Image courtesy of Olive Drab. Friday’s Last Word: Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend… I have always thought Learning to East Soup with a Knife – John Nagl’s...
Read MoreNote: My friends over at The Bridge have recently published an essay by Major Andy Rohrer critical of my original position on “The Decay of the Profession of Arms.” In good sport, I responded and thought those at the War Council might enjoy the short read that follows:
These two essays run in parallel and there’s so much agreement between the two that it’s almost hard to write a response. And I’ve only got 30 minutes, but, hey, when life gives you 30 minutes before work: write something for The Bridge. Better yet, do it for the War Council.
Rohrer’s essay is critical of “The Decay of the Profession of Arms” in that “the examples given by Cavanaugh…to illustrate bureaucracy’s effect – a nonsensical uniform regulation and a requirement to complete multitudes of paperwork to travel to Mexico – are not examples of bureaucracy stifling intellectualism; they are reflections of aversion to risk.” There is a genuine disagreement in this minor point of the essay – where Rohrer is gentle with these matters and considers them more or less trivial – my position is openly hostile, and here’s why.
Read MoreNote: As the Editor, to be honest, I put in a lot of time with War Council. I’m writing this having just put my 2.5 year old daughter to bed, and in the space of time I have (20 minutes) until my wife comes home from...
Read MoreThe Death of the U.S. Air Force?
The Air Force is getting crushed these days. The Boston Globe just ran an opinion piece that called for scrapping the organization. University of Kentucky scholar Rob Farley has supported the same, both in Foreign Affairs as well as his new book, Grounded. In simple form, the argument is that the Air Force organization is redundant, and that such redundancies ought to be the first to go in a budget-constrained era. A reasonable question is asked: “Why does the navy’s army have an air force?” Since there is already an air combat wing in each of the other services – why not just fold the Air Force’s portfolio into the Army and the Navy – just think of the administrative cost savings!
Read MoreObvious inspiration from Foreign Policy – but, hey, the “Ad” department at War Council is pretty small (me). War Council’s first week is in the bag! Thanks to all those who contributed original content,...
Read More