Maj Gen Mick Ryan, Australian Army (Ret.), "War Transformed"

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Mar 8, 2022

Maj Gen Mick Ryan, a seasoned strategist and author of "War Transformed," brings a wealth of experience from his 35 years in the Australian Army, including deployments in East Timor and Iraq. He discusses the complex nature of modern warfare, highlighting the adaptive strategies employed by Ukraine against Russia. Ryan stresses the importance of military education and innovation, as well as the strategic implications of global rivalries, particularly between democracies and authoritarian regimes. His insights serve as a critical analysis of contemporary military operations and future challenges.

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INSIGHT

21st Century Military Advantage

21st-century military advantage comes from integrating new ideas, organizations, and training people, not just technology.
Continuities like human nature and the inevitability of war still dominate, so preparation must balance expected and unexpected.

ANECDOTE

Learning from Early Failure

Mick Ryan's military career began with academic failure.
He learned failure is vital to leadership and education in military institutions.

INSIGHT

Russian Strategy Flaws in Ukraine

Russian initial 48-hour maneuver plan assumed Ukrainians would surrender easily but failed.
Russia's fallback to attritional warfare is ineffective despite larger forces.

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This episode continues our special focus on #Russia and #Ukraine, and we were very pleased to be able to host this guest because he’s been providing lots of very good real-time assessment. On February 15, 2022, Maj Gen Mick Ryan published his book War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict with the Naval Institute Press. Less than 2 weeks later, the world was given a brutal introduction to 21st-century great power warfare, when Vladimir Putin's Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. Since then, Maj Gen Ryan has been sharing his insights and analysis of this ugly new face of modern war across social media, and he brought them to this episode of the #BruteCast.

Gen Ryan has commanded soldiers at the troop, squadron, regiment, task force and brigade levels over the past 35 years. His operational service includes deployments to East Timor, Iraq, and southern Afghanistan. He has also served as a strategist on the United States Joint Staff in the Pentagon.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from the University of New England and is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force School of Languages. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and a graduate of the USMC School of Advanced Warfighting. In 2012, he graduated with distinction from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies.

Gen Ryan has a long-standing interest in military history and strategy, advanced technologies, organizational innovation, and adaptation theory. He was inaugural President of the Defence Entrepreneurs Forum (Australia) and is a member of the Military Writers Guild. He is a keen author on the interface of military strategy, innovation, and advanced technologies, as well as how institutions can develop their intellectual edge. He has contributed to several books, including Strategy Strikes Back (2018), Why We Write (2019), On Strategy(2020) and To Boldly Go (2021). Mick has also authored major reports that include the Ryan Review (2016) and Thinking About Strategic Thinking (2021). The Krulak Center was also excited to include a contribution from Gen Ryan and his team at the Australian Defence College in volume 2 of their award-winning PME graphic novel series Destination Unknown.

Over the past four years, Mick has led a series of reforms at the Australian Defence College to adapt curriculum, academic service contracts, teacher training, international engagement, infrastructure and learning culture for the rigors of the 21st century security environment.

On 27 February 2022, Mick retired from the Australia Army after 35 years continuous service.

Intro/outro music is "Evolution" from BenSound.com (https://www.bensound.com)

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