Showing results by author "Ryan Webb" in All Categories

In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt. In addition to his army, he brought along a library of books on science, geography, poetry, politics, and religion. It is not surprising that Napoleon, an avid reader, also studied military history. He stated, “Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, and Frederick the Great. This is the only way to become a great general.” Napoleon’s advice is just as applicable today as it was in his lifetime. For the military professional, military history informs their long-term education in several ...

The Cynefin framework provides a method to analyze systems and can help prevent the application of the same decision-making process to different situations. According to the framework, disorder is the condition where one is unaware of a system’s domain. The domains, or quadrants, are identified as chaotic, complex, complicated, and obvious. As one comes to identify the dominant system, the framework offers a mental tool to guide decision-making. It also helps illuminate the impact if the system bridges the gap between one of the other domains. For example, obvious or complex systems could...

Purpose: In "Errand into the Wilderness," one of Perry Miller’s goals was to explain the establishment and development of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony using the two meanings of the word errand, in order to gather insight into the genesis of the American experience. Key Questions: Miller first asked whether the Puritans were sent on a mission, like an errand boy, or whether they were acting alone, doing their own errand. He then asked whether the Puritans fell short of their goal by 1660, and, if so, in what sense had they failed. Finally, he examined whether there was a further ...

Today, the House of Representatives is debating a bill that would permanently normalize trade relations with China. At the same time, the State Department reports that terrorist activity has shifted to the Southeast Asian countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In southern Lebanon, Israeli troops prepare to pull out of the buffer zone following two decades of occupation. In Iran, a Jewish Iranian admits he was paid five hundred dollars per month to spy for the Israeli intelligence service. He faces the death penalty if convicted. In the Philippines, twenty-one foreigners, held hostage by ...

In the years preceding the Yom Kippur War, Israeli leadership framed the operational environment. The result was the 1973 surprise attack by Egypt and Syria. How did this occur? What caused the Israelis to develop such an erroneous assessment? One way to analyze this situation is by looking at the instruments of national power. Nations impact the international environment through diplomatic, informational, military, and economic sources of power. By using these four areas, a holistic view of Israel’s situation prior to the 1973 war can be developed.

The just war tradition provides a framework to evaluate decisions on waging and conducting war. It can also inform conduct after a war. In addition, just war principles can assist military planners and decision-makers regarding situations other than war, including humanitarian intervention. For example, consider a potential mass atrocity in sub-Saharan Africa. The just war concepts of just cause, legitimate authority, reasonable chance of success, last resort, right intention, and proportionality can inform the moral and legal basis for intervention by a state or the international community.

Non-proliferation is the attempt to prevent the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons through international treaties and cooperative efforts to control NBC related technologies. The 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) acknowledged five nuclear power states and declared that other nations who joined the treaty would forego development of nuclear weapons. It implied the ultimate goal of all nations to be free of nuclear weapons. To enforce this treaty the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) conducts inspections of a nation’s declared nuclear related facilities...

This study researched the occurrence of post-traumatic anniversary reactions in Gulf War veterans. The article defines an anniversary reaction as “a specifically timed, emotionally invested episode during which an individual experiences significant psychiatric or medical symptoms.” In other words, an anniversary reaction occurs when a veteran develops abnormal physical or mental symptoms on the anniversary of a previous traumatic experience. The goal of the study was to more fully explain these reactions so that the veterans who experienced them, and the clinicians who develop treatment...

On November 2, 1912 the New York Times ran the article, “Roosevelt Cheers Go On,” that reported on the Progressive Party’s rally at Madison Square Garden the night before. According to the article, presidential candidate Colonel Theodore Roosevelt received a cheer that lasted for 54 minutes before he raised his hand to stop it. This thunderous ovation came even though the crowd had been told not to try to outdo the cheer that presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson had received the night before. On November 1, 1920, the New York Times ran the article, “Harding Declares Paris League ...

According to the Holy Bible, man is naturally evil. Psalm 51:5 states, ”Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” As a result, man is selfish, lustful, jealous, envious, divisive, deceitful, malicious, insolent, arrogant, boastful, senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless, slanderous, and full of gossip. Even human actions that seem good on the surface are often tainted by evil.

