[August 25, 2026] There’s nothing more resentful in a military force than a middle-grade staff officer who has been celebrated for his leadership, particularly when he was a junior leader, but hasn’t yet managed to transform that initial success into long-term status and accomplishment. These leaders often ask themselves, “Why am I not being promoted and given more… Read More »
[August 9, 2026] To inquire about what others are doing is a necessary part of our existence. We first encountered this with our parents, who asked about our day. Doing so was a way of getting us to think and talk, and it works. Learning how to put into coherent words what we are doing is a crucial… Read More »
[August 7, 2026] Welcome the unknown. The unknown is and will always be both a teacher and a source of growth. Confront life’s challenges and uncertainties voluntarily rather than clinging to rigid security. That is the road to being a better person, living your life to its fullest, and getting the most out of your life and those… Read More »
[August 6, 2026] A great leader I knew, many years ago, told me that it is not a leader’s job to motivate people. At the time I thought that he was crazy. His comment ran counter to everything I’d been taught in the military. And more than just being taught, we were being evaluated on how motivated our… Read More »
[August 4, 2026] It was a bad day. I’d been caught chewing gum by our Drill Sergeant while I was in Advanced Individual Training, U.S. Army at Fort Gordon, GA, sometime in late 1974. My punishment, euphemistically called “reinforcement training” was cleaning the urinals in the men’s barracks … with a toothbrush. I was a Private (E-1), the… Read More »
[July 27, 2026] In America, and likely the rest of the West, a subtle but alarming cultural shift is underway right in front of us. A number of influential voices now claim that a specific list of traits is indicative of ‘racism.’ Jordan Peterson addresses this claim in a recent post on X. What distinguishes Peterson is that,… Read More »
[July 24, 2026] One of the timeless precepts of war is to always be prepared, especially for the unexpected. This idea is as old as warfare itself, a constant companion throughout human history. Those who fail to plan should plan on failing. America’s military has often started from a position of relative peacetime weakness, which has driven its… Read More »
[July 23, 2026] My view of military officers is that intelligence is the biggest predictor of their success long term. This should come as no surprise, as intelligence predicts success cross-culturally and within nearly any work or social environment. But what I found—through decades of direct observation—was that very high IQ often hindered officers in their early career… Read More »
[July 20, 2026] There are recent tactical and strategic changes in America’s war with Iran that deserve some comment. Despite a greater stranglehold and destruction of Iranian assets, the position of Iran in this war has not changed at all. They remain as recalcitrant as always. The question everyone seems to be asking, since Iran restarted their attacks… Read More »
[July 18, 2026] In 1915, Russian naval pilot Alexander Prokofiev de Seversky lost his right leg below the knee during his first combat mission over the Baltic Sea. A German destroyer’s anti-aircraft fire downed his aircraft, and the bombs aboard killed his observer. He once wrote in an article that “I owe my career to losing a leg.”… Read More »