Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast

The emerging anti-fragile forces of indigenous irregular warfare forces in concert or independent of near-peer and peer competitors challenging US and western global hegemony are on the march and will in the end succeed.References:David Maxwell Counter-Unconventional Warfare (2014)Douglas Porch Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of WarAnn Scott Tyson American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim GrantH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareMark Bowden Blackhawk Down: A Story of Modern WarBob Scales Scales on War: The Future of America’s Military at RiskAaron B. O’Connell Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts and MindsHy S. Rothstein Afghanistan and the Troubled Future of Unconventional WarfareRobert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In HistorySpecial Forces Detachment Mission Planning Guide HQDA January 2020My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

In this episode, I will be a heretic to the current military establishment in America and the west. They can't do unconventional warfare and I must be very specific in the conditional problem I propose: the western military has no capability to conduct long term partisan warfare in concert with indigenous forces fighting an insurgency in a non-permissive environment. It doesn't have the language skills, cultural IQ, sophisticated intelligence/communications infrastructure to support stay-behind missions, isolated stand-in force capability (nor does the USMC for FD2030 fantasies) comprehensive bushcraft and primitive skills for long loiter missions nor a fighting force that is capable of living in third world conditions for years (rotational longevity) at a time.This is Part One of a two part series in which we will discuss the converse capabilities conundrum in counter UW for the west in Part Two published o/a 26 December 2023.References:David Maxwell Counter-Unconventional Warfare (2014)Douglas Porch Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of WarAnn Scott Tyson American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim GrantH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareMark Bowden Blackhawk Down: A Story of Modern WarBob Scales Scales on War: The Future of America’s Military at RiskAaron B. O’Connell Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts and MindsHy S. Rothstein Afghanistan and the Troubled Future of Unconventional WarfareRobert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In HistorySpecial Forces Detachment Mission Planning Guide HQDA January 2020My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

Here we do a deep dive in US Army Special Forces (SF) and why a complete overhaul is needed to resurrect the original charter to save SF from itself. Over two decades of fighting neo-colonial conflicts throughout the Middle East and Africa has decimated the original construct and mission of what made SF so special.References:Douglas Porch Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of WarAnn Scott Tyson American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim GrantH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareMark Bowden Blackhawk Down: A Story of Modern WarBob Scales Scales on War: The Future of America’s Military at RiskAaron B. O’Connell Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts and MindsHy S. Rothstein Afghanistan and the Troubled Future of Unconventional WarfareRobert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In HistorySpecial Forces Detachment Mission Planning Guide HQDA January 2020My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

Today, I'll do a deep dive into the US Army vanilla SOF organziations and get acquainted with the capabilities and opportunities for US Army special operations.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

A brief introduction to the Department of Defense activities in special operations. I will not be discussing the dark organizations and specifically address the "vanilla" SOF in all the services.References:Douglas Porch Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of WarAnn Scott Tyson American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim GrantH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareMark Bowden Blackhawk Down: A Story of Modern WarBob Scales Scales on War: The Future of America’s Military at RiskAaron B. O’Connell Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts and MindsHy S. Rothstein Afghanistan and the Troubled Future of Unconventional WarfareRobert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In HistorySpecial Forces Detachment Mission Planning Guide HQDA January 2020My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

We discuss the Israeli emergency in its latest iteration in the horrific attacks by Hamas into Israel in October 2023 and the simmering conflict bands that emerging globally in which this is another explosion in the global conflict rift. For those who thought the podcast died, its death has been greatly exaggerated. My move to FL from AZ is now complete and many apologies for the disturbance of my fortnightly podcast episode rhythm by being late two weeks with a new episode.The podcast studio took some time to resurrect but here we are.I said Pat Keller in the the podcast, it is Bob Keller; apologies Bob, senior moment.References:David Fromkin A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle EastJonathan Schneer The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli ConflictKenneth Pollack Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military EffectivenessDarryl Cooper & MartyrMade Fear & Loathing in the New Jerusalem [podcast]My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

