Coming in 2019: Blameless? The 1990s and the U.S. Army's Role in Creating the Forever-Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

Pat Proctor's newest offering, Blameless? The 1990s and the U.S. Army's Role in Creating the Forever-Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is coming to bookshelves in early 2019.

Blameless? is based on exhaustive archival research and numerous interviews with former senior leaders of the Army, including two former Chiefs of Staff of the Army. The book examines the question of why--on the eve of the War on Terror--the Army ignored the lessons of its 1990s low-intensity conflict interventions--most notably in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo--and instead continued its transformation toward an ever greater capacity to fight high-intensity conflicts. But Blameless? also asks why the U.S. Army is making the same mistake again--ignoring the lessons of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as it returns to its "core competencies" of large scale combat operations.

Blameless? will be published by the University of Missouri Press.

Containment and Credibility reviewed in the Library Journal

The Library Journal just published a review of Pat Proctor's third book, Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception that Plunged America into the Vietnam War in its October 1 issue. Here's an excerpt:

“Historians will find in this work a fresh take on the Vietnam War, as well as its warnings for current conflicts”

Containment and Credibility reviewed in Publishers Weekly

Publisher Weekly just published a review of Pat Proctor's third book, Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception that Plunged America into the Vietnam War. Here's an excerpt:

“What is new [in Containment and Credibility] is Proctor’s sound conclusion that the Vietnam War containment and credibility framework has had a lasting influence on U.S. foreign policy. Today’s 'War on Terror,' he says, is still being fought with a Cold War-era foreign policy ideology, which could be a recipe for 'a century of costly and fruitless warfare across the globe.'”

To see the entire review, click here.

Containment and Credibility delayed until November 2016

The release of Pat's latest book, Containment and Credibility, has been delayed until November 2016 to give reviewers time to publish reviews.  But the book is still available for pre-orders at a number of booksellers.

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound.org

Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception that Plunged America into the Vietnam War is a compelling account of the domestic political debate over the Vietnam War. It follows the evolution of the argument between successive administrations, the press, academia, the Congress, and antiwar activists as they struggled to move public opinion about the war.

Containment and Credibility Available for Pre-Order

The release date for Containment and Credibility is coming up fast!  The book will ship on 5 July 2016.  But you can pre-order the book now at a number of booksellers.

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound.org

Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception that Plunged America into the Vietnam War is a compelling account of the domestic political debate over the Vietnam War. It follows the evolution of the argument between successive administrations, the press, academia, the Congress, and antiwar activists as they struggled to move public opinion about the war.

New Website for "Containment and Credibility"

The Website for Pat's latest book, Containment and Credibility, is now active. 

To see the page, click here.

Containment and Credibility tells the story of the domestic politics surrounding the Vietnam War and the battle for US public opinion.  This book will be published by Carrel Books in summer 2016.

New Facebook Page for "Containment and Credibility"

The Facebook page for Pat's latest book, Containment and Credibility, is now active. 

To see the page, click here.

Containment and Credibility tells the story of the domestic politics surrounding the Vietnam War and the battle for US public opinion.  This book will be published by Carrel Books in summer 2016.

Coming Spring 2016: Containment and Credibility

Pat Proctor's newest offering, Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception that Plunged America into the Vietnam War, is coming to bookshelves in spring 2016.

"Today, the Vietnam War is remembered in popular memory as a war embroiled in deceptions and half-truths.  This is no accident.  It is not that this war was started more dishonestly than other American wars.  Rather, Americans remember the war in this way because of the domestic political debate that took place during its conduct. Early in the Vietnam War, opponents attacked the Cold War ideology that justified it.  But they found that military containment was so deeply entrenched in the popular American understanding of international relations that it was virtually unassailable. In 1968, opponents of the war in Congress switched tactics and instead began attacking the President's credibility on the war.  This tactic proved so successful that virtually all opponents of the war soon followed suit.  The tactic worked, ultimately ending the war.  But this tactic also had a number of unintended consequences.  First, it left the ideology of containment intact, perpetuating the Cold War for another decade.  And this tactic--attacking the administration's credibility on the Vietnam War--also permanently altered how Americans understood--and remembered--the Vietnam War."

Containment and Credibility will be published by Carrel Books, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing.

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.

Pat Proctor's Newest "Report from Afghanistan" up at ArmchairGeneral.com

ArmchairGeneral.com has just posted another article by Pat Proctor, "Report from Afghanistan: A Turning Tide?" To see the article, click here. Here is an excerpt:


In Nerkh, as in the rugged northeastern reaches of Kunar and Nuristan and the arid plains of northeast Ghazni, Hezb-i-Islami is walking a precarious tightrope, declaring opposition to the Taliban where it has worn out its welcome, ambivalence to an Afghan government with tentative public support, and public hostility but private détente with coalition forces. If they can bring along those Afghans loyal to Hezb-i-Islami through thirty years of association with their tamim, this might just be the beginning of a turning tide in the decade long war in Afghanistan.

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.

The Journal of Strategic Security has just published an article by author Pat Proctor, "War without Violence: Leveraging the Arab Spring to Win the War on Terrorism."

"After a decade of war, the United States has failed to eradicate the threat of salafist jihadism. No matter how hard it tries, the United States cannot kill its way to victory in the war on terrorism. Sweeping changes across the Middle East—dubbed the "Arab Spring" by the media—have presented the West with a unique opportunity to pursue an alternative approach. Rather than engaging in war (politics through violence), the United States should engage in mass politics (war without violence) to compel the Arab world to reject the salafist jihadism idea."

To read the entire article, click here.

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.