It's Official!

After many long years and many sleepless nights...

Today I received my PhD in history from Kansas State University.

To leave a message or see the photos, click here.

I'm back from deployment and done with my PhD, so I hope to get back to a decent pace of writing on this blog and in print. My first project is getting my dissertation into book form.  The work is called  Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception that Plunged America into the Vietnam War.  A brief sample:

“In the shadow of yet another war taking shape in the Middle East—this time against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)—it is vitally important to understand how the American public is convinced by its leaders to go to war. In Iraq, in 2003, the Bush administration used a simplistic ideology (the War on Terrorism) and lies and half-truths (Saddam Hussein’s supposed nuclear program) to convince the overwhelming majority of Americans to support the disastrous invasion of Iraq. Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson used this same pattern—a simplistic ideology (Cold War containment) and lies and half-truths (the supposed attacks by North Vietnam against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin)—to convince the American people to fight a war in South Vietnam that eventually cost over 50,000 American lives. During the Vietnam War, however, the President’s lies and half-truths ultimately doomed his war policy.”

Thank you to all of my family and friends over the past six years as I have worked to reach this milestone!

Back from Deployment

In June 2014, my battalion, Task Force Gunner (4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery), deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the growing U.S. campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).  The battalion returned on 8 December, just in time for Christmas!  

To welcome back the Gunners, click here.

Pat Proctor's final "Report from Afghanistan" available at Armchairgeneral.com

Pat Proctor writes about the future of the war in Afghanistan in the final instalment of his series, "Special Report from Afghanistan," for ArmchairGeneral.com. To see the article, click here. Here is an excerpt:

Conventional forces can continue their current mission in Afghanistan – advising and assisting Afghan national security forces – beyond the December 2014 deadline set for the withdrawal of “combat troops” from Afghanistan with or without SOF. The same cannot be said for the SOF Camp strategy, what Vice President Biden famously called in 2009 “counter-terrorism plus.”

Pat Proctor just returned from his eight-month deployment to eastern Afghanistan with the US 1st Infantry Division. Before he left, he agreed to write a series of articles for Armchair General magazine. You can see other articles in this series here.

Pat Proctor Reports on a "Green on Blue" attack in his "Special Report from Afghanistan" Series

Pat Proctor writes about a "green on blue" attack in Sayadabad, Wardak for his series, "Special Report from Afghanistan," for ArmchairGeneral.com. To see the article, click here. Here is an excerpt:

After 45 minutes, the atmosphere suddenly turned. Two Afghan soldiers raised their weapons and fired, instantly killing the platoon sergeant and the law enforcement professional. Three more soldiers were wounded before the gunner for the M249 (squad automatic weapon or SAW) and the platoon leader, firing from the passenger seat of his nearby vehicle, silenced the Afghan attackers. As more U.S. soldiers rushed to the scene to treat the wounded, the platoon took more fire from a compound a few dozen feet away; they responded by clearing the compound with rifles and grenades. As they tried to load up and evacuate their casualties, the platoon took more fire, this time from insurgents deeper in the Tangi Valley.

Pat Proctor has been deployed to eastern Afghanistan with the US 1st Infantry Division since April 2012. Before he left, he agreed to write a series of articles for Armchair General magazine. You can see other articles in this series here.

Pat Proctor's Latest "Report from Afghanistan" Posted at ArmchairGeneral.com

The next installment in Pat Proctor's series, "Special Report from Afghanistan," called "The Last Offensive," is up at ArmchairGeneral.com. To see the article, click here. Here is an excerpt:

Next year, Ghazni City will be honored as the 2013 Center of Islamic Culture. This spring and summer, to the south of the city, in the dusty villages and fields along Afghanistan’s Highway 1 ― the critical artery between Kabul and Kandahar ― Task Force Devil (1st Brigade, 82d Airborne Division) fought the last major offensive of the Afghan war to drive the Taliban out of Ghanzi Province.

Pat Proctor has been deployed to eastern Afghanistan with the US 1st Infantry Division since April 2012. Before he left, he agreed to write a series of articles for Armchair General magazine. You can see other articles in this series here.

Another "Report from Afghanistan" from Pat Proctor

The next installment in Pat Proctor's series, "Special Report from Afghanistan," called "The Battle for Kunar," is up at ArmchairGeneral.com. To see the article, click here. Here is an excerpt:

More than any place in eastern Afghanistan, Kunar province illustrates the difficulty of handing the fight over to Afghan national security forces while the war still rages. Across the province, a patchwork of U.S. and Afghan security forces are serving: Task Force Mountain Warrior (4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division), security force assistance advisor teams (SFAATs) from Strike Brigade (2d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division), two battalions of 2d Brigade, 201st Afghan National Army (ANA) Corps, three battalions of the Afghan Border Patrol, and hundreds of Afghan uniformed police. They struggle to hold the cities and villages along the narrow Kunar River valley against the constant pressure of Afghan and Pakistani Taliban insurgents who flow back and forth across the porous border with Pakistan through countless mountain passes along Kunar’s eastern border.

Pat Proctor has been deployed to eastern Afghanistan with the US 1st Infantry Division since April 2012. Before he left, he agreed to write a series of articles for Armchair General magazine. You can see other articles in this series here.

Pat Proctor's latest "Special Report from Afghanistan" available at ArmchairGeneral.com

The next installment in Pat Proctor's series, "Special Report from Afghanistan," called "The Frontier of Freedom," is up at ArmchairGeneral.com. To see the article, click here. Here is an excerpt:

The Red Warriors are giving the insurgents as good as they get. Every week they add to the long list of insurgents killed or captured in northern Kunar. Yet, Lt. Col. Scott Green, the Red Warrior’s commander, would be the first to say that this isn’t enough. With an endless supply of young men from madrasas in Pakistan and the U.S. set to leave at the end of 2014, his most important job is not killing insurgents, but preparing the Afghans to continue the fight without him.

Pat Proctor has been deployed to eastern Afghanistan with the US 1st Infantry Division since April 2012. Before he left, he agreed to write a series of articles for Armchair General magazine. You can see other articles in this series here.