Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast

It's been quite some time since I have responded to "mail" so I have curated five questions to address:.What are your personal weapons of choice: rifle or pistol?How do you fix the defense acquisition system?Is the American military really in terminal collapse?Storming America; is it still coming to the US?Is America headed to civil war?I'll offer some more recommendations and a path forward.References:RAND wish-casting on drones in 2015.Slaughterbots (2017)Slaughterbots: if human: kill() (2021)How are Drones Changing Modern Warfare?Sun Tzu The Art of WarCarl von Clausewitz On WarMiyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to StrategyH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareChristian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech WarfareQiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy AmericaMy SubstackEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me

Despite what you are told by the mainstream news sources in the media, the drone war is here to stay and it will be the most significant war modality for the next generation. It has literally exposed all ground troops and the exquisite platforms the West relies upon in war-making for detailed neutralization and destruction.In concert with the democratized distribution of ubiquitous missile technology, it is the end of Western dominance in warfare.Despite what you may think, the US conventional forces are in terminal collapse and completely unprepared for 21st century peer conflict.I'll offer some more recommendations and a path forward.References:RAND wish-casting on drones in 2015.Slaughterbots (2017)Slaughterbots: if human: kill() (2021)How are Drones Changing Modern Warfare?Sun Tzu The Art of WarCarl von Clausewitz On WarMiyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to StrategyH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareChristian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech WarfareQiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy AmericaMy SubstackEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me

This will be the first CG episode to get the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series. The WarNotes episode catalog has been completely re-fabbed using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth.Let me know what you think.We discuss the latest missteps by the West in Iran.The recent American involvement in direct military intervention in Iran changed the temper and nature of the war inevitably.I assess how the RMAs rapidly displacing centuries-old conflict norms are going to look for the remainder of the century.Buppert’s Law of Military Topography:“Mountainous terrain held by riflemen who know what they are about cannot be militarily defeated.”References:Points of Resistance and Departure: An interview with James C. ScottLester Grau and Charles J. Bartles Mountain Warfare and Other Lofty Problems: Foreign mountain combat veterans discuss movement and maneuver, training and resupply (Helion Studies in Military History)Lester Grau The Bear Went Over The Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics In Afghanistan [Illustrated Edition]Lester Grau The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan WarMark Thompson The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919James C. Scott The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast AsiaSun Tzu The Art of WarCarl von Clausewitz On WarMiyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to StrategyH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareChristian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech WarfareQiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy AmericaMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

The discussion centers on the alarming potential for civil conflicts emerging in the West, both in the U.S. and globally. Recent advancements in warfare tactics and declining military power are critiqued. The role of biometric technology in modern warfare and its implications for domestic governance is examined. The podcast draws parallels between historical tensions and current discontent among citizens, particularly in the EU. Important themes like political polarization and immigration are explored, highlighting the precarious balance of societal stability.

This CG episode got the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series effective 22 June 2025 using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth.We discuss coups, color revolutions and the changing face of political manipulation in the world.The world is not what it seems even in non-military political manipulation. The hybrid and grey zone conflict is real. Color revolution have hijacked Western democracy and precipitated he slow decline of modern civilization.ReferencesGlobal Instances of Coups from 1950 to 2010: A New DatasetColpus DatasetKGB defector Yuri Bezmenov's warning to AmericaA Retrospective on RMA, 2000-2020.Edward Luttwak Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, Revised EditionBruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good PoliticsOleg Karpovich Color Revolutions: Techniques in Breaking Down Modern Political RegimesErvand AbrahamianThe Coup: 1953, The CIA, and The Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian RelationsDavid Talbot The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret GovernmentGeorgii Samoilovich Isserson G.S. Isserson and the War of the Future: Key Writings of a Soviet Military TheoristMy Substack.Email at cgpodcast@pm.me

This CG episode got the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series effective 22 June 2025 using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth.Memorial Day is a day to reflect on the existential moral outrage and trail of tears American military might has draped over the planet since the end of the nineteenth century.Wars of choice are by their very nature a path to corruption, excess and unintended consequences.The concept of moral injuries for soldiers and non-soldiers alike, the gift of fear and being a dead man walking and how to handle regret and shame.“As beasts are beneath human restraints, gods are above them... It would be foolish and untruthful to deny the appeal of exalted, godlike intoxication....We have seen the paradox that these godlike exalted moments often correspond to times when the men who have survived them say that they have acted like beasts....Above all, a sense of merely human virtue, a sense of being valued and of valuing anything seems to have fled their lives....However, all of our virtues come from not being gods. Generosity is meaningless to a god, who never suffers shortage or want. Courage is meaningless to a god, who is immortal and can never suffer permanent injury. The godlike berserk state can destroy the capacity for virtue. Whether the berserker is beneath humanity as an animal, above it as a god, or both, he is cut off from all human community when he is in this state.”― Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of CharacterThose millions of men who have been in combat over the millennia have always brought home invisible scar tissue and regret that manifests in many ways but most of us take it to our graves.References:The Roots Tribunal in CongressNick Turse Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in VietnamBill Russel Edmonds God is Not Here: A Soldier's Struggle with Torture, Trauma, and the Moral Injuries of WarClark Savage King of All Things: A Guide to Man's Martial PurposeDick Couch A Tactical Ethic: Moral Conduct in the Insurgent BattlespaceAndrew Bacevich Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided WarsShauna Springer WARRIOR: How to Support Those Who Protect UsJonathan Shay Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of CharacterJonathan Shay Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of HomecomingMy SubstackEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

