Pride and Fall tells the story of the British Army and Royal Marines (and more broadly Defence) campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan 2001-2014. It mixes high-level discussions with strategy with tactical vignettes. It offers a highly readable, highly credible history of the period. This book is bloody brilliant. We highly recommend it. From …

BLUF: This paper proposes the creation of the structures and conditions required to train, lead and deploy a cost-effective Citizen Tri-service Reserve Force at scale during periods of stretch, tension, crisis or war. The Citizen Tri-Service Reserve Force would be available for use. (1) as a third echelon front line fighting force, (2) providing re…

Tradition can be defined as an inherited, established and customary pattern of thought or action that can be transmitted from generation to generation due to their commonly accepted authority. In a military sense, Army traditions encompass customs and beliefs that unite different sets of soldiers. These traditions take form to us as behaviours, doc…

"The Reservist is twice the citizen" - Winston Churchill Genesis The Royal Navy (RN) has the Maritime Reserve (MR), a 1* led Fighting Arm1 (FA), however, it could be argued that it is not taken seriously as a capability and is therefore not value for money. If the RN were to take the Maritime Reserve seriously, the MR would require a directed opera…

Introduction Since the Gaza war began nearly a year ago, Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets across the Middle East. There is a widespread concern that the ongoing low-level conflict may escalate into an all-out war between the two nations. Nevertheless, Tehran, for its part, does not seem inclined to escalate i…

Introduction On 23 August, the Houthis, a Yemen-based rebel group, attacked a Greek-flagged vessel in the Red Sea, causing an oil leak and threatening an environmental catastrophe in one of the world's most frequently used waterways. On 2 September, the group attacked a Saudi and a Panama-flagged oil tanker in the same sea area- using a combination…

Terminology versus motivation Reluctance, risk aversion, and the wrong centre of gravity Useful scenarios The Army does not have the luxury of being able to ignore criminal actors Feature image credit: MODOleh Mavs (WR Editor)

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting" ~ Sun Tzu Why didn't Russia deploy amphibious forces to the shores of Odesa in the spring of 2022? At that point, Russians confronted the failure of the drive to Kyiv and challenges along a long front. A potential landing might have turned a flank or presented hard choices to Ukrainia…

Israel's New Wars is the latest book by Dr. Ehud Eilam. For nearly three decades, Eilam has studied Israel's national security and written widely, including for the Wavell Room, about how the state should protect itself. In Israel's New Wars, Eilam explores how recent conflict with Iran and its partners has differed from Israel's fighting between 1…

If the war against Ukraine has highlighted any truth, it is that the defense industrial bases of the United States and Europe are woefully underequipped for the demands of high-intensity conventional warfare. The United States was and remains the only country that retained the kinds of stockpiles necessary to support Ukraine's defense and future of…

The 6.8mm Elephant in the Room The United States Army has made the biggest change in a generation to its small arms fleets by replacing its standard infantry rifle (the M4) and Light Machine Gun (SAW) with a 'Next Generation Squad Weapon' (NGSW) multi-calibre system based on a new 6.8mm round with high-performance technology to be more lethal at gr…

Introduction The current picture It's beneficial to acknowledge our men Are our wellbeing offerings outdated? How can we help our men? How can men tell they might be unwell? What are some barriers to help-seeking? The 'problems' with talking Culturally, we must do better Feature photo by Daniel Reche via Pexels…

Introduction The Second Lebanon War - 2006 Hezbollah's Hybrid War Hezbollah in 2024 Hezbollah and Lebanon Conclusion Main picture: Hezbollah drone operator during in an exercise in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, on Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Wikimedia Commons)Oleh Phil

The video of a Russian soldier executing a comrade is circulating on social media. To analyse what this execution means, we'll examine another example. On 30 January 1968 the Tet Offensive erupted. It proved a turning point in the Vietnam War. The decisive psychological blow to American public opinion was expressed in CBS anchor Walter Kronkite's f…

The 2024 RUSI Land Warfare Conference's ambition was unavoidably hamstrung by the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review announced by Kier Starmer's incoming Labour Government. Although many strategic and operational imperatives were explored, little substance was provided on how Army doctrine will evolve, how it will be re-organised and re-equipped,…

Clarifying the People Problem A thought exercise Understanding the Why AFCAS 24 has just been published. The data, as ever, is fascinating and provides an incredible insight into what our people think about Armed Forces life. It also critically highlights pull factors keeping people in service, and push factors which drive people to leave the Servi…

Oleh James

It's the Policy, Stupid. Medical Policy Other Policies Lessons from America So, What Can We Learn from the US Army?Oleh Mavs (WR Associate Editor)

Warfare is changing faster than our military and our military-industrial approach. The warnings of world leaders, including the Prime Minister and Chief of the General Staff, that war is imminent have had little effect on our rate of preparation or adaptation . Almost no one, including those working within it, thinks the speed and scale of change i…

