A nation must think before it acts.
In 1970, the President’s Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force delivered its report to the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. In the report, better known as the Gates Commission due to the leadership of former Secretary of...
Read more »Last week marked the start of Major League Baseball’s regular season schedule in North America. (The season actually started on March 22 in Australia when the Los Angeles Dodgers played the Arizona Diamondbacks for two games at the Sydney...
Read more »WHAT A DIFFERENCE A week makes. A week ago Tom Ricks of the New American Foundation wrote about the non-military nature of today’s news, and then Russia conducts an invasion of the Crimea. This isn’t to be critical of Tom at all (full disclosure:...
Read more »Last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey delivered a speech at the National Defense University where he spoke about the current strategic environment, the military instrument and the military profession. On the current strategic...
Read more »PREFACE Teaching America’s military history is an important civic duty because “We the People” are responsible for the common defense and therefore should know something about it. At the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), we encourage teachers to integrate...
Read more »On Tuesday of this week Chris Carroll from Stars and Stripes reported on a letter from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey to Congress outlining five military options for dealing with the situation in Syria....
Read more »My first in-the-flesh experience with drones came on a hot night in June of 2006 on an airfield tarmac in Taji, Iraq. Having exited a large CH47 Chinook transport helicopter and now waiting for a bus to take me...
Read more »Of all the Great Captains we are examining in this conference, Winfield Scott is probably the least known to the general public. Years ago, when I told people I was writing a biography of President Garfield, a common reaction...
Read more »Creighton Abrams was something quite rare in the military profession, a man of tactical and strategic brilliance, personal bravery and integrity of the highest order, and inspiring leadership who was also compassionate, modest and wise. For nearly four decades,...
Read more »It is a pleasure to speak at the conference on “The Great Captains in American History,” and to talk about General Grant. Let me begin, however, by offering a word of caution. War is a terrible thing, and it...
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