“Vietnamese legends held that on the anniversary of a person’s death, a spiritual channel between our world and the afterlife can open making communication possible. Was this just such a phenomenon?” JUST AFTER dusk on the night of Feb. 10, 1970, the jungles near the U.S. Army’s Fire Support Base Chamberlain in Hau Niga Province, South Vietnam…
Category: Guerilla Warfare
Cartel Corner #1
I have decided to start an ongoing series called Cartel Corner that will seek to educate the everyday citizen on the complex problem that is the drug war as a whole and also study the actual TACTICS and STRATEGIES that both the Drug Cartels, Law Enforcement and Armed Civilians are using in the ongoing Fight….
“Homebrew Guns” & the Cartel Guerilla Gunsmiths that Make Them
It was usually evening when the three men arrived at the shop. They would roll up in a Volkswagen Beetle, and come to a halt at a nondescript, garage-sized warehouse in a strip of shops in a residential neighborhood in Guadalajara, in Southwestern Mexico’s Jalisco state. They would park the Bug, and proceed to drink…
Corbett vs. The Caliphate: What a Long Dead Naval Strategist Tells us about Combatting the Islamic State
Julian Corbett (1854-1922) has long been hidden in the shadow of Clausewitz and by the baneful glare of modern think tanks. Renowned as a naval thinker, Corbett was far more—and ever adept at pointing out how absolute theories collapse when faced with reality. Of particular pertinence to the current befuddlement of U.S. policy toward…
A Grunt’s Thoughts on the Loss of Kunduz
By Ryan Blum Best Defense guest columnist As I’m scrolling through my Facebook feed during my Monday morning commute I almost overlook a post from my old Company Commander: “Taliban Fighters Overrun Kunduz City as Afghan Forces Retreat” My mouth drops. Back in March of 2010 my unit took responsibility for Kunduz Province in northern…
Propaganda of the Deed: How Insurgents are Seizing the Initiative
On a clear afternoon in March 2011, the relatively still air in Uruzgan’s Tarin Kot bowl was punctured by a blast wave and flame ball that rose more than 100 meters into the sky. Insurgents had concealed an improvised explosive device within a motorcycle, and infiltrated it into the logistics soak yard outside the Multi-National…
Use Espionage to Destroy ISIS
By William A. Levinson Sun Tzu’s Art of War admonished more than 2500 years ago, “Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemy’s condition simply because one grudges the outlay of a hundred ounces…
The OODA Loop, Revisited
John Boyd’s OODA loop teaches troops how to make the right decision with little time and scant info. By Mike Grice You make decisions every day. Dozens and dozens of them. Some are easy — coffee or latte? — and some are more complex. Regardless of what kind of decision you need to make, you…
Why Your Intelligence Section Must ID Gang Activity Now
“Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.” – George Washington By Samuel Culper This past weekend, we had the great fortune to see some of the good, the bad, and the ugly in West Virginia. First…
Meet the American Civilian Operator’s Fighting ISIS
These brave CO’s represent the best of America IMO and it is no surprise to me at least that the majority are from TEXAS! Thank God there is still a small remnant of people who cannot turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed by ISIS against Christians and are not waiting until ISIS…