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Armchair General Blog Support Project Valour-IT Want to help a wounded warrior? Would you like to donate a few bucks to help soldiers who have been injured in recent conflicts? You might want to check out Soldiers’ Angels Valour-IT fundraiser, which aims to give voice-activated laptops and other support technology to wounded veterans. Please check them out! Pressfield and Afghan Strategy Author Steven Pressfield (Killing Rommel, Gates of Fire) has had a series of blogs on his website which offer an option for military thinkers on how to win in Afghanistan. The short version is summed up as "It’s the tribes, stupid." The long version is written by Maj. Jim Grant, US Special Forces and is called One Tribe At A Time (45 pages, PDF). The piece outlines the formula for proven success in dealing with the Tribes of Afghanistan – which is the power structure of primary importance in that part of the world. If you’d like to read more about tribal engagement in Afghanistan, please visit Steven Pressfield’s blog. Fall In Convention The following information was sent to ArmchairGeneral.com. FALL IN!™: It’s Not Too Late to Register Join The City Fight at Stalingrad, The HMGS WAR COLLEGE, The National Security Decision Making Game, and more… It’s not too late to register to attend the 12th annual FALL IN!™ Convention (http://www.fall-in.org) being held November 6 – 8, 2009 at the Eisenhower (IKE) Hotel Conference Center and Resort in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) East. Along with over 300 other historical miniatures gaming events, FALL IN! features the miniature war game “The City Fight at Stalingrad”, presented by The Gettysburg Area Gamers and Gettysburg Miniatures on Friday at noon, Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and Sunday at 10:00 a.m. The City Fight at Stalingrad miniature war game is a representation of the City of Stalingrad mid-October, 1942 with both the Germans and Russians fighting house to house and also fighting mother nature. The game’s 20-foot long board features many of the hotly contested buildings that are now famous in military books and documentaries, including a 2½ foot Grain Silo, the Tractor Factory, Red October Building, and the famous fountain with the children holding hands featured in the movie "Enemy at the Gates". The game also features key weapons that were just starting to be implemented in 1942, the sniper better equipment and tactics, and the rocket launchers, also known as "Stalin’s Organ". Over 20 hours of military history seminars will be featured at the FALL IN! HMGS War College, including the discussion "The World of 50 Years Ago, Part I" with speakers Capt. Mark McDonagh, USN (ret.), Lt. Col. Robert Blanke, USAF (ret.), Robert Mosher, and Merle Robinson, taking place on Friday from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. The National Security Decision Making Game staff will present an overview of the Cold War from 1945 to 1959. The lecture will discuss the diplomatic events from Yalta on, Containment and Truman Doctrines, establishment of NATO, the impact of nuclear weapons on geopolitics and military planning, the breakaway of the Air Force from the Army and the formation of Strategic Air Command and North American Air Defense Command, and initial US and Soviet development of intercontinental bomber forces and theater and intercontinental ballistic missiles. "The World of 50 Years Ago, Part II" will take place on Saturday from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. The National Security Decision Making Game staff will present an overview of the Cold War from 1945 to 1959 with a discussion of the geopolitical and military events that shaped the world, as it existed on 31 December 1959. A continuation of Friday’s lecture, Saturday’s presentation will discuss the jet power revolution in military aviation, the early stages of the Space Race, U.S. military drawdowns after WW II, the Korean War, Berlin, Hungary, Warsaw Pact formation and the re-arming of Eastern Europe, intelligence gathering systems and agencies, and surveillance systems (e.g. U-2 overflights), the Cuban revolution, the modernization of the U.S. aircraft carrier force for the jet age, the beginnings of the Soviet submarine threat, and the introduction of nuclear power and ballistic missile submarines. In addition to these being excellent lectures by highly qualified presenters, these talks are a great primer for those who will be playing the Cold War variant of the National Security Decision Making Game. Attendees at this year’s FALL IN! can take part in The National Security Decision Making (NSDM) Game, a fast-paced, challenging simulation of internal and geo-politics and eternal strategic principles. Part seminar game and part live action role, NSDM is modeled after the simulations used by senior U.S. Government officials to explore geopolitical options. Run by former game directors from the U.S. Naval War College and personnel with experience in the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, NSDM’s five-hour games take place on Friday night and Saturday night. Robots To Share Load in Warfare? After watching and reading numerous stories in the news about the problems the US military and its allies are having in Afghanistan, you can’t help but wonder why we aren’t spending some of our hard earned cash on upping the ante on military robotics. In one recent firefight at a remote outpost, some estimates are that a billion dollars in ordnance were spent defending the tiny base over the course of just one battle. Instead of risking life and limb of our soldiers, some of whom are in firefights almost every day, and many more are exposed to the constant and increasing risk of IEDs on supply routes – why don’t we have more automated systems taking over in some of these highly dangerous situations? Imagine a remote outpost manned by humans, but surrounded by automatic turrets which can whittle down an enemy before they get close enough to harm the base itself. Imagine a convoy of trucks driving itself over dangerous roads. Imagine bee sized robots flying into enemy formations to mark them as targets for precision guided munitions delivered from afar. Imagine… This is the crux of the debate going on at the White House right now, though admittedly they probably aren’t thinking purely in terms of robots as taking over the load for humans. Instead, the plan put forth calls for more UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), more use of precision guided munitions, and fewer overall combat troops. To my knowledge nothing has been mentioned about robots taking over for humans. But this discussion is at least happening in some quarters of the military. Know of other possible applications of robots in the military? Please share in the comments below. GreatHistory.com Debuts Respected writers blog on military history, American and world history, women’s history, history in pop culture and much more on the newest website from Weider History Group, the people who bring you ArmchairGeneral.com. Brief, entertaining, sometimes controversial insights into the past and current events – the best blogging in history!
