TRADOC ordered to watch President?

[1258dave]

1) My Advanced Operations Warfighting Course Instructor sent my class an email directing us to watch the President's speach.

2) The email chain started with LTG William B. Caldwell IV, then to his XO, then etc etc. (Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell IV is the current Commanding General, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and oversees the Command and General Staff College and seventeen other schools, centers and training programs.)

3) Given LTG Caldwell's emphasis on IO, and his experience as the spokesman for MNF-I, I think the order "makes sense". I believe that LTG Caldwell was attempting to

a. Have students discuss US policy changes.
b. Discuss the importance of IO/public diplomacy.

4) CAVGUY- the President's speach was not the State of the Union address. It was part of his "IO campaign" to sell his policies/budget.

I am not a huge fan of the order, or the person giving the speach, but I think we have to be informed as citizens charged with the defense of the Republic etc etc etc.

If you want to talk about "policy" and "what happens next" these are worth reading:

Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire
(London, Allen Lane/Penguin Press, 2004; also published in the U.S. as Colossus: The Price of America’s Empire, translated into Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish)

http://www.niallferguson.com/site/FE....aspx?pageid=1

I sugest Ferguson's stuff because it is highly accessable, not because I believe it is the final word.

Debt kills Republics and Empires. You can want anything - but if you can not balance your obligations and income you find yourself in a tailspin.

Let's eat some cake.

These are the facts as I know 'em!