This CG episode got the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series effective 22 June 2025 using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth.Military sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a government effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization, destabilization, division, disruption, or destruction. It can take place left of bang or during war with the object the weakening of the military effort by an adversary.Military sabotage has been taking place since the early military adventures of men. The apocryphal story of the Trojan Horse is an ancient example and variations on the theme echo through historical warfare.References:Ian Jones Booby Traps!: The History of Deadly Devices, from World War I to VietnamGordon L. Rottman World War II Axis Booby Traps and Sabotage TacticsGordon L. Rottman World War II Allied Sabotage Devices and Booby TrapsLester Grau and Michael Gress The Red Army's Do-it-Yourself, Nazi-Bashing Guerrilla Warfare Manual: The Partizan's Handbook, Updated and Revised Edition, 1942Roman Mars The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday DesignAccess All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban ExplorationOSS Simple Sabotage Field ManualFM 5-31 BoobytrapsTM 31-201-1 Unconventional Warfare Devices and Techniques: IncendiariesEric Frank Russell The WaspMichael Z. Williamson The Weapon (and the entire Freehold series)Robert Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh MistressRobert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In HistoryMy SubstackEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me

This CG episode got the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series effective 22 June 2025 using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth.This episode examines American landscape one year later and whether the probability of attack is reduced or increased.My Storming America Series covers the gamut of what the spontaneous attack in the US will look like when terror cells launch a simultaneous attack on the US homeland.I cover it in Episodes 37, 41-43 and 49-50 of my Chasing Ghosts podcast.I discuss the outcome of the probable jihadist invasion of America. America is in a unique position in history in which it has facilitated the unfettered invasion of its borders and a large swath of military age males have been granted asylum or gone undetected to link up with legacy underground Islamist and terrorist groups across the country.References:William Forstchen Day of WrathKurt Schlichter The AttackKarl DahlFactionFaction: With the CrusadersMatt Bracken:Enemies Foreign and DomesticForeign Enemies And TraitorsDomestic Enemies: The ReconquistaThe Red Cliffs of ZerhounCastigo CayEric Frank Russell The WaspMichael Z. Williamson The Weapon (and the entire Freehold series)Ernest R. May Strange Victory: Hitler’s Conquest of FranceRobert Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh MistressRobert Asprey War In The Shadows: The Guerrilla In HistoryHoward Jones My Lai: Vietnam, 1968, and the Descent into DarknessMy SubstackEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me

This CG episode got the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series effective 22 June 2025 using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth.With Western conflict possible in Yemen and Iran, I discuss the vagaries and verities of mountain warfare. The special hell of high altitude and colder temperatures and their effect on fighting and warfare.I assess how the RMAs rapidly displacing centuries-old conflict norms are going to look for the remainder of the century.Buppert’s Law of Military Topography:“Mountainous terrain held by riflemen who know what they are about cannot be militarily defeated.”References:Points of Resistance and Departure: An interview with James C. ScottLester Grau and Charles J. Bartles Mountain Warfare and Other Lofty Problems: Foreign mountain combat veterans discuss movement and maneuver, training and resupply (Helion Studies in Military History)Lester Grau The Bear Went Over The Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics In Afghanistan [Illustrated Edition]Lester Grau The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan WarMark Thompson The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919James C. Scott The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast AsiaSun Tzu The Art of WarCarl von Clausewitz On WarMiyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to StrategyH. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to WarfareChristian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech WarfareQiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy AmericaMy Substack:https://t.co/7a8jn2MmnxEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me.

This CG episode got the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series effective 22 June 2025 using the new technology at Chris Williams' Podsworth.I am an un-credentialed amateur historian who has done very little archive work and lack the substantial infrastructure credentialed historians have to practice their craft. I have debated esteemed historians and won on stage (Daniel Walker Howe looked at my CV and did not prepare) but that doesn't make me better than them.I think my various detours in life mostly outside the formal academy gives me a unique insight into how history works and why I think I am more sober than university historians.I describe some of the reasons I do it and the techniques I employ to get the single most accurate picture of what happened then to determine what's going on now.I am the Smedley D. Butler Fellow for Military Affairs at the Libertarian Institute.Recommended Reading:Mortimer Adler How To Read a BookRobert Strassler The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika (Landmark Series)Mike Snook How Can Man Die Better: The Secrets of Isandlwana RevealedMike Snook Like Wolves on the Fold: The Defence of Rorke’s DriftDavid Stahel Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the EastDavid Hackett Fischer Historians' Fallacies : Toward a Logic of Historical ThoughtKeith Windschuttle The Killing of HistoryJohn Burrow A History of Histories: Epics, Chronicles, and Inquiries from Herodotus and Thucydides to the Twentieth CenturyHarry Elmer Barnes A History of Historical WritingUS Army Center of Military HistoryMy SubstackEmail at cgpodcast@pm.me