New York Post Praises Armchair General And the winner for best magazine in the military history category goes to . . . Armchair General! Okay, so we didn’t get invited to the Academy Awards, but that didn’t keep the New York Post from noticing us. "We quite enjoyed Armchair General," the Post stated in a March 3 article titled "Hades to Hobbies," a magazine roundup. In case you’re wondering, we were mentioned among magazines in the "hobbies" section of the article, not the "Hades" part. Joining ACG on the Post’s hobby mag recommendations were Classic Trains, Guns & Ammo, and Plane & Pilot. Other publications were news magazines or New York regionals. On the entire list, only Armchair General and Newsweek received four stars—one more than The New Yorker and two more than Time! The Most Decisive Battle of All Time The "50 Battles That Shaped Our World" article in the January 2008 issue of Armchair General magazine spawned a basketball-style elimination tournament in the ACG Forums to determine The Most Decisive Battle of All Time. Forum members wanted more than 50 battles to choose from, so they created their own lists of battles from four eras: Ancient, Medieval, Gunpowder and Modern. The complete list of battles that began the tournament appears below. After four voting rounds, the choices came down to the land battle of Saratoga in 1777 and the sea battle Salamis in 480 BC. Saratoga is the singular name used to encompass two related battles of the American Revolution, fought in upper New York 18 days apart: Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights. The actions resulted in the surrender of a British army of 9,000 men. Saratoga is often called the turning point of the Revolution, leading ultimately to the establishment of the United States of America. Salamis was fought between the navies of the Greek city-states and Persia in September 480 BC. The underdog Greeks defeated the much larger Persian force, a turning point that eventually led to Greek victory. A different result would have given Persia, rather than Greece, the dominant role in the development of Western civilization at that time. In the fifth and final round of the ACG tournament, the winner was . . . Salamis, by a vote of 47 to 29! If you are not a member of the Armchair General forums and would like to join in the fun, go to http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/register.php to register. The instructions will walk you through. It’s a pretty simple process. There is no charge and we don’t spam our members; signup is required to allow us to monitor and maintain proper content. Most Decisive Battle Tournament
Ancient Era Medieval Era [continued on next page] Elimination Tournament – Greatest Western Movie Yippee-tie-yi-yo! From an initial list of 100 Greatest Western Movies in our forums, you picked the top 32. Now the real shootout begins. Cast your votes in an elimination tournament to pare that 32 down to 16, then 8, then . . . Ultimately, your choice of the top two Westerns will face off in the sun, and the winner – based on your votes – will be acknowledged as the Greatest Western Movie of all time. If you haven’t registered to join in the fun on our forums yet, it’s easy and we don’t spam our members. Just click here to get started. Greatest Westerns Online Tournament  Clint Eastwood in Hang 'Em High. Courtesy Everett Collection. On our partner site, HistoryNet, you’ll find a list of the 100 Greatest Westerns, selected by a team of experts that included Wild West magazine’s editor Greg Lalire and Armchair General magazine’s own Jerry Morelock. In our Wild West Magazine Forum, you’ll find those same 100 movies divided into groups. Vote for eight from each group. Later this month, we’ll put the top 32 vote-getters into a head-to-head faceoff, like the Earps and Doc Holliday challenging the Clantons and McLaurys at the O.K. Corral. At the end, one film from the original 100 will be left standing tall as the Greatest Western of them all. As for the others, well, as Clint would say, "Make 98 coffins." My mistake: 99. You’ve only got about a week to vote for your favorites before we begin the head-to-head showdown, so why are you still here? You’re burning daylight, pilgrim. 50 Battles That Shaped Our World – What Would You Pick? The January 2009 issue of Armchair General magazine published a list of 50 Battles that Shaped Our World. Ranging from ancient times to the current War on Terror, these are battles with effects far beyond the blood-soaked fields or the raging waves where they were fought. For the last few weeks, our forum members have been debating what battles should have been included on that list, and in some cases they came up with different ones than those selected by our staff. We’d like to know what you think. The list of 50 battles from the January Armchair General magazine appears below. In the comments section at the bottom of this page, leave a comment about the battles chosen and tell us if there were other battles that didn’t appear on the list, but that you feel should have. No signup is necessary.
