Read Pat Proctor's "Report from Afghanistan"

Author Pat Proctor just posted a new article at ArmchairGeneral.com. The article, titled "Report From Afghanistan, Part One: One Enemy, Many Faces," is the first in a series of reports he will write while deployed to Afghanistan. It discusses the many different insurgent groups contending against coalition forces, the Afghan government, and even one another.

To read the article, click here.

Pat Proctor deploys to Afghanistan

Pat will deploy this week with the 1st Infantry Division (the storied "Big Red One"). The division will assume responsibility for eastern Afghanistan during this critical period in America's decade long war. See the full story at FoxNews.com. An excerpt...

“The headquarters spent a year in southern Iraq, returning to Fort Riley in January 2011, but has never deployed to Afghanistan. ‘We had to wrap our heads around a different country, a different people,’ said Lt. Col. Patrick Proctor, the division's chief of plans. As part of that effort, key officers on the division headquarters staff visited Afghanistan in September, October and December to be briefed by U.S. and Afghan officers and get a better lay of the land. Proctor and [division commander, Major General] Mayville made a final visit last week.”

To read more about the deployment, see the 1st Infantry Division Post, 16 March 2012.

To post a message for Pat as he leaves and keep up with the latest developments in eastern Afghanistan, go to Pat's FaceBook page.

Also check out Armchair General magazine beginning in May 2012. Pat will be writing a series of “Dispatches from the Front” over the course of his deployment.

Military Times Review of "Task Force Patriot"

J. Ford Huffman, a staff writer for Military Times, has written a review of Task Force Patriot and the End of Combat Operations in Iraq. Here's an excerpt...

“In his detailed narrative, Proctor, an Army lieutenant colonel, is not afraid to admit a 'fatal assumption' or a 'serious flaw' that leads to his unit’s realization that 'it was time to start from scratch,' again and again. Frustrations with local politicians, State Department representatives and local business practices get in the Army’s way, but the officer is persuasive.”

To read the entire review, click here.

Task Force Patriot is published by Government Institutes Press, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. The book is now available in stores, or you can order it on Amazon.com or at Barnes & Noble.

"Ten Years of GWOT" published at Journal of Strategic Security

The Journal of Strategic Security, a publication of Henley-Putnam University, has published an article by Pat Proctor and colleague Dave Oakley, called "Ten Years of GWOT, the Failure of Democratization and the Fallacy of 'Ungoverned Spaces'."  From the abstract:

"October 7, 2011, marked a decade since the United States invaded Afghanistan and initiated the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). While most ten-year anniversary gifts involve aluminum, tin, or diamonds, the greatest gift U.S. policymakers can present American citizens is a reconsideration of the logic that guides America's counterterrorism strategy. Although the United States has successfully averted large-scale domestic terrorist attacks, its inability to grasp the nature of the enemy has cost it dearly in wasted resources and, more importantly, lost lives. Two of the most consistent and glaring policy flaws revolve around the concepts of filling "ungoverned spaces" and installing democracy by force."

To read the article, click here.

Pat Proctor at the 1st Division Museum

Pat Proctor's appearance at the 1st Division Museum at Cantigny Park, in Wheaton, IL in December 2011 is now posted on YouTube.

Pat talks about his new book, Task Force Patriot and the End of Combat Operations in Iraq, the future for Iraq, and the United States' challenges in Afganistan.

This talk coincided with the release of Task Force Patriot, published by Government Institutes Press, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. The book is now available in stores, or you can order it on Amazon.com.

The video is broken up into in eleven 7-9 minute videos.  Click on the links below to see each video:

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV
• Part V
• Part VI
• Part VII
• Part VIII
• Part IX
• Part X
• Part XI

Special thanks to the 1st Division Museum for providing the video from which these short clips were built.

Catch author Pat Proctor's appearance on WGN for "Task Force Patriot"

Pat Proctor appeared on WGN's midday news to talk about his book, Task Force Patriot.

To see the video, click the link below...


February 7: Author - Lieutenant Colonel Pat Proctor, Task Force Patriot

Free Preview of "Task Force Patriot"

You can now scan excerpts fromTask Force Patriot and the End of Combat Operations in Iraq at Google Books! To see a free preview, click here. 

Task Force Patriot is published by Government Institutes Press, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. The book is now available in stores, or you can order it on Amazon.com or at Barnes & Noble.