Brian Kerg

I'm glad Evan Slusser wrote this and that @warontherocks.bsky.social published it. #WriteFightWin #ReadFightWin

Still, I hope they see how much more important it is that they kept their fingers off their triggers during those engagements, and appreciate the clean souls, happy hearts, and whole lives that came home from our turn in the desert.

They may have saved our lives by preventing potential reprisals from those we have hurt, and avoided turning otherwise friendly or neutral parties into insurgents as a result of such wanton destruction.

They may have saved our lives by preventing potential reprisals from those we have hurt, and avoided turning otherwise friendly or neutral parties into insurgents as a result of such wanton destruction.

They did the right thing, and showed true professionalism, coolness under fire, and valor in preserving the lives of innocents while better supporting the mission in a COIN environment.

In addition, this better supported our mission. It preserved our relationship with the villagers around our combat outpost. Wanton destruction and the killing of innocents via 'collateral damage' would only have turned the people we were there to secure against us.

Such discipline reflects a #Marine ethos, a #soldier's ethos, one marked by the professional application of lawful violence that characterizes effective military forces.

Moreover, I am deeply proud of their discipline - it is the mark of true military professionals to keep their swords sheathed and wield them deliberately rather than wildly.

It would have been much easier for them to open fire in a general direction, reducing the low risk to us to almost nothing in achieving suppression, while transferring a very high risk to innocent people.

In holding their fire, my Marines did the right thing. In the balance of variables at play, the risk to us was relatively low, we would not be able to be sure we were hitting the right target, and the risk of killing innocents was very high.

During my own time in Afghanistan, many of my Marines and I were repeatedly fired upon but did not return fire due to loss of positive ID of those who'd fired upon us, and the consequent high risk of hitting noncombatants.

While this was written largely from the perspective of aviators, it also touches on the similar impacts to ground troops, and frankly may resonate more powerfully with them.

This piece discusses the value placed by the military on the act of killing, and the effects when those expected to check this box... don't.

A phenomenal reflection that will resonate with many veterans.

Many of my Marines were repeatedly fired upon but did not return fire due to loss of PID, and the ensuing risk of hitting noncombatants.

They did the right thing, but will never rate a combat action ribbon, and that became a burden.

All yours! My grinch-like heart will grow three times in size if I ever help shape Duffel Blog content.

China’s Pokémon Craze Is Stirring an Anti-Foreigner Backlash in Japan What began as a Happy Meal promotion ended in chaos and xenophobic outrage, revealing Japan’s growing tensions over immigration and tourism.

Make this the 'road to war' for the next major US-Japan wargame:

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"Yeah that's Bill, he's a vet... He's got the worst profit margins in the company but his four-man team knocks out their annual HR training on time, every time."

"Hey let's make a deal with China and walk away from Taiwan."

Yeah okay that only emboldens China and increases the likelihood of conflict.

And since wars tend to expand horizontally, well done you actually increased the odds that the US gets pulled into a war it helped get started.

The recent spat of articles from US think tankers arguing to give away Taiwan like it's an American bargaining chip consistently fail to account for Taiwanese agency.

People tend to fight for their existence and when you bomb them their resolve tends to rise significantly.

All great questions! I don't know enough about the authors' positions to speak on their behalf. But you might be able to elicit a response by adding them as a comment below the authors' article on the cimsec website, and this could help those issues come to the fore during their upcoming interview.

Book Reviews | Proceedings - October 2025 Vol. 151/10/1,472 Experts review Why Taiwan Matters, and other new and noteworthy books.

Experts review Why Taiwan Matters, and other new and noteworthy books. usni.org/magazines/p...

A comprehensive strategy for maritime statecraft.

This is the strategy pursued by the prior SECNAV. For the first time, the authors offer an open discussion on its logic and path forward in @cimsec.bsky.social, authored by @hunterstires.bsky.social and Steve Brock:

cimsec.org/maritime-sta...

Everyone who was active, and virtually everyone who was prior, got an education in that symbolism in the fallout of the Scout Sniper debacle. There was a force wide stand down to provide training on just this issue. If you were out and knew folks still in, you had to have picked it up as well.

But to @michaelturton.bsky.social 's point, this is why there are at least as many - probably more - analysts who give credibility to the CCP's words and actions than those who do not.

This is not to say the CCP will go for it or that they want to, especially if unification via non-military means is possible. The force itself is a tool that can coerce capitulation.

Backing up a bit, also why Xi directed the PLA to be capable of executing this exact task by 2027? And why the PLA continues to conduct increasingly frequent and comprehensive joint operations that simulate a quarantine, blockade, and invasion?

One is compelled to ask, if the CCP had no intention of ever invading Taiwan, why it is making the PLA undergo one of the most comprehensive military reforms the world has ever seen to design a force optimized for exactly this task.

You really can't hide much of anything in the barracks. Marines see, Marines talk, and serious stuff has a way of making it's way to the commander. And if there is any chance that something is amiss, the CO will almost certainly direct an investigation to shake out the facts.

This. If someone commits a violation that meets criteria for ADSEP, then giving someone the boot is an immediate action drill. It can take time to meet other pre-separation requirements arising from statute, and legal processes if the commander pursues NJP or court martial.

This was my experience exactly.

Months of slow, hard COIN-ing in Nangarhar.

One day, some team flies in, wrecks some local poppy farmers, and flies out.

We are stuck with our partners and locals who are now looking at us in a very different light.