Battle of Mexico City Animated Map  Battle of Mexico City at The Art of Battle: Animated Battle Maps. Photo Courtesty of Jonathan Webb. As an enthusiast of military maps, I have a special place in my heart for animated battle maps on the web. I think they really help visualize the ebb and flow of warfare in ways that pictures or words alone fail to do. One such site for this is The Art of Battle: Animated Battle Maps. The site owner, Jonathan Webb, has animated maps for great military battles in addition to a short tutorial on tactical maneuvers. I asked him to send me an update on his latest map;
The possibilities in history are endless, but some battles are more complicated than others. He already has about 20 battles completed, so what battle would you like to see Jonathan produce next? Armchair General Goes to Washington D.C. Last week some of the senior Armchair General staff went to our head office in Leesburg, VA for a meeting with top brass at Weider History Group. Most of our time was spent devising our mission plan for 2009 for the website. On our last day there we were able to squeeze in a trip to the center of Washington D.C., a place I’d never been able to visit up until this point. We only had a couple hours to spare, so we had to choose our destinations carefully. For me, the most important things I wanted to see were grouped together at the west end of the National Mall, including the Vietnam, Korean, and World War II memorials, and the Lincoln Memorial. We parked at a meter on a side street, which was only a couple blocks from the mall itself and made hitting the mall at the right spot easier. We walked up to the mall and immediately found ourselves at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We were able to snap one picture at the memorial facing the Washington Monument with no one in the background…just as a full bus load of tourists descended on the monument. We had to keep moving. Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, which for me was the most powerful part of our fast walking tour. Forgetting for a moment the importance of this monument vis-à-vis Lincoln, think of all the movies, protests, and books which featured this amazing place. As I was walking up the stairs I felt as if I was touching a part of American culture unlike anything I’ve felt before. The thought occurred to me that I needed to share the moment with my wife and son, thus the picture of me on my mobile standing there on the steps! This alone was worth the trip. Our next quick stop was the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which was surprisingly well done. It is hard to describe, but basically it features stone soldiers walking through the rain alongside a marble wall not unlike the one over at the Vietnam Memorial. However, there are no names on the wall – only carved images. It leads to a pool of water and some benches in a cozy circle for intimate reflection. I really liked the presentation. Last on our tour was the National World War II Memorial which is prominently placed at the east end of the reflecting pool. As a final stop we decided to drop by the White House which was interesting mainly because its location is never shown accurately in mainstream media. The pictures always portray the White House as standing majestically alone, and you never really get a perspective of what is surrounding it. The buildings surrounding the White House are entirely unimpressive. If you’ve ever been to the Alamo you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m looking forward to going back to Washington D.C. as there are about 100 things I want to see now that I’ve had a taste of the city. On my next trip to the home office I might have to spend an entire day exploring this area. If you have any recommendations or have any stories about your visit to D.C., I’d love to hear them! Image Gallery
          Another Letter from the Iraqi Front We have another letter from our friend serving in Iraq, Russ Vaughn. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, Russ is back in Iraq for another tour. I’m providing this as a link to his full article, and I’m including a batch of recent pictures he sent along from his position. Image Gallery
    He comments on #4;
And on his photo taken with the open window (#3), he writes;
His full letter, Letters From Iraq 8: Tractors and Laundry. Marines from Outer Space. No, Really. Somewhere in the Great Beyond, Robert Heinlein is smiling. The U.S. Marines want to make his Starship Troopers a reality within the coming decades. Rapid-response Marines could be delivered anywhere on the globe within a couple of hours, inserted from a space station via small craft designed to carry 13 warriors each. Since national air space ends 50 miles above the earth, they could pass over multiple international boundaries without needing to seek permission. (Remember, Turkey turned down the U.S. request to move troops through it during the Second Gulf War, and that had significant impact on what happened in post-invasion Iraq.) Of course, diplomatic issues could still be raised by the country to which they’re inserted. (Think Pakistan today.) A USA Today article by Tom Vanden Brook and several Web sites, including Popsci.com, provide