A discussion of territorial disputes on the ocean floor focusing on the South China Sea with Krulak Center Non-Resident Fellow Drake Long. The Science of Military Strategy document mentioned at the top of the episode can be found here: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CASI/documents/Translations/2022-01-26%202020%20Science%20of%20Military%20Strategy.pdf You can follow Drake Long at: Twitter: @DRM_Long BlueSky: @drmlong.bsky.social LinkedIn:...

Before World War II, the U.S. Navy relied on an ad hoc system to manage logistical support for its ships. The scale and geography of the war in the Pacific nullified earlier ways of acquiring and distributing sufficient materiel. This booklet explores the ways in which the Navy conceptualized and implemented overseas logistics from the age of sail through the Pacific War. These processes, both in their planned form and actual operation, reveal two significant themes: (1) logistics is line...

Today’s strategic environment has returned the conversation back to Great Power Competition, the competition of two large nations in the pursuit of their interests and to influence interstate relations. As our focus has shifted from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan towards our pacing threat in the Pacific, so has our focus away from Irregular Warfare. But, not every nation is a great power, and as we’ve seen from the end of World War II and especially since the end of the Cold War, not every...

We're back #TeamKrulak community, it's the first episode of the Kiwi era. For obvious reasons, we've concentrated on the South China Sea as we talk about the First and Second Island Chains in regards to our pacing threat, China. This episode, we welcome back non-Resident Fellow Dr. Joanna Siekiera as she discusses China and and its affects on European Security along with possible ways forward. Enjoyed this episode? Think there's room for improvement? Share your thoughts in this quick...

With last season now "in the can" we are starting to gear up for our next season of the BruteCast. With that we'll have a few changes that this short announcement will cover. First, we're going to have a new host: Maj Nate "Kiwi" Jaenichen. It's his voice you'll hear going forward in the new seasons for non-"Down the Rabbit Hole" episodes. Second, we're going to adjust to a posting a new episode every two weeks to our various platforms but will continue to conduct the Live portions of...

A weekend filled with hot takes on an armed hot dog vendor and 25,000 of his closest friends came to an end as befuddling as its beginning - the mutiny/insurrection/coup/road trip begun by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin came to a halt 200km south of Moscow 24 hours after it started. Some of Wagner is joining the Russian army, some is going to Belarus, and Prigozhin's prospects are unclear. #TeamKrulak Distinguished Fellows Ian Brown and Dr. Yuval Weber don't claim to have the answers to...

So, we don’t know much, but we can say this: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s favorite hot dog stand vendor and head of the Wagner Group, is in open conflict with Russia's Ministry of Defense. It’s no longer a war of words, as the Wagner Group has seized the city from which the Ministry of Defense is directing the “special military operation” in Ukraine, and appears to be moving its combat forces toward Moscow. Newly minted #TeamKrulak Distinguished Fellows Ian Brown and Dr. Yuval Weber give the...

#TeamKrulak community, we wrapped up this season of the #BruteCast in style - we were joined by General David Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps! When General Berger assumed his duties as the 38th Commandant, his Planning Guidance laid out a far-reaching vision for reforming and adapting the Marine Corps for the challenges of what looked to be a turbulent decade for the United States and its partners around the world. We asked General Berger about his time in office, the impact of Force...

We were excited for the chance to welcome the Talent Management Strategy Group back to the #BruteCast for the latest updates on #TalentManagement2030. They discussed the All-Volunteer Force Symposium, the first update document to Talent Management 2030, the All-Services Talent Management Summit, and more! The latest information on Talent Management 2030 can be found here: https://www.marines.mil/Talent-Management-2030/ If you have ideas or feedback you'd like to share with the Talent...

Over the weekend, it appeared that the long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive was finally underway. In this episode of "Down the Rabbit Hole on the #Russia-#Ukraine War," #TeamKrulak #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber looks at the initial movements and conditions of the counteroffensive thus far, along with recent meetings among Russian exile groups regarding that nation's future, and the latest in the turf war between Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia's Ministry of Defense. All opinions expressed here...

"Down the Rabbit Hole on the #Russia-#Ukraine War" returns with #TeamKrulak #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber. We begin picking up where the last episode left off, with the Russian military trying - and failing - to eject anti-#Putin military groups from the Belgorod region; signs that the anticipated #Ukranian counteroffensive might be beginning; and the unfolding humanitarian and ecological disaster caused by today's collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in southern #Ukraine. All...

The #BruteCast was pleased to welcome Ambassador Philip S. Kosnett and a panel of contributors to discuss the recently released book Boots and Suits: Historical Cases and Contemporary Lessons in Military Diplomacy (Marine Corps University Press, 2023). This book seeks to explain military diplomacy through the lens of both the military and the diplomatic corps of countries, including perspectives from the United States, the Netherlands, and Turkey, among others. It examines the aspects of...

