Blogs to Watch

[gute]

Thank goodness for the spammer who drew my eye to this post. I never clicked on this thread when it first came up, but the journal looks like the precise bridge to cover my reading gap I have had for a while.

If the editorial advisory panel member Julian Thompson is THE Julian Thompson of the Falklands fight, this is a great find indeed and will support a ton of research which has stalled the last few years.

Better yet the JMO is holding its first MAsterclass this weekend at Cambridge University, UK. I'd give my left nut to be able to go.

Wilf's and Jim Storr's articles on dismounted combat, parachute operations, the IFV are interesting.

[parvati]

http://www.memrijttm.org/

I rally like this website. Great for white papers etc....

[bourbon]

You are baiting me, bro!

Yes, they have been around awhile; and I am sure they do produce some good material. But they are far from an impartial source, and certainly have an agenda and/or certain incentives driving their work.

[bourbon]

The Duffel Blog

About Us

A Brief History

Since 1797, The Duffel Blog has been serving the men and women of the American military with insightful commentary and hard-hitting journalism. While other agencies have sometimes run from possibly scandalous stories, TDB has been known to be edgy and ahead of its time, almost as if they could see into the future. After reporting on President John Adams’ $200 per week cocaine habit in March 1799, TDB was named The American Military’s Most-Trusted News Source by the Columbia Journalism Review and the nickname stuck.

The Duffel Blog is sometimes referred to as “The military version of The Onion”, but this is a popular misconception. The misnomer was cleared up in May 2012 when TDB staff successfully conducted an airborne assault on the offices of The Onion News Network so that others would know “The Onion was actually the civilian version of The Duffel Blog.”

The Duffel Blog was nominated for The Pulitzer Prize in 2012 “for continued excellence in journalism”, and has been recognized as a world leader in modern media by other, unworthy news outlets such as The Military Times, NBC News, Gizmodo, USA Today, and Business Insider.

Who We Are

TDB was originally founded by Lance Corporal Alfred Whittingham, a U.S. Marine stationed at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA. Whittingham, a prolific binge drinker and avid boxer, served as a recruiter for the-then newly formed Marine Corps. As new recruits came to volunteer, Whittingham would force them to drink shots of whiskey and challenge them to a dueling match before allowing them to sign the enlistment papers — a practice that is still used by Marine recruiters across the United States today.

The role of Editor-in-Chief passed around the military throughout the years, like Private Earl Williams of the U.S. Army (1823-1833) who set the tone with groundbreaking articles such as “I Hate My Sergeant Major And Here’s Why You Should Too”. A particularly dark time fell upon TDB when the duties of editor were passed to Gunnery Sergeant Elias Rodriguez (1987-1990), who wrote most of the articles himself, replacing words such as “the” and “source” with “Oohrah” and “Devil Dog”. Readership plummeted in the following years.

Legal

We are in no way, shape, or form, a real news outlet. Just about everything on this website is satirical in nature. The content of this site is parody. No composition should be regarded as truthful, and no reference of an individual, company, or military unit seeks to inflict malice or emotional harm.

All characters, groups, and military units appearing in these works are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or actual military units and companies is purely coincidental.

Most are probably already familiar.

[bourbon]

Made the WSJ yesterday. These guys need to do a book.

Prank and File: These Military Reports Are Out of Line - Satirical Website's Fake News Dupes Readers; Tomahawks to Replace Bayonets?, by Dion Nissenbaum. The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2013.

"The lads have a well-tuned sense of humor and convincingly imaginative 'reporting' that bode well for a country that could use some laughs," said Marine Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis, who just retired as head of U.S. Central Command. "I think the writers know that we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously."

[BayonetBrant]

The best bit at TDB was how viral the Linda Lopez story got...

There was an radio host that went live with the story before being told it was satire by an on-air caller.

Lopez's opponent in that fall's congressional race tweeted out the story as legit, was called on, and then started an argument with TDB about the fact that they published it at all.

In the online comments, it was pointed out repeatedly that the article was satire, and yet commenters still argued with the people pointing it out, basically asking "how do you know it's satire?"

It was a far, far more amusing to watch the story unfold than to read the article itself.

[AdamG]

Now accepting submissions for 2014 issues!
Stability Operations magazine is seeking 800-1200 word submissions from practitioners, experts, government officials, and leaders in stability and development for our 2014 issues on the following topics:

Refugees: From Syria to CAR - Deadline: 14 February
Stability Game: What Happens After Korean Unification? - Deadline: 15 May
Stability: An Investment in the Future - Deadline: 15 August
Africa's Success Stories & Challenges Ahead - Deadline: 3 November

SO magazine also accepts submissions on other topics pertinent to stability and development, including:

Resilience Programming
Construction & Logistics
ITAR & Export Controls
Donor Trends
Monitoring & Evaluation
Contract Reform

http://www.stability-operations.org/?page=SOmagazine

[davidbfpo]

Babatim is Tim Lynch, a former USMC officer who was in Afghanistan as a civilian "outside the wire" and had an excellent blog running till his departure in May 2012, alongside having "issues" to resolve. He has resumed blogging, which is a prelude to book writing. Hat tip to a SWC member for noticing.
Link:http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=5480

In 2009 CavGuy posted this comment:

Pithy yet excellent Afghanistan insight you won't find elsewhere.