details on the program and the difficulties it faces if it is to become reality. In a way, this is reminiscent of the challenges the Marine Corps confronted between the world wars. Traditionally, landing parties had been sent ashore at port cities, using small boats sent out from bigger ships. New amphibious invasion techniques developed by Holland "Howlin’ Mad" Smith and others during the peacetime years made possible the landings in the Pacific, Normandy (Yes, the Army adopted those techniques, too.) and elsewhere. As with the Space Marine concept – apologies to Games Workshop; the U.S. Marine program is officially called the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion program – 20th-century attempts at creating new ways to insert amphibious troops required challenging existing doctrine and finding the technology to make new methods possible, such as Higgins boats and Amtracs. Is the concept daunting? Oh, yeah. Is it possible? Moon landings, computers small enough to use at home, and portable telephones that take pictures were all considered science fiction within my lifetime. And never, ever, underestimate what a few determined Marines can accomplish. Photos From Iraq and Lending a Hand Back in 2006 and 2007 we were posting letters from Iraq from a soldier, and friend, serving a tour there. He sent us seven letters which you can read in sequence here; Letters From Iraq 1: Getting StartedLetters From Iraq 2: Devils, Dogs, and Dub Dub LizardsLetters From Iraq 3: Life, Death, and HelicoptersLetters From Iraq 4: Fobbits!Letters From Iraq 5: Sand, Pools, and RPGsLetters from Iraq 6: Light infantry, HOOAH!Letters from Iraq 7: Anger, Stay Back!Now, in 2008, our friend is back in Iraq and sending some photos from his new experiences. I’ll try to keep updating this post with new photos as he sends them. For now, I have a few to display; Image Gallery
   He writes of the center picture;
If you have an interest in sending a care package to soldiers in Iraq, Russ advises you contact anysoldier.com. If you’d like to send to Russ’s unit (the soldier above) please contact us here at Armchair General for his address. Additionally, here is a list of things Russ said are in high demand from fellow soldiers;
Thanks for your support! Red Storm Rising or Passing Shower? The recent incident between Russia and Georgia has been over hyped as the start of a second Cold War, with all the trappings of political re-alignments, proxy wars, and massive spending on defense budgets. Soviets bombers are flying over the Caribbean, the Russian navy is sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar, and the US and NATO allies are told they are on the decline. This is the stuff right out of a Tom Clancy novel – but before we get ahead of ourselves and dust off the fallout shelters let’s take a sober look at the Russian Bear. These two articles by Pavel Felgenhauer at Eurasia Daily Monitor outline some of the plans and problems of rearmament for Russia, something Russia clearly feels it needs in order to become a resurgent superpower on the world stage; MEDVEDEV’S PLANS FOR MILITARY REARMAMENT WILL MORE MONEY HELP BUY MORE MODERN WEAPONS? Another article by Murray Feshbach at the Washington Post highlights some of the social problems facing the Russians internally, which point not only to a decline in Russian influence vis-à-vis population decline, but also the unhealthy state of the existing population. Hardly the tidings of a resurgent superpower… Behind the Bluster, Russia Is Collapsing In contrast, statements of Western decline are greatly exaggerated and are designed to minimize the true strength of the West to a level of parity with Russia. Kicking out a few thousand Georgians 50 miles from your border is one thing, but pales against the US and coalition forces crushing Iraq militarily and then maintaining sufficient forces for half a decade or more on the other side of the planet. Sure, the West has problems of a resurgent Afghanistan and no one doubts the US military is strained, but if you consider how much skill and effort is needed to maintain an all-volunteer force thousands of miles from home for this amount of time you will realize just how wide the gap truly is. This doesn’t even begin to address such technological show pieces as stealth bombers, aircraft carrier battle groups and anti-missile systems which have at best crude parallels on the Russian side. If you throw in a comparison of living standards between Russia and the West the scales continue to tip. If this is Cold War II, there is already a clear winner. Have you read anything to suggest Russia can truly become a superpower again? |
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What is Armchair General?Armchair General (ACG) and ACG online feature a unique, interactive editorial approach that invites the reader to decide the course of action in challenging historical scenarios, to step into the shoes of a battlefield commander. Leading historians and contributors lend integrity and credibility to this fresh presentation of historical and contemporary events. Armchair General is the INTERACTIVE history magazine where YOU COMMAND and decide the course of action! |
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