John T. Reed’s blog about military matters

I have added a discussion of the proper troop level for Afghanistan at the bottom half of this article. On 10/3/09, Combat Outpost Keating in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan Province on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was almost overrun by the Taliban. Eight American soldiers were killed and 24 were wounded. I posted this aricle before that battle. The battle, and others, prove what my point that U.S. forces are spread too thin in Afghanistan. I am a Vietnam veteran. The Afghanistan war now feels to me very much like Vietnam only much harder. Here are a few facts to give...

The suicide, or murder, of Col. Ted Westhusing in Iraq Copyright John T. Reed Shot in the head Ted Westhusing graduated from West Point in 1983. He was his West Point class’s honor captain, in other words, the top cadet in the whole student body on the subject of the Cadet Honor Code. We had no such rank when I was a cadet there, but the company honor representatives, of which Westhusing was one, were elected by their fellow students. The Honor Code is considered the property of the Corps of Cadets (student body), not the Army officers who run...

Copyright by John T. Reed Ever since I graduated from Army in 1968, I have been gnashing my teeth at the garbage that comes out of the mouths of the TV announcers for the Army-Navy game each and every year. Enough! I was not a football player at West Point First, I did not play football or any other intercollegiate sport at West Point. I am simply not that good of an athlete nor was I big or fast enough. At West Point, I was six feet tall and about 165 pounds. At that size, I would have had to...

The Joint Chiefs’ meeting with President Johnson Copyright John T. Reed During intermission between two real estate investment-related speeches I made in San Francisco on 4/3/07, a son of a recently-deceased West Point graduate introduced himself and told me of an article about a meeting in November of 1965 between the U.S. military joint chiefs (the five top military officers) and President Lyndon Johnson. Not fighting the war correctly The Joint Chiefs thought the Vietnam war was being conducted incorrectly and urged the President to change course and let them initiate prompt massive bombing of Hanoi and mining of Haiphong...

General Petraeus’ report to Congress I watched General Petraeus’s statement and answers to questions on 9/10/07. Generally, it sounded like he was honest in what he was saying and knew what he was talking about. Some of the Democrats, like Lantos, made asses of themselves. Had I been Petraeus, I would have walked out and given my statement on the front steps of the Congress and taken questions from the press, leaving word with the politicians that I would come back when they were done with their speeches and ready for my testimony. Other Democrats made some valid points. The...