@chrisgingram
Strategist || Military Writers Guild Board Member || #MilSky Admin || Intersection of Foreign Policy, Conflict, Economics, Politics, History, and Writing || Non-partisan, but not amoral || Opinions my own.
Book: THE THE SECRET HISTORY TWILIGHT OF AMERICA'S THIRTY-YEAR WAR CONFLICT WITH IRAN DAVID CRIST
I don’t really remember it, but this is why we read history before we develop strategy…
Someone just posted about how they don't care if their students use AI as long as the text conveys the ideas the students meant to convey. The thing is, you don't know exactly what you think until you write it. And if some prefab thing pops up, you're liable to decide that was what you thought.
A purpose of the war on Iran might well be to provoke a terrorist attack inside the United States, thereby justifying the need to “federalize” elections. We must anticipate it, with sadness and resolution, and not be surprised, if it happens.
snyder.substack.com/p/the-desire...
While I have had my share of fun critiquing the administration for a lack of foresight in predicting Iranian actions, that doesn’t mean CENTCOM didn‘t have a plan. They assuredly developed a plan, but what we don’t know is WHAT were they told to plan for?
Not to be all "getting Boss Baby vibes" about this but this is also true of the trade war.
The President made absolutely no effort to prepare the American people for the hardships his plans required them to endure, or to tell a coherent story about goals that would be worth that sacrifice.
Wars have always been a drain on the treasury. This is why the Constitution places the decision to go to war in the same branch that controls the purse strings. (Also in the one that is most responsive to national will.)
I expect nothing less than an entire cohort of CWOs colluding to raise the minimum payout to a level that undermines the system’s attempt to save money. I love economics, but there is always a human element, and this is a population that knows how to work together to beat the system.
Smart piece by @hoanssolo.bsky.social: "the raid’s very success poses a strategic danger: It reinforces a U.S. military culture excessively focused on precision strikes and special operations raids."
As strategists, one of our identity/value-proposition challenges is the role we play in policy/decision-making or in operational plans. The community has individuals better at one or the other, and HQs use us differently. In my HQs, 59s manage the commander’s decision process; other HQs not as much.
Happy Giving Tuesday! Please consider supporting the Military Writers Guild at the following link: www.paypal.com/donate/?host....
Thank you for your support!
My latest this AM with @warontherocks.bsky.social. Of note: "[Military officers] will be active participants with choices to make about the degree to which they continue to serve civilians intent on undermining the liberal values enshrined in the Constitution."
1/
warontherocks.com/2025/12/the-...
As a historian of the 18th c and an American, I've always known 2026 would be a critical moment. This doc is worth watching, and thinking through. Begins and ends w Indigenous contexts, conveys the horrors of a civil war wrought w racism + the ideals of liberty and equality we keep reaching for. 1/
Margo Price reminding us “don’t let the bastards get you down!”
No Fences Margarita 1 oz Lime Juice 2 oz High Horse Orange Liqueur 3 oz La Gritona Tequila Reposado
The weekend begins.
National Monument to Freedom, with names of enslaved persons.
Memorial to lynched Americans
Memorial of enslaved persons
John Lewis memorial statue
Powerful visit this weekend to museums and memorials in Montgomery, Alabama.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
Soldier in Afghanistan
And young?
Just noting that Alabama is one of the most biodiverse places in the country and its freshwater biodiversity is some of the highest in THE WORLD, comparable to THE LITERAL AMAZON, but they want to build water-guzzling data centers for AI here b/c land is cheap.
As a southerner who lived in Germany and felt the quiet moments of remembrance as I walked sidewalks across that country, it’s awesome to see my own country similarly remembering our own complicated past. Hopefully it spreads to other states.
If that was the point of the article (a cautionary tale, not advocacy for adapting to a post-liberal government) then it needed better editing. The thesis (and the citations) read as an officer openly advocating for “adapting” to the political climate by abandoning our oath to the Constitution.
A surprising (and disturbing) percentage of American service members rely on food benefits (SNAP/WIC) to feed their families. Also, while uniformed members are paid, many of their spouses who work in civilian jobs on base, are not being paid. Teachers, nurses, etc are being forced to work unpaid.
Hi folks! A few thoughts on this essay, and the questions that we *should* be asking, rather than the ones this Army officer seems inclined to answer. I haven’t done a CMR thread in a while so I’m overdue. 🧵
Just a random reminder that the “this” in “This We’ll Defend” is the U.S. Constitution.
Our oath is clear on the matter; there is no professional alternative.
Sharing this recent podcast by me on how civil-military relations (ideally) should work in liberal democracies.
See here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsma...
Families watching sports together on TV, maybe with an occasional in-person attendance, is how you grow the next generation of fans (at least it was for our generation).
It is an antiquated policy, at best. Given the population of pro-sports cities, and the price of admittance, most fans will never be able to attend, and if you’re not filling the stadium it has little to do with people preferring to watch on TV.
It’s been almost axiomatic for a long time that John Boyd can’t be fully understood because he never wrote anything down. That argument no longer holds. “Snowmobiles and Grand Ideals” is the definite Boyd, in his own words, from start to finish:
www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/...
