John T. Reed’s blog about military matters

The Air Force sent B-52s to Iraq. If they do Arc Light strikes with them—a plane load of 2,000 pound bombs—expect IS to leave Syria and Iraq. We hit Hanoi with them during Vietnam and the POWs said the guards at the Hanoi Hilton were totally freaked out by it. It is hard to overstate the physical and psychological effect of B-52 strikes on the targeted enemy. IS members will not feel jihad is fun anymore. They will also thereafter prefer the old ball and chain to 72 virgins.I experienced one of those in Vietnam. We saw nothing and heard...

I have been complaining for years about military special ops hype including the marines, rangers, airborne, and especially the SEALs. Now even some SEALs are attacking fellow former SEALs about it. Encroaching on Army and Air Force turf First, the very idea of the SEALs is a rogue project. The Navy is the defense unit that operates in a salt-water environment. The name SEAL stands for Sea, Air, Land. Excuse me but air and land were assigned to the Air Force and Army. It was in all the papers. Famous for ‘tough’ training not victories Second, the reputation of the SEALs is based...

On Saturday, I saw the movie 13 Hours. As I often do with military movies, I went with a West Point classmate who was also my ranger and jump school classmate. Former military better than active-duty There actually were no active-duty military personnel in the Benghazi incident, just FORMER SEALs, rangers, Delta Force, and Marines working as CIA security contractors. In a sense, this the new military I have envisioned: Entrepreneurs not bound by military chickenshit like rank and saluting and saying “sir.” They just do the job without all the traditional military bullshit. This issue comes up in my...

At the Republican debate, recently, Rand Paul said if you want World War III, Chris Christie is your candidate. Christie had said we should establish a no-fly zone in Syria and tell Russia that their planes would be shot down if they entered it. We have no authority to establish a no-fly zone #1. We have no authority to unilaterally establish a no-fly zone in Syria. No authority from the Constitution or in international law. An ad hoc international coalition or NATO might be a sort of international law as a practical matter. We had no-fly zone in Iraq, I...

I did a tour in Vietnam. I spent my college years at West Point from 1964 to 1968 where, as you would expect, we studied Vietnam, thought about it, talked about it, and were taught by officers who had served there. Do I have a single silver bullet that would have worked? Maybe invading North Vietnam.  But here I will just think out loud about various details and ask my fellow vets to contribute their comments and refutations of my comments. No sanctuary When I was there in 1969-70, we invaded Cambodia. One of the firebases in my battalion was...