E45 – Operational War w/ John Warden

Don’t miss our newsletter! That's where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! In this episode, Mike interviews retired Air Force Colonel John Warden. John is an Air Force pioneer who shaped how the modern world thinks about warfare—specifically the concepts of the operational level of war, parallel attack, and centers of gravity. He is most noted as the creator of Warden’s Five Rings and the architect of the Gulf War air campaign—but there’s much more than that. We talked about how his thoughts were shaped in Vietnam and the 1980s, how he ended up in the Pentagon, and what series of events led to his framework being used to create Operation Desert Storm. We applied the real lessons from Desert Storm to discuss China, why it’s a strategic threat, and the blind spot in US national security. If you’re into history, strategy, warfare, military tactics, and national security—this episode is for you. Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Mike Benitez (LinkedIn) • Winning Peer Wars ---- Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ---- Show Notes 01:31 intro 03:31 Vietnam experience 05:56 Vietnam reshaped the Air Force 10:36 post-Vietnam thinking about the Middle East 13:56 command structure in the 1980s 16:14 Bitburg to Georgia to Italy 17:38 the 5 Rings - War College origins 18:13 missing the operational level of war 26:17 Warden's 5 rings 29:36 the other usefulness of the 5 rings 32:13 Checkmate 34:25 Checkmate, 5 Rings, and the Soviet Union 35:20 Fuel and the Fulda Gap 39:37 context for Desert Storm 42:44 Checkmate and Desert Storm 45:34 Checkmate gets into Desert Storm 48:26 the original 3-week plan 54:01 Not learning from Desert Storm? 57:24 today's challenges 58:29 China revelation #1 1:00:44 The Gulf War...on US soil 1:02:41 The US cyber vulnerability 1:06:52 China 2027 2035 2049 1:08:36 homeland defense blindspot 1:09:49 coastal defense 1:11:38 self-deterrence? 1:14:42 global reach global power 1:17:48 commitment to defense 1:18:51 outro #military #nationaldefense #warfare #nationalsecurity #defense #nationaldefense #tech #technology #defensetech #army #navy #airforce #usmc #innovation #war #strategy #aerospace #china #desertstorm #gulfwar #airpower #militaryhistory #militarypower #iraq #middleeast #desertstorm #gulfwar