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PODCAST

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast

An unauthorized podcast series peeking behind the curtain at the vast machinery and briar patch politics of fighting terrorism and insurgency and everything in between. I"m a "COINtra" and not a "COINdinista", the latter are the vast army of apparatchiks and apologists who fire the engines of Irregular Warfare (IW) planet-wide. We"re the skeptics and doubters of all things IW and special operations. And we are a tiny sliver of the IW community. I have noticed a jarring gap in this part of the

history documentary

All Episodes

44:51

Ep 036 "Drunk on Direct Action: The Destruction of...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2024/02/19

The direct action concentration of US Army Special Forces (SF) in the conduct of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan at the expense of the specialized and storied legend of what SF could do in non-permissive environments raising partisan forces behind enemy lines. The Army SF concentrated on perfecting a craft that numerous other combat organizations like the USMC 0311, .Army 11Bs and the exquisitely talented Ranger Regiment could do handily not to mention the legendary prowess of the Tier One units.SF

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46:05

Ep 035 "Review and Discussion: Counterinsurgency:...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2024/02/05

Everyone and everything has an origin story, while I had a sneaking suspicion early on in my modest career in special operations and irregular warfare (IW) that something was fundamentally wrong with the western way of war in these endeavors, it was Douglas Porch who probably set my course straight. In this book, he makes a compelling historical and logical case for why the IW efforts planet-wide have not only been a failure but ones that repeat themselves again and again.My

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49:17

Ep 034 "CG Excursions: Deep Six the Carrier Force:...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2024/01/22

The aircraft carrier has been a signature component of US naval power and prestige for more than a century. The utility has continued to diminish since the end of WWII. The tremendous disadvantage of putting so much manpower and treasure into these single use leviathan systems in the modern world of distributed missile and PGM systems, emerging near-peer & peer adversaries and concentration of power in vulnerable systems is a recipe for future disaster.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at

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63:24

Ep 033 "CG Excursions: Salvo Competition and the Big...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2024/01/08

Excursions will be a new addition to the CG universe to cover adjacent conflict issues to the irregular warfare fight.In the future near-peer and peer fight, salvo competition will be the preeminent means by which one country will kinetically overwhelm the other in a fight. I discuss the way the West is in an existential hazard of being woefully under-prepared to meet the threat if Western forces go toe toe with regional hegemons in the East or West.The Russian Reconnaissance Fire Complex Comes of

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35:20

Ep 032 "US Military Special Operations Forces Can't...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/12/26

The emerging anti-fragile forces of indigenous irregular warfare forces in concert or independent of near-peer and peer competitors challenging US and western global hegemony are on the march and will in the end succeed.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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49:08

Ep 031 "US Military Special Operations Forces Can't...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/12/18

In this episode, I will be a heretic to the current military establishment in America and the west. They can't do unconventional warfare and I must be very specific in the conditional problem I propose: the western military has no capability to conduct long term partisan warfare in concert with indigenous forces fighting an insurgency in a non-permissive environment. It doesn't have the language skills, cultural IQ, sophisticated intelligence/communications infrastructure to support stay-behind

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58:00

Ep 030 "US Military Special Operations Forces: US...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/12/04

Here we do a deep dive in US Army Special Forces (SF) and why a complete overhaul is needed to resurrect the original charter to save SF from itself. Over two decades of fighting neo-colonial conflicts throughout the Middle East and Africa has decimated the original construct and mission of what made SF so special.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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47:12

Ep 029 "US Military Special Operations Forces: US Army"

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/11/20

Today, I'll do a deep dive into the US Army vanilla SOF organziations and get acquainted with the capabilities and opportunities for US Army special operations.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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58:31

Ep 028 "US Military Special Operations Forces: A Primer"

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/11/13

A brief introduction to the Department of Defense activities in special operations. I will not be discussing the dark organizations and specifically address the "vanilla" SOF in all the services.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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45:40

Ep 027 "The Middle East: Shuffling to the Apocalypse"

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/10/30

We discuss the Israeli emergency in its latest iteration in the horrific attacks by Hamas into Israel in October 2023 and the simmering conflict bands that emerging globally in which this is another explosion in the global conflict rift. For those who thought the podcast died, its death has been greatly exaggerated. My move to FL from AZ is now complete and many apologies for the disturbance of my fortnightly podcast episode rhythm by being late two weeks with a new episode. The podcast studio took

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32:16

Ep 026 "Review and Discussion: Tattoo Zoo by Paul...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/10/02

Every war has a seminal novel, a book that really resonates with generation that wrote it and the following generations from the Iliad to Gore Vidal's historical fiction to The Centurions by Jean Larteguy to From Here to Eternity by James Jones to this one.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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47:02

Ep 025 "Technicals: Toyotas Go To War""

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/09/18

In the one year anniversary episode (!), we chat about the use of thin-skinned vehicles in the modern age and the asymmetric nature of the fight. The employment of commercially produced vehicles for conduct of raids and ambushes employing a wide array of weapons medium- to heavy-machine guns to mortars to ATGMs and everything in between. Please note that Toyota outside of Japan does not produce these for purpose-built military employment. And, to my fellow CruiserHeads, I salute you.My

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40:44

Ep 024 "The Other Fight: Understanding the...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/09/04

I take the time to discuss some of the conventional ramifications of modern warfare and book recommendations that have given me a deeper and more nuanced understanding of why wars begin and end as they do.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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37:07

Ep 023 "Afghanistan: The Soviet Debacle 1978-1989"

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/08/21

The defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan was part of a broad tapestry of disasters that eventually brought the Russian communist state crashing down. The shattering of Soviet forces by the indigenous rebels aided by foreign fighters and sophisticated weapons technology from the West doomed the USSR to failure. The Americans would later respond with: "Hold my beer..."My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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42:36

Ep 022 "Review and Discussion: Day of the Rangers:...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/08/07

We examine the Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On by Leigh Neville and Matt Eversmann to discuss the book, the event and what led up to the event.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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42:07

Ep 021 "Review and Discussion: Jack Hinson's One-Man...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/07/24

We discuss the book, guerrilla and insurgency warfare during the American war in 1861-65, the atrocity cycle, guerrilla math and the hopelessness of occupation avoiding the injury of civilians.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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48:00

Ep 020 "COIN Malpractice: Lessons Never Learned (Part...

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/07/10

It appears the West just can't get counterinsurgency right. I talk about some of the framework ideas that would be good lessons learned for those who I think wisely and would try to avoid COIN. The major takeaway is that insurgencies are rather antifragile and bureaucracies are the enemy of effectiveness and innovation.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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32:34

Ep 019 "Murphy Rex: Complexity and War"

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/06/26

I discuss the complex adaptive system that is war that Clausewitz categorically identified as "friction" in the nineteenth century. We'll examine what chaos and complexity has to do with conflict, why it is inevitable and why wars are won by the least incompetent armies and navies.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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63:55

Ep 018 "French COIN: Paras in Paris (Part Three)"

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/06/12

The April 1961 Generals’ Putsch of Algiers (Putsch des généraux), was a failed military action to press French President Charles de Gaulle to not abandon French Algeria, along with French people and pro-French Arabs living there. The putsch in French Algeria was conducted by four retired generals, led by Maurice Challe, the commander of the French Armed Forces in Algeria in 1958-60 and the author of the successful Challe Plan. The plan which in effect helped to defeat militant rebels across

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51:05

Ep 017 Memorial Day Mailbag

Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast ·

2023/05/29

In this episode, I go through some of the more interesting emails and comments I have gotten since the podcast began in September 2022.My Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

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