#11--Ben Connable

In this episode, we discuss the following: -Ben’s forthcoming book on modern ground combat -The lack of definitions of the terms “character of war” and “nature of war” -The “debate” on FD 2030 -The supposed massive changes touted in modern warfare, like drones -Ben's research methods and case sample set -Coding cases -The problem with how the US military records modern cases of military operations -The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale -Cases of armor operating independently successfully -Learning about modern combat from the Syrian Civil War -The claim that urban warfare is costlier than other types of warfare -Modern amphibious operations -How military professionals can become less ignorant of modern warfare -How professional military education could benefit from Ben’s work -The 3:1 ratio in military offensive operations -The Value of detailed small unit operational accounts -The ideal organization for conducting research like Ben’s -The practical and ethical challenges inherent to primary source research of modern combat -Ben’s work on the will to fight -The uses and limits of wargames -How Ben got into wargaming -The Marine Corps Wargaming Center -Open-source reporting on Ukraine -What surprised Ben about Russian and Ukrainian combat performance -Irregular vs. regular warfare -Ben’s experiences as a doctoral student at King’s College London Links Will to Fight: Returning to the Human Fundamentals of War by Ben Connable, Michael J. McNerney, William Marcellino, Aaron B. Frank, Henry Hargrove, Marek N. Posard, S. Rebecca Zimmerman, Natasha Lander, Jasen J. Castillo, James Sladden, et al.