In this episode, we discuss:
-What drew Col Reynolds to studying history
-The value of history for the military professional
-Avoiding traps and pitfalls in studying and using history
-Studying at Oxford
-German General Ludwig Beck
-Doctrine in the German army (1914-1945)
-How the Marine Corps used history while Col Reynolds was a company-grade officer
-His time as a student at The Basic School (TBS)
-The state of the Marine Corps in the mid to late 1970s
-The decision to leave the Marine Corps and transitioning
-Col Reynold’s time in the Central Intelligence Agency
-His experiences at TBS as an individual mobilization augmentee
-How TBS had changed since his time as a student
-Tactical decision games (TDGs) and sand table exercises as intellectual revelations
-Writing good TDGs
-Col Reynold’s contest-winning article, “Turn on Your Lights!”
-Criticisms of studying and drawing from the 20th-century German military tradition
-Researching and writing Just Cause and A Skillful Show of Strength
-Serving as the officer-in-charge of Marine Corps Field History in Operation Iraqi Freedom-I
-Interviewing Marine and Coalition leaders in Iraq
-Writing Basrah, Baghdad, and Beyond
-Areas where Marine forces in Iraq could have improved
-The relief of Colonel Joe Dowdy, the commander of Regimental Combat Team-1
-The turnover of Tikrit from Task Force Tripoli to the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division
-The U.S. failure to adequately prepare for Phase IV (stability) operations
-How Marine Corps historians seem less critical of Marine leaders compared to Army historians writing about Army generals
-The controversy and conversation surrounding Force Design 2030
Links
Colonel Reynold's website: https://www.nicholasreynoldsauthor.com
"Turn on Your Lights!" by Major Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR, Proceedings, November 1991
Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945 by Martin van Creveld
Just Cause: Marine Operations in Panama, 1988-1990 by Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR
A Skillful Show of Strength: US Marines in the Caribbean, 1991-1996 by Colonel Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR
U.S. Marines in Iraq, 2003: Basrah, Baghdad, and Beyond by Colonel Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR (Rett)
Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961 by Nicholas Reynolds
Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence by Nicholas Reynolds