A Simple Primer on Assault Weapons Part II: Some Inconvenient Truths

The San Bernardino terrorist attacks have spawned an editorial on page one from the vaunted New York Times, its first time doing so in nearly a century. What would cause the Gray Lady to be so incensed? Surely it has something to do with the Islamic State, or maybe our vulnerability to other terrorist actions and our ability to combat it. Surely they would use such an unprecedented event for this menace that we can barely comprehend. But no, that’s not what it used its front-page platform to [...]

By |2015-12-06T22:12:19-05:00December 6th, 2015|Blog|21 Comments

What’s in a name?

It’s the political silly season – or at least the start of it – and candidates are grasping at anything to use as a weapon to garner support. Into this cauldron is thrown the religion of Islam and the terrorists of the Islamic State, with the terminology providing the fault line. The left refuses to use the term “Islam” when discussing the Islamic State, preferring to completely separate the religion from terrorist’s actions. The right, on the other hand, seems to firmly believe the solution to defeating the [...]

By |2015-12-02T14:35:50-05:00December 2nd, 2015|Blog|9 Comments

The Quiet Professional, and Why It Matters Part II: The Journalists Edition

A few months ago I wrote a blog on how disclosing military secrets is harmful to national security, focusing on the military members who have chosen to talk. A new book has been released, and while I don’t agree with anyone who decided to play Deep Throat, in this blog I’d like to take a look at this journalist’s lack of responsibility. The book is called Relentless Strike, by Canadian Sean Naylor, and it purports to be an accurate history of the Joint Special Operations Command. I’ve excoriated [...]

By |2015-09-02T18:29:52-04:00September 2nd, 2015|Blog|27 Comments

The Iran Nuclear Deal: Missing the Forest for the Trees.

I’ve had a few days to listen to all of the talking heads and various “experts” discuss the pros and cons of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and most of the arguments have focused on specific details of the agreement. There’s a lot of hyperbole over inspection timelines, centrifuges, hostages currently held, sanctions relief, etc, but in my mind the whole discussion misses the broader picture. For the record, I think some of the debate on the details of the agreement is misguided from both the [...]

By |2015-07-20T19:20:28-04:00July 20th, 2015|Blog|15 Comments

I AM Jade Helm

I grew up in East Texas, running around the woods, camping, hunting and generally getting into trouble. I haven’t been home in a while due to twenty-plus years in the military and now living in South Carolina, but I still have family there. From what they’re telling me, something has clearly changed from my childhood days. Jade Helm, a USASOC Realistic Military Training event, is coming to certain Texas locales, and the population is losing its mind over “sinister” implications. FEMA concentration camps, UN gun-grabbers, and anything else [...]

By |2015-04-29T19:44:27-04:00April 29th, 2015|Blog|232 Comments

A Veteran’s View of the Medal of Honor

Representative Roger Williams of Texas has introduced legislation in congress for President Obama to award the Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, and this has shown me that we, as a nation, have lost our minds when it comes to saluting veterans. Williams, because he hasn’t served a single day in uniform, looks at the Medal of Honor as just another military award – albeit the highest one – and thus it should be awarded to Kyle, like it’s a piece of candy that should [...]

By |2015-02-27T18:01:17-05:00February 27th, 2015|Blog|8 Comments

A not so simple primer on terrorism

I’ve read and watched a plethora of reporting on the Islamic State, and decided I’d set out to give a little base-line information on just what that group is, what they’re attempting to do, and why they’ve been so successful. The majority of information in the U.S. press is tainted by politics, with viewpoints, first and foremost, designed to damage a political party as opposed to informing the American public on the nature of the threat. As I began writing, I realized that the true problem wasn’t misinformation [...]

By |2020-08-22T11:51:42-04:00February 19th, 2015|Blog, Featured|35 Comments

The quiet professional, and why it matters

I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the recent revelations of the various SEALs on the UBL mission, and for the most part, I’ve brushed them off, feeling somewhat hypocritical because, while I’m not a supporter of what they’re doing, I write fiction novels. Even though there is no comparison, I felt like it wasn’t my place to comment, but, with the latest interviews, I’ve had enough. I want to present why such things matter, and give a little inside skinny on what’s occurring. I do feel very strongly [...]

By |2014-11-14T21:27:47-05:00November 14th, 2014|Blog|38 Comments

No, containing ISIL is not “good enough”

I did a piece for the blog War on the Rocks as a rejoinder to a professor at the US Army War College.  You can find the original article here.  And find my response here.  If you've read my posts, you know I don't take intervention lightly.  I've castigated our operations in Libya, and am definitely reluctant to enter into Syria's mess of a war, mainly because of the fallout should we "succeed" in removing Assad, but ISIL is a different breed altogether.  One that rises to my [...]

By |2014-10-03T19:02:03-04:00October 3rd, 2014|Blog|3 Comments

The Libyan Conundrum: Brad’s Greatest Hits

President Obama recently gave a wide ranging interview to the New York Times, and his comments on Libya made my jaw hit the floor.  I really try not to be political on this blog, but after hearing them, I couldn't believe our foreign policy could be that naive.  Before we get to that, though, a little recap of Libya analysis done by a peon outside the administration's foreign policy team (me). The Libyan Conundrum, (14 March 2010 -Before we conducted airstrikes, and I completely agreed with the administration against [...]

By |2014-08-11T15:27:58-04:00August 11th, 2014|Blog|8 Comments
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