SAG-U Commander's Action Group

In this episode, Colonel Mike Rosol joins MWI's Charlie Faint to reflect on a career spanning armored warfare, multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, teaching and scholarship at West Point, interagency work, and his recent service leading the commander’s action group for Security Assistance Group–Ukraine (SAG-U). Mike describes SAG-U’s role in coordinating US and allied support to Ukraine and examines lessons emerging from the Russia-Ukraine war, including Ukraine’s rapid expansion of its military, the transformative role of uncrewed systems, the increasingly compressed relationship between reconnaissance and strike, and the extraordinary speed of technological adaptation on the battlefield. Mike also highlights Ukraine’s willingness to innovate and openly debate how it fights—and warns against the temptation to dismiss the ongoing war's lessons simply because the participants or circumstances differ from those the US military expects to face. Chapters (00:00:02) - Introduction and Guest Welcome (00:00:24) - Choosing West Point and the Army (00:02:45) - West Point Academics and Branch Selection (00:04:36) - First Assignment and 9/11 (00:07:01) - OIF2 Deployment: Green Zone Checkpoints (00:09:47) - Pre-Deployment Training and Innovative Leadership (00:13:09) - Learning from Company Commanders and NCOs (00:18:44) - Lessons on Leadership, Competence, and Character (00:20:12) - Joining the 82nd Airborne and Culture Shift (00:24:14) - Standing Up a New Cavalry Unit (00:25:48) - Second and Third Iraq Deployments: Route Security (00:30:34) - Returning to West Point to Teach (00:34:35) - Origins of 'SOSH' and Value of Military Education (00:35:00) - Commander's Action Group in Afghanistan (00:37:44) - The Lincoln Brigade and Legacy of Social Sciences (00:41:07) - Joint Task Force North and Interagency Lessons (00:45:53) - Returning to West Point Faculty (00:46:28) - Security Assistance Group Ukraine Overview (00:48:39) - CAG Role Supporting General Buzzard (00:51:52) - Capturing Lessons Learned from the War (00:54:15) - Institutional and Technological Lessons from Ukraine (00:59:41) - Drone Point System and Data Sharing Strategy (01:03:52) - Recon-Strike Complex and Future Warfare Challenges (01:08:08) - Casualties and the War's Uncertain Future (01:10:46) - Ukrainian Military Culture and Adaptability (01:13:17) - Advice for Young Leaders: Intellectual Curiosity (01:15:56) - Intellectual Courage and Historic Army Debates (01:20:14) - Closing Thoughts and Farewell