Category: Expert Analysis

The current count is 80 people wounded and five dead in Iraqi Kurdistan as a result of massive protests held in response to a denial for independence after September’s referendum vote. Kurdish citizens predominantly voted in favor of cession from the Iraqi government and Baghdad’s stranglehold on Kurdistan’s economy, but Iraq responded swiftly with the […]

The closing sentence of the prefatory statement of President Donald J. Trump’s National Security Strategy (NSS) — which was unveiled on December 18th, 2017 — makes clear the ultimate goal of the President’s first NSS: “This National Security Strategy puts America First.” Put aside for a moment that all national security strategies are a priori […]

The recent assaults that have struck the European cities show a strategic change in Islamist terrorism. Young Muslims, in some cases already known to the authorities, have acted in unexpected ways, using light weapons and improvised resources to maximize terror in public spaces. While some analysts have discovered a lessening degree in the severity of […]

It’s that time of the year when millions of people subject themselves to the domestic feel-good airline security theater and the gauntlet known as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Inevitably, a certain percentage of travelers will decide to bring their firearm with them, although some will do it unintentionally or illegally as over 3,391 firearms […]

A more effective rifle makes a more effective rifleman. Seeing as how the U.S. Army has decided against fielding a new service rifle, anyone deploying with the U.S. Military is going to have to make do with what they have. While special operations troops often have leeway as to what they use and access to […]

Despite publicly denying active investigations into Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) for decades, the Pentagon has actually devoted considerable resources into the matter in recent years, according to information uncovered by the New York Times.  However, some of the most interesting elements of this developing story lie beneath the surface. Since 2007, an office on the […]

When you hear the phrase “body image,” (particularly when followed by the word “issues”) your brain may immediately associate the concept with an insecure teenage girl, walking through the magazine aisle of her local grocery store. With photoshopped images of hundred pound, six-foot tall super models littering the covers of each issue, you wouldn’t be […]

I’m quite forgiving when it comes to realism in movies — I don’t have to watch a one-for-one retelling of a firefight with perfect tactics and flawless uniforms in order to enjoy it. For starters, I realize that soldiers in real life make stupid mistakes all the time, and I realize that actors are not […]

There are many common themes in literature that have become so overused, watered down and taken lightly that they eventually transform into a trope or a stereotype. If you are to read classic literature, you can often find the origins of these tropes in a classic story, and somehow those classics rarely feel so overused […]

During my time embedded with Kurdish Peshmerga forces, I spent the majority of it in a training and advising role when not conducting combat operations. With this position I have come to acquire a vast amount of experience in what it requires to train soldiers to specific standards. There are basically two routes when it […]

One thing that all special units have in common is an aversion to quitting and quitters. The greatest sin, the one unforgivable error is to quit, no matter what the obstacle. Only death can stop a truly determined man. You have to know that the man next to you will not break and run when […]

A 10 year veteran and former Marine sergeant, James Newman, confronted a pair of shoplifters in a parking lot outside of the Rimrock Mall in Billings, Montana early this year. When confronting the shoplifters, Newman produced his concealed handgun and attempted a citizen’s arrest stating, “You are all under arrest,” he said. “This is a citizen’s […]