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Interesting Read: Sic Semper Tyrannis
By Slab
I recently came across the blog Sic Semper Tyrannis, which is operated by COL (Ret) Patrick Lang, VMI class of 62. Just the few posts I have read so far have been very thought provoking.
Here's a quote from one that I particularly enjoyed:
Now we have a great ongoing resurgence of counterinsurgency doctrine and practice. In Vietnam and the other COIN wars of the 20th Century, specialists in that field largely ran such wars while the main ground forces of the US remained focused on the Soviet Army and the central German corridor. When brought into Vietnam they thrashed around in the woods looking for the enemy's main forces (the North Vietnamese Army with its divisions, artillery and tanks) and were hardly involved in COIN at all. Now, the main forces of US ground power have been told that COIN is the thing for them to do. Great! I love it that battalion commanders of infantry read learned articles by foreign experts and speak with confidence in the vocabulary of social anthropology (cool) and political science (not cool).
Nevertheless, this is a mixed blessing. I have written earlier of my concern that a cult of generational development in warfare is spreading the idea that warfare develops progressively new forms and that old forms are no longer relevant because the nature of world society has moved "beyond" them. This is a false and misleading notion. War is a process of human social interaction carried out along a broad spectrum of possible forms. The resort to these forms has much to do with local conditions and the relative strength of the adversaries. In other words, many different forms of warfare can exist simultaneously and have generally always done so.
Oh yeah, and he has an entire category devoted to my class's honorary Brother Rat, BG Alan Farrell. A warrior-scholar if ever there was one.
Update: I must confess that, while I do find his blog interesting reading so far, I don't like his use of the term "McBushies" in his recent post on the RAND counter-terrorism study. I detest the use of those sort of labels in our political process, whether they are aimed at Democrats or Republicans. Even though I am a subscriber to Blackfive on Google Reader, I frequently skim their posts or skip them altogether because of their tendency to apply such labels to the political left. I find it disappointing that a man like COL Lang, who is obviously highly educated and very intelligent, would lower himself to using such a label.
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Comments
oh and ha... great reference back to General Farrell. Your ring figure takes me back to my rat year...
I couldn't agree more, Slab. Some otherwise good blogs and some very good e-maill lose something by the addition of schoolyard epithets.
Ditto. I heard him last summer at a VMI alum gathering at the DoS. He was a compelling and interesting speaker, although I sensed that he was most comfortable talking about his favorite subject-- himself. I must add that he has much to say, and that his life and career have not been misspent. I will be checking back in to his blog, but with a slightly jaundiced eye.
Hi Slab. I hope you're doing well. I have to weigh in on one thing, i.e., the RAND study. In my opinion it is just pure rubbish. It's worthless in every way:
http://www.captainsjournal.com/2008/07/31/another-disappointing-rand-counterinsurgency-study/
As for the minimal force projection, treating COIN like it's made for police, small footprint model advocated by Seth Jones, RAND believes differently than you do as well, based on my many conversations with you.
As for Lang, I find his posts abrasive, and politically slanted.
Thanks for airing the point about silly name calling. It definitely tends to lessen the value of a writer's criticisms (see Maureen Dowd in the NY Times).
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solid post. Col Lang does have some strong opinions on the current administration, but -in fairness- those opinions appear to have been formed from years of experience and study.
I really enjoy reading his stuff. The fact that he's a VMI man is just icing on the cake.