#7--Michael Peznola

In this episode, we discuss: *Col Peznola’s education and training as a young officer *Col Peznola’s take on what “blocking and tackling” and “the basics” means in a tactical sense *His experience attending the Army’s Cavalry Leaders Course and what he learned from being around soldiers *When Col Peznola first heard about what would later be termed maneuver warfare *His time as an instructor at The Basic School (TBS) *Who the “maneuver warfare instigators” in the TBS bullpen were *How the curriculum at TBS had changed since Col Peznola had been a student there *How Peznola approached teaching lieutenants in the field *The central role that Lieutenant Colonel Ray Cole played in the shift to maneuver warfare at TBS *Captain Paul Kennedy’s use of BB guns in force on force training and how this inspired Peznola to create the “Zen Patrol” *What it was like facilitating the Zen Patrol *How patrolling seemed to “stick” more with students when taught this way *The role of the debrief and the instructor in the Zen Patrol *How Peznola’s experiences at TBS fostered within him an inquisitive mindset *Why Peznola thinks the Marine Corps needs to change its manpower system and truly reward Marines who innovate *What it was like having 2ndLt Brendan McBreen as a student *Peznola’s thoughts on command and control *What it was like sitting through John Boyd’s briefings and interacting with Boyd *What it was like having now-Major General Roger Turner as a student in Peznola’s platoon at TBS *Peznola’s interactions with John Kelly and John Allen at TBS and the impact Kelly and Allen had on the effort to infuse maneuver warfare into the curricula at TBS and IOC *The dearth of communication that occurs today between TBS and IOC instructors and how that wasn’t the case in Peznola’s time *What TBS and IOC would look like if Peznola were king *Peznola’s experiences at 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion *Peznola’s deployment with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and his time in Somalia *His time serving in manpower at Headquarters Marine Corps *His time as the general officer monitor officer *Why some Marines leaders resisted maneuver warfare *Peznola’s reaction to the publication of Warfighting *His thoughts on and experiences with Bill Lind *On whether the Marine Corps practiced maneuver warfare in its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan *What maneuver warfare looks like in garrison *Whether the Marine Corps’ current model of recruit training helps or hinders new Marines from executing maneuver warfare *Peznola’s thoughts on SOI-West’s inclusion of Chess in its Infantry Marine Course *His time as the commanding officer of the Marine Special Operations Advisor Group *His criticism of special operations in Afghanistan *How the US created the Afghan forces in its own image *Peznola’s time as the chief of staff of a special operations task force in Afghanistan *His thoughts on America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan *His thoughts on Force 2030 *His take on general officer and joint professional military education *Who Ike Skelton was and why the US military needs another person like him *If Col Peznola could change one thing about the Marine Corps *What excites him most about the future direction of the Marine Corps Links To Lose a Battle by Alistar Horne Organic Design for Command and Control by John Boyd