Prior to President Obama halting all ongoing military commissions, the United States charged six Guantanamo Bay prisoners with capital crimes. Further, his latest policy directive for new military commission rules has not excluded the death penalty...
In 1914, the British Army entered into World War I against the German Empire. Advancements in weapons technology and the assumption of a primarily defensive posture by the Germans lead to five years of stalemated trench warfare. The deplorable...
In the military, we receive training on fighting and killing our enemy, yet the death penalty advocates killing our own. "The death penalty dates back to Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which allowed twenty-five...
Amidst the public condemnation of abuses in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons, it is leadership that will prevent such occurrences. These occurrences were counter to the units these service members represent. The leadership was reacting to the...
Crane Brinton's analysis of popular revolutions offers the strategic and operational planner a valid model for checking the consistency of ends, ways and means, for campaign plans. As a planning tool, Brinton's model fills a gap in FM 100-20, which...
Currently, there are seven former service members incarcerated at the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) that are on death row. Executions have become more or less a matter of routine. Recent public opinion polls show a wide margin of...
Prior to the events of September 11, 2001, leaders of the United States chose the moral high ground during the times of war. They established and followed international laws on humanitarian treatment by ensuring person(s) who committed war crimes...
This study examines how Saddam Hussein's past has shaped his political outlook and how he has used power to make that outlook a reality. His past is reviewed in terms of Iraq's social environment during his youth and his early political career to...
Insurgency is one of the oldest and most prevalent forms of warfare. The last fifty years have seen the increase in the numbers and intensity of insurgencies worldwide, particularly in urban insurgencies. Global trends of virtually unconstrained...
The conduct of war is regulated by well-established and recognized rules that are designated as the "laws of war" which comprise the written and unwritten rules. The accompanying rules of land warfare have been prepared for use of officers of the...
Afghanistan’s story is tragic. The war-torn and besieged country has been invaded countless times in its long history. Past conquerors include Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and the British Empire twice in the 19th century. It is a country...
The Soviet invasion and withdrawal of Afghanistan is a well covered subject, what is not well covered, is the fact that all communist governments fail regardless of what action is taken.
1. The communist government left after the Soviet Union’s...
During the Greek Golden Age, philosophy expressed a unique outlook on the world and way of life. Philosophers then asked this question; what would happen if things that were wrong were seen by society as acceptable? What, if society condoned...
United States. Army. Engineer Center and Fort Leonard Wood.
The Guidon came into being as a weekly publication in 1966 under the title Fort Leonard Wood Guidon. Between 1966 and 1987 the title was simplified to Guidon before becoming Essayons in 1988. The name reverted back to Guidon in 1999. It has been...
On 5 November 2002, an armed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operated Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) launched a lethal missile strike, killing Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a high ranking al-Qaeda member and suspected architect of the USS...
This volume is an abridgment of the official history of the Office of the Provost Marshal General; its purpose was to make immediately available an accurate account of the operations of the Provost Marshal General. Contents of this document include...
The United States currently finds itself conducting counterinsurgency efforts across the globe, facing insurgencies on an unprecedented scale. It is critical to adapt tactics, techniques and procedures appropriate for a counterinsurgency....
I truly believe every soldier is promotable in one way or the other. The concept of a promotion board in my view does not serve its intended purpose. If senior noncommissioned officers do not uphold the tenants of this formality don't do it. Simply...
Abstract: Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the enemy insurgent forces continue to neglect its moral responsibility to treat humanely United States and Coalition, both military and civilian, forces as Prisoners of War. The treatment...
Actionable intelligence is often difficult to obtain because there are often great challenges to overcome in obtaining it, such as culture, geography, time, and language. It often takes the expenditure of a great amount of resources to obtain...