Sublime

Special Operations Journal.

Mike Flynn, taught me a great technique. We were visiting a unit that boasted of having more than 250 intelligence sources (Iraqi civilians recruited to pass information to U.S. forces). I was deeply impressed. Mike then asked a simple question: “Can you describe your very best source? I’ll assume that all the others are less valuable.” The unit

win. Rather, I felt I’d reached a natural punctuation mark in my military career. I’d led Sayeret Matkal. I’d commanded a tank company, a battalion in 1973, and, more briefly than I’d hoped, the 401st Brigade after the war. I’d spent the last two years in the kirya. The next step up the command chain would be to lead a full armored division. But at

Special reconnaissance, or SR, is the mission to put “eyes on” an enemy position for a future special-operations or conventional targeting. Sometimes an SR mission is a clandestine operation prior to the commitment of a larger force. Navy SEALs conducted a multiday special reconnaissance prior to the Marine occupation of the forward operating base

Leadership is most essential during periods of transition, when values and institutions are losing their relevance, and the outlines of a worthy future are in controversy.

“Georgie is one of the best generals I have. But he’s just like a time bomb. You never know when he’s going to go off. All you can be sure of is that it will probably be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”73

“Good leaders,

Perusia revealed the pattern. Octavian first reconstituted respect in Rome by navigating the treacherous currents of land redistribution. He then won a battle by entrusting its conduct to others with superior military skills. Finally, he fortified his authority against further insurrections by publicly executing prominent rebels, an act of violence