Before becoming president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison. Reflecting on this crucible, he stated, “The cell is an ideal place to know yourself. People tend to measure themselves by external accomplishments, but jail allows a person to focus on internal ones.” A crucible is “a transformative experience through which an individual comes to a new or an altered sense of identity.” For me, the crucible of naval flight training expanded my understanding of organizational leadership. In addition to learning the importance of the operations process, the ...

Despite their alliance against the Persian invasion in 480 B.C., the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta created separate spheres of influence. Following periods of intermittent conflict, in 431 B.C. they began a destructive war against each other that lasted twenty-seven years. To help explain this struggle, Thucydides, an Athenian military general and historian, looked for cause and effect relationships. He concluded that human emotions and interests, a nation’s pursuit of power, and influential leaders proved instrumental. These elements, which are all part of the theory of realism,...

“That’s it?” I ask myself as I close John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, and place it on my desk. “Where’s the decisive battle between Beowulf, the herculean warrior, and Grendel’s outraged mother? Where’s the scene of the mighty thane slicing off dead Grendel’s ugly head and carrying it proudly into King Hrothgar’s mead hall? Why does Gardner not show us the restoration of peace to the land of the Danes?” Leaning back in my chair, I think, “Why doesn’t John Gardner’s novel mimic the end of the epic, Beowulf, on which it is based? Why does Gardner downplay the great ...

Why did Adolf Hitler allow the British to escape at Dunkirk? Why did he not invade England but attack the Soviet Union instead? Why did he order his army to halt outside Moscow? In "Hitler: The Pathology of Evil," Dr. George Victor, a psychotherapist, explores Hitler’s childhood to find the answer to these military questions and concludes that Hitler’s obsession with the Jewish question drove him to prolong World War II as a cover for the Holocaust. In part I, Victor investigates Hitler’s development into a charismatic leader, concluding that his desire to be his mother’s champion ...

In June 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, moved north through the Shenandoah Valley and invaded Pennsylvania. Brewing with confidence after decisive victories at Fredericksburg in December 1862 and Chancellorsville in April 1863, Lee planned to draw out the Union army and destroy it on ground of his choosing. An aura of invincibility was in the air. A dramatic victory would expose Washington and perhaps lead to Southern secession. In fact, a letter suing for peace was to be placed on Lincoln’s desk following the annihilation of the Union army . . . ...

Globalization is bringing international populations into ever-greater contact. Media and the Internet is reaching across nations and continents like never before. While many cultures welcome diffusion and are interested in different ideas and values, this is not always the case. People are wary of those unlike themselves and some cultures feel threatened by the West, the major force behind market capitalism. Specifically, many in the Muslim world feel their religion and customs are incompatible with western culture. This conflict is not unique to the modern era, but is a resurgence of an ...

Out of the ashes of World War I a phoenix arose. In the next two decades, the Turks created in Anatolia a nation unique to the Middle East. This phoenix, the Republic of Turkey, replaced the moribund Ottoman Empire, which succumbed to internal disorder as well as British and Arab forces in Arabia. At the conclusion of World War I, Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, the Kurds, and Armenians all hoped to gain land or influence in Anatolia. However, a popular Ottoman general, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, resigned from the army, united the Turkish Nationalist forces, and pushed back the invading ...

As a young man growing up in Virginia and Georgia in the late 18th century, Meriwether Lewis displayed the courage that would be so valuable to him later in life. When he was eight or nine years old, a bull charged him. He coolly raised his rifle and shot it dead. A year later, during a nighttime Indian attack on his family, he had the presence of mind to extinguish the campfire so as to hide his party. At eighteen, Lewis was the head of his family’s plantation. Despite such promise, Stephen Ambrose, in "Undaunted Courage," portrays Meriwether Lewis as both a hero and a flawed man. Indeed...

In the Greco-Roman world, the Stoics practiced a school of philosophy which held that a wise man should be free from passion and submissive to natural law. In Encheiridion, Epictetus articulated this view and offered advice on life. His ideas can be categorized into the areas of practical advice, inhuman advice, and thoughts that emulate Christian morality.

Husbands Ryan and Chance are watching Grey’s Anatomy... Again! Join them as they watch every episode starting from the beginning and immediately find a way to make it competitive. New episodes release weekly on Friday. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ryan-webb07/support