Every war has a seminal novel, a book that really resonates with generation that wrote it and the following generations from the Iliad to Gore Vidal's historical fiction to The Centurions by Jean Larteguy to From Here to Eternity by James Jones to this one.References:Paul Avallone Tattoo Zoo: A Novel of the Afghan WarJean Larteguy The CenturionsAnton Myrer Once an EagleMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

In the one year anniversary episode (!), we chat about the use of thin-skinned vehicles in the modern age and the asymmetric nature of the fight. The employment of commercially produced vehicles for conduct of raids and ambushes employing a wide array of weapons medium- to heavy-machine guns to mortars to ATGMs and everything in between. Please note that Toyota outside of Japan does not produce these for purpose-built military employment. And to my fellow CruiserHeads, I salute you.References:Leigh Neville Technicals: Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from the Great Toyota War to modern Special ForcesAlaric Searle & Ed Nash Kurdish Armour Against ISIS: YPG/SDF tanks, technicals and AFVs in the Syrian Civil War, 2014–19My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

I take the time to discuss some of the conventional ramifications of modern warfare and book recommendations that have given me a deeper and more nuanced understanding of why wars begin and end as they do.References:Sun Tzu The Art of WarCarl von Clausewitz On WarMiyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to StrategyH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareChristian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech WarfareQiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy AmericaMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

The defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan was part of a broad tapestry of disasters that eventually brought the Russian communist state crashing down. The shattering of Soviet forces by the indigenous rebels aided by foreign fighters and sophisticated weapons technology from the West doomed the USSR to failure. The Americans would later respond with: "Hold my beer..."References:Ahmed Rashid Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central AsiaRodric Braithewaite Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89Daniel P. Bolger Feast of Bones: A NovelMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

We examine the Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On by Leigh Neville and Matt Eversmann to discuss the book, the event and what led up to the event.References:Leigh Neville & Matt Eversmann Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years OnMark Bowden Blackhawk DownMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

We discuss the book, guerrilla and insurgency warfare during the American war in 1861-65, the atrocity cycle, guerrilla math and the hopelessness of occupation avoiding the injury of civilians.References:Tom McKinney Jack Hinson's One-Man War, A Civil War SniperDaniel E. Sutherland A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil WarMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

It appears the West just can't get counterinsurgency right. I talk about some of the framework ideas that would be good lessons learned for those who I think wisely and would try to avoid COIN. The major takeaway is that insurgencies are rather antifragile and bureaucracies are the enemy of effectiveness and innovation.References:Nassim Taleb Incerto: Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, The Bed of Procrustes, Antifragile, Skin in the GameDouglas Porch Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of WarMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

I discuss the complex adaptive system that is war that Clausewitz categorically identified as "friction" in the nineteenth century. We'll examine what chaos and complexity has to do with conflict, why it is inevitable and why wars are won by the least incompetent armies and navies.References:Nassim Taleb Incerto: Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, The Bed of Procrustes, Antifragile, Skin in the GameCarl von Clausewitz On WarMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

The April 1961 Generals’ Putsch of Algiers (Putsch des généraux), was a failed military action to press French President Charles de Gaulle to not abandon French Algeria, along with French people and pro-French Arabs living there. The putsch in French Algeria was conducted by four retired generals, led by Maurice Challe, the commander of the French Armed Forces in Algeria in 1958-60 and the author of the successful Challe Plan. The plan which in effect helped to defeat militant rebels across Algeria.References:Martin Windrow Our Friends Beneath the Sands: The Foreign Legion in France's Colonial Conquests 1870-1935Douglas Porch The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting ForceDouglas Porch CounterinsurgencyAlistair Horne A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962Martin Evans Algeria: France's Undeclared War (Making of the Modern World)My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

