[March 15, 2022] All great empires have risen from seemingly out of nowhere to last nearly three centuries and then poof, they are gone. The greatest of empires – the Romans, Egyptians, Greeks, and Persians – were not conquered by outside enemies but collapsed from within. Some say the Western world is collapsing, and the biggest problem is… Read More »
[March 14, 2022] Yesterday, I wrote about five lessons from the Ukraine War1. While there are many lessons at the military tactical and grand strategic levels, today’s article focuses on the military-national level. In other words, lessons for senior leaders. Today is the 19th day of this war, and little has changed for the past week. Russia’s Plan… Read More »
[March 13, 2022] From afar, it is easy to oversimplify or distort lessons from the Ukraine War and what the world should learn from it. There is a significant risk of taking the wrong lessons and applying those to the greater global stage of international relationships, our economic systems, and how we use our military. Today is the… Read More »
[March 11, 2022] Alexander the Great once said that “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” Of course, he was talking about inspiration. Indeed, it must have been an inspirational speech that day; I only wish I’d been there to… Read More »
[March 10, 2022] With war raging in Ukraine, now is an excellent time to remind ourselves of the 5 essentials for victory. Sun Tzu, whom I’ve written about many times (see links here, here, and here), has condensed for us what is needed for victory in war. In a future article, I will address whether the Russian military… Read More »
[April 3, 2022] New developments show the Russian attacks slowing down and shifting their main effort to eastern Ukraine and away from the Ukraine capital. Furthermore, there are reports of the killing of innocent civilians by Russian troops. If this is correct, it will be another instance of war crimes. See tomorrow’s article that discusses war crimes. [March… Read More »
[March 7, 2022] It was a dark September night at Fort Benning, GA, as our platoon of new lieutenants moved out on a new training mission. We were headed deep into the bush to test our newly acquired leadership skills and measure our resilience. I was paired with a lieutenant from Chicago; he had the worst traits a… Read More »
[March 4, 2022] As many daily readers have noticed, I took time out from my leadership blog for the past few days. This is rare, but in this case, necessary, as I needed special medical care requiring several days of attention. I did have time to catch up on the news and think about the conflict in Ukraine. … Read More »
[February 25, 2022] Sometimes, I find something that just interests me. An archeological article came out last year that suggested that during the A.D. 79 Mount Vesuvius eruption, a Roman Soldier was on the Herculaneum beach as part of a major rescue effort. We know that a rescue mission was undertaken by naval commander Pliny, the Elder. Pliny’s… Read More »
[February 21, 2022] U.S. Army Drill Sergeant Bryant stood like a statue looking over the simulated battlefield on the west side of Fort Polk, LA. We were about to charge into the open fields to attack the enemy. “Stand ready!” he said with great anticipation, “Charge!” And we went, willy-nilly running like the highly motivated newbie recruits we… Read More »