"Dreamers of the Day": The Military Thinkers

I recently asked the question who are today's military thinkers? I've listed below the military officers that were nominated. In a follow-up post I'll list the civilians.

Serving military officers

General David Petraeus: commander of US forces in Iraq. Led the development of the US army's counter-insurgency doctrine (Army Field Manual 3-24).

Vice Admiral John Morgan: Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information, Plans and Strategy, US Navy. Described by Galrahn as "well ahead of the game in grasping the strategic and tactical ideas of our times".

General James Mattis (US Marines): Developed the "four-block" concept, emphasized training in foreign cultures and languages, and reorientated the Marines towards low-intensity conflict.

Lieutenant General David Deptula: Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, US Air Force. Shane commented that his "theories on nodal analysis created amazing efficiencies in the use of precision targeting".

Colonel H R McMaster: US army counterinsurgency expert. Author of the influential Dereliction of Duty, a book about how Vietnam War generals failed to speak out against Pentagon policies. Working with Petraeus on counterinsurgency operations in Iraq.

Major General Vincent Desportes: French army officer. Argues that military transformation is largely irrelevant because future conflict will be waged against irregular enemies in cities who seek to outflank the West's technical and industrial armoury (h/t Armchair Generalist).

Retired military officers

General Sir Rupert Smith (British army): veteran of counterinsurgency and conventional war. Author of The Utility of Force, a book on warfare and strategy, which proposed that industrial war is dead, and that we now fight 'wars among the people'.

Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl (US army): recently retired counterinsurgency expert, author of Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife, helped Petraeus write the US army's counterinsurgency doctrine.

Colonel Thomas Hammes (US Marines): counterinsurgency expert, advocate of fourth generation warfare (4GW), and author of The Sling and the Stone: On Warfare in the 21st Century.

The late Vice Admiral Arthur Cebrowski (US Navy): former director of the Office of Force Transformation. Shane commented that his "ability to think of security in the larger context of politics, economics and business were far more important than his development of the foundational ideas behind Network Centric Warfare".

Colonel Douglas MacGregor (US army): former tank commander and author. Argued for a fundamental reorganization of the US army. Considers that the US should avoid a great power conflict that could fatally undermine its power and prosperity.

Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper (US Marines): Commander of the 'Red Force' in Millennium Challenge 2002 who used 'unconventional' tactics to neutralise the Blue Force's predominance in high technology and firepower - that is, until the top brass suspended the exercise and changed the rules to ensure Blue's victory.

Lieutenant Colonel David Kilcullen (Australian army): a recognized theorist and practitioner of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, adviser to top US officials, now working with Petraeus in Iraq.

Major Donald Vandergriff (US army): former armoured corps officer and author. Advocates nurturing military leaders who can out-think and out-fight 4GW enemies.

Comments

[Quentin]

thanks for the post. There are certainly a lot of good thinkers out there. am pleased my comment has given food for thought. looking forward to Part 2

[Peter]

Yes, we came up with quite a long list. Good to see.

[Jeff]

Smith, Patraeus and Kilcullen I familiar with. You remind me Peter of just how far behind I am in this area of study. At least as it relates to modern strategist.

[Soob]

Excellent! I'm looking forward to the civvy list.

[Peter]

Jeff - most of the names on the list I wasn't familiar with either.

Soob - yes, working on the civvie list - some interesting names there but again a few that I'm not familiar with so have to do a bit of research on them.

[Jeff Kouba]

Good list. The comment about "nodal analysis" is a great example of the sophisticated thinking that goes on. Most of when we think of the military probably think the military studies pulling triggers and attacking pillboxes, but there's some real egghead work that goes on.

[strategist]

Hi Jeff - good to hear from you again and to see that you're back blogging.