The Allied campaign in Burma during World War II was one of the most challenging and complex of the conflict, with weather, terrain, and competing strategic objectives among the problems the combined Allied force needed to solve to drive back the occupying forces of Imperial Japan. In this episode, Dr. Rosella Cappella Zielinski and Dr. Ryan Grauer looked at how Allied commanders nevertheless managed to supply, organize, and motivate their composite force to drive the Japanese out in...

#TeamKrulak #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber returns for an update on the war in #Ukraine, with developments both abroad and on the battlefield. We discussed how Putin's focus on #Ukraine has altered the balance of power in the conflict between #Armenia and #Azerbaijan; the nuclear arrangement with #Belarus; 18th-century cartography as a casus belli; the situation in #Bakhmut and extremely online Yevgeny Prigozhin's latest Telegram rants against Russian military leadership; the bizarre situation...

#TeamKrulak community, thanks to the auspices of our friends at the Air Force's Tesseract office, we're pleased to welcome two of the biggest names in military adaptation and innovation to the #BruteCast! Dr. Nora Bensahel and LtGen David Barno, USA (Ret.) join us to talk about military adaptation and the future of war, including their insights on what they have seen unfold on the battlefields of Ukraine. Dr. Bensahel and LtGen Barno mention the "Strategic Outpost" column they write at War...

It's been a big week for things blowing up, from Russian oil storage depots in Crimea to flagpoles on top of the Kremlin to ranting mercenaries on Telegram. #TeamKrulak #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber takes us through all these things in our latest episode. All opinions expressed here are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the Krulak Center, Marine Corps University, the United States Marine Corps, or any other agency of the U.S. Government. Enjoyed this episode?...

Back in March, the Army Leader Exchange decided to run its own #MarchMadness tournament highlighting military media content creators, and after many intense rounds of voting, the finalists, who all joined the #BruteCast on this panel, stood poised to claim the title of Content Creator Champion. Now, while few us needed an excuse to build yet another playoff bracket during March, this contest also shined a light on just how different military leaders and curators of military professional...

U.S. policymakers and strategists have long understood there are many more instruments involved in national security policy development and implementation than the DIME model (Diplomacy - Information - Military - Economic). Law Enforcement, often misunderstood, if not forgotten, is one of these instruments. Yet it possesses a powerful combination of hard and soft power, complements all other Instruments of National Power, and can be wielded at all levels – political - strategic, operational,...

"Down the Rabbit Hole on the #Russia-#Ukraine War" returns with Dr. Yuval Weber for a look at #Russia's self-bombing of Belgorod, new repressive population measures in occupied #Ukraine, the recent phone call between Chairman Xi Jinping and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and more. All opinions expressed here are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the Krulak Center, Marine Corps University, the United States Marine Corps, or any other agency of the U.S....

This #BruteCast continues our look at one of the themes we’ve discussed a lot over the last several months, and that’s the many different ways entities around the Marine Corps are contributing to the Fleet-wide changes underway with Force Design 2030. We welcomed two guests from the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA), Major Steve Gore and Capt Brian Atkinson, to tell us more about what MCTSSA does, their specific roles in naval systems integration and JADC2, and how this...

1 November, 1945, was supposed to be "X-Day" - the beginning of the largest amphibious operation in history, landing Allied forces on the Japanese island of Kyushu. This would mark the start of Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan's home islands, which Allied leaders expected would be necessary to end World War II. Ultimately, Operation Downfall was cancelled after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan. Yet Downfall...

Well, this is what we get for waiting too long between episodes - Dr. Yuval Weber, #TeamKrulak's #Russia subject matter expert, had a lot of ground to cover today. We discussed the assassination of #Russian milblogger Vladlen Tatarsky via exploding statuette, Finland formally joining #NATO, what renewed violence between Armenia and Azerbaijan means about #Putin's inability to meet regional security commitments, videos circulating showing the brutal execution and mutilation of #Ukrainian...

#TeamKrulak community, we're pleased to bring you this special #BruteCast episode with LtCol Jan Eldeblad of Swedish Defence University, who was visiting Marine Corps University this week to explore collaboration on #wargaming and other topics. We talked about #wargaming, increasing integration between military and civil authorities on national security challenges, his recent visit to #Ukraine, and more! Enjoyed this episode? Think there's room for improvement? Share your thoughts in this...

Strategic competition requires persistent presence and engagement with partners and allies around the globe. And while competition with China in the INDOPACOM region garners regular attention, the US AFRICOM area of responsibility has become increasingly critical to effectively countering the pacing threat. Under AFRICOM, the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) conducts operations to enhance partner nation capacity, promote regional stability, dissuade conflict, and protect...

We welcomed author Ms. Emily Abdow to this episode of the #BruteCast to talk about her new book ⁠The Boxer Rebellion: Bluejackets and Marines in China, 1900-1901⁠ (Naval History and Heritage Command, 2023). In the summer of 1900, foreign diplomats living in Beijing’s Legation Quarter were besieged by Chinese imperial soldiers and “Boxers,” members of a secret society determined to rid China of foreign influence. Defending the Legation Quarter was a small international guard that included 56...