I highly recommend Anglin’s book Orde Wingate: Unconventional Warrior for those of you who have an interest in learning about Counter-Insurgency Warfare and it’s timeless principles.-SF “Orde Wingate’s experiences from World War Two offer lessons for 21st Century military planners, particularly in the areas of counter-insurgency, covert and special operations and proxy wars.” By Dr. Simon Anglin MAJOR GENERAL Orde…
Category: Tactics
Killing Anwar: Targeting Jihadi Propagandist is Only Part of the Solution
Like dozens of others, the husband and wife team who shot up a San Bernardino community center were inspired by U.S. born al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen by a drone strike in September 2011. The San Bernardino shooting should serve as a reminder that killing propagandists can be an important tactical…
Islamic State manual tells jihadis to pretend to be Christians
This of course is nothing new for those of you who study the tactics of your enemy. The islamic principle of al-taqiyya is the JUSTIFICATION for lying and deceiving. You can read more about al-taqiyya HERE. Combine this warning with the recent revelation that the shooter arrested in the Philadelphia Cop Shooting was a member…
What Armed Civilians Can Learn from the Philadelphia Policeman Shooting
Every time an event like this happens, if you are like me, you get so pissed you want to punch the wall, and yes, sometimes I do (well, I actually punch a bag several times…I got tired of patching my own walls). But after working thru the obvious anger, it is also a chance to…
Inside an IS Terror Weapons Lab
Experts describe the footage obtained by Sky News of a “jihadi technical college” as an intelligence gold mine. Terror group Islamic State is employing scientists and weapons experts to train jihadists to carry out sophisticated “spectacular” attacks in Europe, while also modifying weapons systems capable of targeting passenger jets and military aircraft. From a “jihadi…
Military History: The Lasting Influence of the Ancient Greeks on the Modern Military
Written more than two thousand years ago, texts by ancient Greeks still have a major impact on the modern militaries of today in numerous ways. At the start of the Cold War, the then US secretary of state, George Marshall, read the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, convinced that the events of the Peloponnesian War…
The Double-Edged Sword that is Open Carry
(Originally Published in March) Texas just got one step closer to joining the 13 other states in which Open Carry is Legal (with permit) with the Texas Senate Republicans passing the measure 20-11 in a straight party vote. Read that story HERE. As a PROUD Texan, I know many of you out there would…
The Lessons of Debaltseve: Armored Vehicles Still Matter
After nearly fifteen years of counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, American advocates of heavy armored forces interpreted Ukrainian forces’ defeat at the battle of Debaltseve as an indication that “tanks still matter.” But the key lesson of the Debaltseve fight is a broader one: Combat vehicles of whatever kind must provide the mobility, protection,…
Thinking About War Underground
No one has done better than the great British comic illustrator Heath Robinson to illustrate the intrinsically reciprocal dynamic of military engineering in general and mining and countermining in particular. This cartoon is from a collection Heath Robinson at War I found in a rummage sale years ago–no doubt there are abundant reprints. I would guess,…
Peering into the Past and Future of Urban Warfare in Israel
I traveled recently to Israel to visit a state-of-the-art military training facility in the southern Negev Desert opened by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) last year. The facility, at the Tze’elim army base, is meant to simulate urban operations of the kind the Israelis have so often faced in their conflicts with Palestinian and Lebanese…