We Can't Build 🧵- When I make comments about how deficient US industrial manufacturing capacity has become, some believe I think it is a good thing and that I am gleeful at the prospect of further decline. Others see it as I believe that our foes are in a better situation 1/x The truth is that I am overly concerned at the loss of industrial capacity in America. I live in a part of the rural South that harnessed local rivers to power factories which provided solid income & community stability. 2/x

2011: Year of Questions – What does AFG, Libya, NTC & Iraq all have in common? Keep reading to find out. 2011 began with me preparing for my IN BN’s deployment to AFG, specifically to the PPK region, the backyard of the Haqqani network. 1/x I did my due diligence, read the classified reports on the HQN, performed IPOE and tried to grasp what a good S2 should. The more I read, the more I understood how impossible our task was going to be, but ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die. 2/x

The GWOT: A Former Neo-Con’s Tale 🧵: I was a sophomore at the Citadel when I watched live as United Airlines Flight 175 hit the World Trade Center’s South Tower. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I knew right then that everything had changed. 1/x I had always wanted to follow in the footsteps of my Grandfather (WWII, Korean, Vietnam Vet) because he was the greatest man I ever knew. However, he wanted me to finish my education, so one month before graduation in 2003 I enlisted into the Army National Guard. 2/x

The definition of a proxy war does not rely on who instigated the war, further the status of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a "forever war" is not contingent on whether or not we are fighting.

https://twitter.com/AEHarrod/status/1629957312260521985

His Tweet points out the cheap nature of sending aid to Ukraine in order to dismantle "the military of a top US adversary & China’s top partner"
The US back proxies around the world to advance their interests, while avoiding the costs, human and political, of outright war.

🧵The Max Weber School of Army Leadership - The US Army, all components & branches, is in midst of a leadership crisis. The reasons are varied, reaching back decades, but this thread isn’t a deep academic work, 1/x rather it is just my observation on why the US Army is in such a predicament. The vast history of the US Army is of it being a rather small organization, centered around a core of experienced Officers & NCOs, with a bigger focus being on US naval forces. 2/x

🧵LTC W: Tax Evasion – It’s odd that one man can have such negative impact upon my military career, thankfully I was beginning the end of it. When we last left LTC W he had returned to Germany from the States on his illegal pass, 1/x after publishing policy that prohibited his Soldiers from taking leave back in the US. Our unit morale was low, but hanging in there. We focused on our mission in Germany and I continued to grieve for my Dad. 2/x

🧵How the death of my Dad was the tipping point in my decision to disown the Army: My father passed away 5 years ago today after many years battling Alzheimer's disease. My father was absent during my childhood and a philanderer while married. 1/x We reconciled in my 20s and had a heart to heart conversation, lifting many of my demons. His death hurt because I watched him deteriorate for many years, knowing he would forget my name and never be able to see my future children. 2/x