In this episode, I go through some of the more interesting emails and comments I have gotten since the podcast began in September 2022.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

his episodes examines the unconventional and eccentric mind sets of Lawrence and other famous and obscure military figures. We examine the way some armies embrace this while others discourage it.References:Scott Anderson Lawrence of Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle EastJames J. Schneider Guerrilla Leader: TE Lawrence and the Arab RevoltTE Lawrence Seven Pillars of WisdomDesmond Stewart TE Lawrence: A New BiographyJeremy Wilson Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of TE LawrenceRanulph Fiennes Lawrence of Arabia: My Journey in Search of T. E. LawrenceMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

In this episode we will discuss how Lawrence's medievalism gave him a tremendous advantage serendipitously advising and leading the local Arab revolt during WWI against the Turks and more deeply, Allied efforts to map a post-war world. His predilections in study, preparation and application of his 27 points led to a success the British army and the larger Allied effort could not have achieved without him.References:Scott Anderson Lawrence of Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle EastJames J. Schneider Guerrilla Leader: TE Lawrence and the Arab RevoltTE Lawrence Seven Pillars of WisdomDesmond Stewart TE Lawrence: A New BiographyJeremy Wilson Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of TE LawrenceRanulph Fiennes Lawrence of Arabia: My Journey in Search of T. E. LawrenceMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

One of the peak guerrilla fountainheads in the early twentieth century, TE Lawrence has been in both the popular imagination and a large part of the engine in the Middle East that signed the death knell for foreign colonial powers to leave the region, Eccentric and brilliant, one of the few successful insurgency leaders during WWI.References:Scott Anderson Lawrence of Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle EastJames J. Schneider Guerrilla Leader: TE Lawrence and the Arab RevoltTE Lawrence Seven Pillars of WisdomDesmond Stewart TE Lawrence: A New BiographyJeremy Wilson Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of TE LawrenceRanulph Fiennes Lawrence of Arabia: My Journey in Search of T. E. LawrenceMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

The brilliant John Milius helmed this production in the thick of the cold war waning with the USSR. This will be the first episode where we examine the collision between irregular warfare and popular culture.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

Government, for a variety of reasons, is manifestly incompetent in everything it does and this lends parts of the explanatory framework in why systemic failure is the feature not a bug in Western martial efforts.The critiques of the government supremacist mindset are legion and one can find many rational and elegant theses if you start at the Mises Institute and listen to the podcasts of Scott Horton at Antiwar.com. Scott and I recently did a deep dive together in Episode 5850 "Bill Buppert: A Deep Dive into Irregular Warfare" on 17 February 2023.References:Ludwig von Mises BureaucracyColin Gray Modern StrategyThomas Sowell Knowledge and DecisionDaniel P. Bolger How We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan WarsMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

As a former Appleseed instructor and Shoot Boss in AZ, I had the opportunity to teach a marksmanship/history project that had me master the origins and details of the first month of the First American Revolution. I cover the "Three Strikes of the Match" that we used as an organization to educate folks about the marriage between marksmanship and liberty that initiated the divorce from London in 1775.References:David Hackett Fischer Paul Revere's RideJ. L. Bell The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary WarRobert A. Gross The Minutemen and Their WorldJohn R. Galvin The Minute Men: The First Fight: Myths and Realities of the American RevolutionKevin Phillips The Cousins War: Religion, Politics, Civil Warfare, And The Triumph Of Anglo-AmericaJohn F. Ross War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First FrontierStephen Brumwell White Devil: A True Story of War, Savagery And Vengeance in Colonial AmericaMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

I review and discuss Sean McMeekin's brilliant tome on Stalin being the ascendant and most successful antagonist in WWII.References:Sean McMeekin Stalin's War: A New History of World War IIJohn Koster Operation Snow: How a Soviet Mole in FDR's White House Triggered Pearl HarborHerbert Romerstein, Eric Breindel The Venona Secrets, Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's TraitorsM. Stanton Evans, Herbert Romerstein Stalin's Secret Agents: The Subversion of Roosevelt's GovernmentMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