On 17 February, Russian forces finally captured Avdiivka - once a city of 30,000 people - just ten kilometres from Donetsk. 110th Mechanised Brigade had defended the ruins for the last two years without relief. The end came when Russian forces infiltrated the south of the city using a concealed passage offered by a man-sized water pipe feeding Done…

Precision: A History of American Warfare by James Patton Rogers is published by Manchester University Press. "Precision" is an intellectual history of America's pursuit of the titular objective - how to target adversaries, their militaries, and their infrastructure with pinpoint accuracy while, reducing harm to civilians and non-combatants. Author …

'The Russian man is glad to see death, including his own - it reminds him of the end of everything that exists. He contemplates the ruins and fragments with pleasure…' This author has watched thirty YouTube videos of Russian soldiers committing suicide. This has been possible thanks to the revolution that has taken place on the battlefield with the…

Over the past two decades, enhancing human performance capabilities for those operating in extremis contexts (i.e., Armed Forces, Emergency Services, and First Responders) has gained considerable traction in policy-making and scientific circles. To operationalise this concept, the term Human Performance Optimisation (HPO) first emerged within the U…

"I don't want to get any messages saying, 'I am holding my position.' We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time." The debt owed to those wh…

Despite economic headwinds, China will still overtake the US in terms of real GDP How can power be measured between states? Key challenges in applying the power as resources approach China manipulates and likely exaggerates publicly released data on its economy and currency Net vs. Gross Metrics While Chinese real GDP is a source of power, it is co…

What is the military recruitment dilemma? Military recruitment is problematic. And a key issue is that people who get paid good money can't solve it. So after six months of analysing YouTube, Facebook, Linkedin, X, Instagram, and yes, even TikTok comments - perhaps I can. The military recruitment ideas below are not meant to be taken in isolation, …

~ Sun Tzu Soldiers on the Spectrum common autism myths Neuroinclusivity Analogy 1: The Enigma Machine Neuroinclusivity Analogy 2: Rugby Governmental Reviews In ClosingOleh Mavs (WR Associate Editor)

In light of a number of somewhat braying articles in the mainstream media suggesting excessive 'wokeism' is rife within the military, it seemed an opportune moment to investigate many of the claims of Defence surrounding the topic of Diversity and Inclusion. By and large, there are now two common uses of the term 'diversity': The first, more tradit…

With defence in an unheralded period of uncertainty it is always pleasant to find some firm ground. To that end the notion that the use of simulation in military training will increase dramatically over the next 5 years will not cause much disagreement. Against a training burden that has never been so intensive the MoD is faced with equipment costs…

At the end of January 2024 a Russian company from 33rd Motor Rifle Regiment 1 set off to attack in the area of Novomikhailovka, South-West of Donetsk City. The company comprised three T-72s leading one BMP-1 and seven MT-LBs (catastrophic attrition means the Russian Army now uses the MT-LB utility tracked vehicle as an APC). After leaving a hard-to…

In an era of drones, loitering munitions, precision strikes, and manoeuvre warfare; discussing fortification seems almost quaint. Surely the revolution in military affairs and its successors have rendered bunkers and fixed positions irrelevant. If the future battlefield is transparent and the kill chain is as swift as proponents anticipate, staying…

NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) must prepare to protect the integrity of elections in Kosovo. This activity should be framed as a human security task. Introduction: The need for support in Kosovo As international pressure mounts on Kosovo to hold elections in the country's Serbian majority North, democratic values are at the forefront of international d…

Over the last few weeks a series of speeches have described the Russian threat to peace in Europe. On 10 January, Sweden's Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin asserted that 'there could be war in Sweden'. This warning was reinforced by the Swedish military commander-in-chief, Gen Micael Byden, suggested that Swedes should mentally prepare for …

On 26 February, Russian forces west of Avdiivka destroyed the first M1A1 Abrams tank of the war. Like the loss of the first Challenger 2 near Robotyne last September the event has provoked widespread commentary. This article seeks to establish the facts and draw lessons. Even after two years of war, no NATO army has seriously addressed the threat t…

As the famous quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War goes, "rapidity is the essence of war" (兵之情主速), and while the original context behind this adage was more tactical in nature, advocating the use of rapid manoeuvres to dislocate the enemy, it is also reflective of one of the most desired outcomes in war - a swift and decisive victory. In the same milita…

Introduction The future is uncertain. Yet, we still attempt to plan for an uncertain future. Since 2001, the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) Global Strategic Trends programme has sought to 'identify the key drivers of change that will shape and reshape our world'. Global Strategic Trends is supported by the Future Operating Environment publication, whi…

As the UK enters the third decade of the 21st century, it is confronted by a strategic system in flux. This is particularly highlighted by the resurgence of great power rivalry, the renewed Russian threat to regional and international security, the shifting global balance of power from the Euro-Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific, the rise of China as a g…