#9B--James McDonough

Controversy & Clarity

In this episode, we discuss

-The US Army’s individual replacement system in Vietnam

-McDonough’s experience serving as the aide to the commanding general of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam

-McDonough’s thoughts on how technology has extended senior leaders’ ability to overexert influence or command on small units

-How McDonough’s Vietnam experiences shaped his approach to command

-Some of the mistakes McDonough made as a platoon leader in Vietnam

-The decision-forcing case The Farmer: its inspiration, development, and use with US Marines

-What it was like to serve in the ‘Hollow Army’ after Vietnam

-McDonough’s experience as a mechanized infantry company commander

-McDonough’s time as an S-3 operations officer for an infantry battalion in South Korea

-His experiences serving as the military assistant to General John Galvin, Supreme Allied Commander Europe

-McDonough’s observations of the maneuver warfare debates in the Marine Corps

-The value and pitfalls of studying German military history, especially the German forces of World War II

-The tight rope that military and military-civilian professionals must walk when studying the forces of the Nazi Germany a nthe Southern Confederacy

-The events leading to McDonough’s appointment as director of the School of Advanced Military Studies

-The process of revising FM 100-5 Operations

-The origin of the term “operations other than war”

-What inspired the writing of McDonough’s second book, The Defense of Hill 781, and what today’s soldiers and Marines can learn from it in light of renewed focus on large-scale conventional combat operations

-What lessons from Hill 781 might not apply to today’s battlefields

-McDonough’s third book, The Limits of Glory

-His experience standing up the brigade that would eventually get reflagged as the 173rd Airborne Brigade

-What it was like leading that brigade through the genocide, Cholera epidemic, and civil war in Rwanda

Links

Platoon Leader by James McDonough: https://www.amazon.com/Platoon-Leader-Memoir-Command-Combat/dp/0891418008

The Defense of Hill 781 by James McDonough: https://www.amazon.com/Defense-Hill-781-Allegory-Mechanized/dp/0891414754

The Limits of Glory by James McDonough: https://www.amazon.com/Limits-Glory-Novel-Waterloo/dp/0891413847

"American Army Doctrine for the Post- Cold War" by John L. Romjue: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA317654.pdf

'Facing the "What Now?'" Moment' by Damien O'Connell: https://mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Facing-the-What-Now-Moment.pdf

Errata

-When discussing TBS's use of The Farmer DFC, I said they forced to students to either harm the farmer or risk certain death in the minefield. To be precise, TBS called for students "...to...[decide]...whether to threaten or do bodily harm to a local civilian in order to save the lives of their Marines (soldiers).”

-While discussing the bureaucratic differences between Colonel McDonough and Major General Wesley Clark at TRADOC, McDonough erroneously referred to himself as a 'one-star general,' though he meant to say, 'colonel.'

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