I discuss the French experience in north Africa and the devastating consequences of the double blow of losing Indochina in the same time-frame in Algeria in north Africa.References:Martin Windrow Our Friends Beneath the Sands: The Foreign Legion in France's Colonial Conquests 1870-1935Douglas Porch The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting ForceDouglas Porch CounterinsurgencyMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

In this first episode, I discuss the fundamentals of French irregular warfare doctrine with a concentration on COIN, French martial history in a thumbnail and the tragedy of French arms in post-WWII Indochina.References:Martin Windrow The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in VietnamBernard Fall Hell in a Very Small PlaceBernard Fall Street Without JoyTed Morgan Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu That Led America into the Vietnam WarMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

A short but effective tome that is a sound introduction to why the western COIN complex is so wrong-headed and intellectually bankrupt.References:Colonel Gian Gentile Wrong Turn: America’s Deadly Embrace of CounterinsurgencyMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

I discuss the combat framework from the tactical to the operational to the strategic level and mission command for both regular and irregular warfare (IW). A deep knowledge of conventional warfare is very useful to fully grokking how IW works hence the inclusion of that perspective.References:ADP 6-0 Mission CommandGrant Tedrick Hammond The Mind of War: John Boyd and American SecurityStephen Robinson Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of WarColin Gray Modern StrategyCarl von Clausewitz On WarMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

In this episode, I sketch the lives and exploits of three guerrilla luminaries: TE Lawrence, GEN Paul Emil von Letter-Vorbeck and Michael Collins. I want to use them to illustrate what I consider the next step in guerrilla evolution employing age-old techniques and strategies harnessed to modern technology and employment within the new age of mechanized warfare.References:Tim Pat Coogan Michael CollinsJames Gleeson Bloody SundayTom Barry Guerrilla Days in IrelandPeter Hart Michael CollinsEdwin P. Hoyt Guerrilla: COL Lettow-Vorbeck and Germany’s East African EmpireScott Anderson Lawrence of Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle EastJames J. Schneider Guerrilla Leader: TE Lawrence and the Arab RevoltMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail me at [email protected].

Despite trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of deaths, the West has nothing to show for the counterinsurgency campaigns it has waged. Despite the enormous industry and vast intellectual and historical apologetics combine, the wasteland is evident to all who take the time to examine the details. The emperor of COIN is naked.References:Nassim Taleb: The Black Swan, Antifragile: Things That Gain from DisorderDouglas Porch: Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of WarRobert Asprey War in the ShadowsMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

The Irish Rebellion in 1916-1922 is what I characterize as in the era of "Peak Guerrilla" in concert with the exploits of TE Lawrence and GEN Paul Emil von Letter-Vorbeck that set the stage for the modern irregular warfare era in the twentieth century. I will examine the exploits of Collins and the curious currents of history on a global basis that came to have great impacts on what appear to be local and regional conflicts and their final resolution.References:Tim Pat Coogan Michael CollinsJames Gleeson Bloody SundayTom Barry Guerrilla Days in IrelandMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

In this episode, I make the case that insurgencies are antifragile and that counterinsurgencies are fragile for the most part; we discuss the concepts, examine historical and contemporary examples and set the stage for practitioners and scholars to leverage this model to gain a more true understanding of how IW works.References:Nassim Taleb: The Black Swan and Antifragile: Things That Gain from DisorderDouglas Porch: Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of WarMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].

This charter episode will discuss the intent of the podcast and get started with the basics to create a framework of common understanding. This episode will discuss the National Defense Strategy, generations of warfare, civil war and the regional conflict complexes that emerge from larger wars and conflicts. Irregular warfare (IW) is rather complex and tends to be muddier, more nuanced and subject to interpretative misconceptions and we'll lay the groundwork for understanding these in both the larger and smaller contexts.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at [email protected].