of Defense, William J. Lynn) has written an excellent piece of advice for President Obama. While one might want to quibble with whether some of the people now incarcerated in Guantanamo should be tried as criminals, rather than held as prisoners of war, the central theme of Lind’s thinking is the essence of winning in human conflict. It comes directly from the founder of the military reform movement, Col. John R. Boyd, who died in 1997: Thinking and operating at the moral level in Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere, is the key. To stoop to lower levels, such as the un-, and anti-, American behavior pushed then and now by Vice President Cheney, is a sure route to defeat.

Lind explains in a commentary published in the June 3 AntiWar.com. It appears below.

Thanks Don

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The Border Cartels Challenge Obama By Carlton Meyer Apr/21/2009

A good but true article written by Marine Carlton Meyer, who is another truth teller with brains! Carlton has a great web site called G2mil.com (free access to many great articles). Carlton is writing about what should be done to the drug war waging across our southern borders. At heart of his article is leadership failure and corruption.

Many major decisions deferred by Congress regarding the war being waged in the south is due to the influence of lobbyists hired by corrupt Mexican politicans in turned influenced by the drug cartels. The other influence is slowing down border trade. Again, short term profits trumps doing what is right.

Any person who is in a leadership position and knowningly partakes in not making the right decision in regards to doing something about the war along our border is morally corrupt. Carlton, as always points out a problem and offers viable solutions. As I have also said about my fellow citizens of the U.S., if we did not have a drug problem, the cartels would not be in business. So, every time someone uses illegal drugs, they are funding corruption, murder and evil. They are not only harming themselves and their families, but also harming their fellow law abiding citizens. We should not tolerate this type of behavior as it is also undermining our once great nation.

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