Tim's own bio (dated 2008):

I am a retired Marine who spent over seven years in Afghanistan doing security and reconstruction projects. I traveled to every province in the country, rarely used armored vehicles, never lived inside a base or secure compound, and made many great friends during my time in Afghanistan. For the last four years of my adventure I blogged extensively on what I was doing and what I was seeing on the ground. There are some great stories and cool pictures on this blog as well as guest posts from a few truly remarkable people. I am leaving the blog up as a resource for people to visit for a unique perspective into the longest conflict in American history.

[davidbfpo]

See Post 201 for the full version:

Babatim is Tim Lynch, a former USMC officer who was in Afghanistan as a civilian "outside the wire" and had an excellent blog running till his departure in May 2012, alongside having "issues" to resolve. He has resumed blogging, which is a prelude to book writing. Hat tip to a SWC member for noticing.
Link:http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=5480

Thanks to a watcher there is update from Babatim, who is seeking funding to enable him to return to Helmand with the USMC:http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=6239#comments

[davidbfpo]

I'd forgotten about Tim Lynch's blog until today. He is still commenting on matters Afghan, in his direct, pithy style.
Link:http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/

Here is a classic story, with the British as the fools:

The British decided to establish a patrol base in the house of Haji Gul Ehkitar (the village was named after him) and negotiated a fair rent which was paid to Haji Gul’s nephew Sur Gul, who happened to be a Taliban commander. The only Taliban mahaz commander to fight the British was Sher Muhamad’s who had been cut out of the pre-invasion deal making. Haji Gul’s Taliban did not fight but he, reportedly, used the British Army rent money to buy IED’s which he turned against his renters. Haji Kadus, who knew what Haji Gul was up to, said nothing to the Brits. When the foreigners went home Haji Kadus was not going with them so he had to make accommodations that made sense in the long game. A smart Indian doesn’t crap in his own tepee.

From:http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=7499

[davidbfpo]

Just discovered this blog by a serving British Warrant Officer, whose comments are not on 'small wars' and focus on the problems the British Army face.
Link:https://thewarrantofficer.org/

Those problems? Well this is a taster:

As I have said in my previous blogs, I believe the Army stands at a crossroads; it can either reform or die. The woes of the British Army are manifold: too little money, an enormously expensive wage and pension bill, the weight of almost four hundred years of tradition, the growth of the compliance and assurance model, and a feeling that something is going to give. The reaction to these issues, thus far, has been to adapt the stasis, to make do and mend, to do more with less. This has created an Army with a haunted look, constantly looking in its purse for loose change, trying to afford the clothes of an imperial power on the wages of a middle-manager. This desperation has also manifested itself in a culture of feral innovation, where the ambitious innovate and adapt at an ever-faster rate, their ideas crashing into one another through lack of co-ordination, in an attempt to be seen as part of the solution and not the problem. It doesn’t have to be this way, we could just choose to stop; instead of slicing the salami ever thinner, lets have ham instead. It is my earnest belief that the British Army has to urgently address three question: What is its raison d’etre? How can it best deliver its desired effect? How can it deliver at much reduced cost? The answer to those questions can only be found by wholesale and wide-ranging reform, a reformation where no subject is taboo, and nothing is ring-fenced.

Link:https://thewarrantofficer.org/2017/0...-fore-and-aft/

His 'About' section:

A serving Warrant Officer in the British Army and shortly to become a PhD student; I hold a MA in Military History from the University of Birmingham, a RAF Chief of the Air Staff’s Fellowship, and am a Henry Probert Bursar of the RAF Historical Society. I am also a Judge on the British Army Military Book of the Year Prize and have recently devised a series of defence studies talks at Prince Consort Library in Aldershot.

The main thread for the British Army is in another arena and is UK military problems & policies

[davidbfpo]

Not exactly a blog, rather a collection of podcast interviews on terrorism and counter-terrorism, offered by the University of East London, the home since 2015 of the Terrorism and Extremism Research Centre (TERC).
Link:https://www.uel.ac.uk/schools/royal-...esearch-centre

The website explains:

The aim of this podcast is to provide listeners with the opportunity to hear from some of the best, and most influential, terrorism and counterterrorism researchers from around the world. Each episode will be dedicated to one individual researcher, in conversation with the TERC Director John Morrison. These conversations allow the listener to get an in-depth insight into the some of the best research on terrorism, from the researchers themselves. Within the episodes the guests discuss their own research, as well as the research by others who have influenced them. Links to those projects discussed in each episode can be found within the biographies of our guests. It is our aim that this podcast series will be worthwhile and interesting for a wide ranging audience. From students to professors, practitioners to those with a passing interest in understanding terrorism and counter-terrorism, we believe that there will be something for everyone within each episode. The list of guests below is preliminary, so be sure to check back regularly to see who else we have lined up.

They are available on iTunes and Soundcloud - currently thirty-four and on a quick scan mainly academics, a good number have pooped up here before e.g. Daniel Byman and Cerywn Moore.
Link to the podcasts:https://www.uel.ac.uk/schools/royal-...talking-terror