My Bible was Lawrence and Bell. I spoke no Arabic, but worked hard on the lessons of this being a formal society where men spoke to men.

For my first year, I would show up at the mazlis of the big men and just sit and drink coffee. Because I showed up often and behaved (kept my mouth shut until spoken to) after a while, I would be asked questions. Usually about things that I had no knowledge of. I was being tested for being a caring person. Over time, I would move up the side of the group and get closer to the man. More often I would be asked my opinion. I knew I was “In” when the Coffee men would give me a smile of recognition.

I had a great boss – an English aristocrat – who understood all of this implicitly – his core advice was to listen for the “Test”. He told me that at some point I would be given a hint of a desire – not for a bribe but to tell me about something that meant a lot to the “man”. The unaware or the inattentive would miss it – it would be subtle.

It was the next summer, Wimbledon was in full swing. My client and I were chatting about tennis. He had been educated in England and sounded more English than I did. Then it came. He said how sad he was that it was so hard to get tickets for centre court. It was just a passing thought in a long conversation and was not spoken as a question or a request.

I sense that this was it, the test, but had no idea of what to do. So I asked Chris. He laughed and went over to the trading desk – “Rob” he said “Centre Court Tickets are traded on the LSE” I go back onto the line with Hisham and told him that he could buy a pair of tickets for this price – he said yes immediately.

This was my “shotgun” moment. It was not even a “gift” – it was an act of paying attention. Of showing that I cared.

As a consequence, I too was adopted, I was in my late 20’s by one of the leading Jedda families, the Alireza’s and this tribal connection became my safety net and my entree.

Consequently I had a very different experience in the Kingdom than most of my competitors. Not only did I build a great business there, but I felt as if I was going home whenever I arrived there. I lived in the local world rather than the bubble. The irony would be when I took down senior partners of my firm to the country. All the attention would be paid to me – after all who were these men whom they did not know.

I miss it very much.

I think that your idea of senior officers staying out in Afghanistan for maybe 10 -15 years is essential. You surely have to know and love the country that you are tasked to work in. Not just at the senior level as I found out. Would it be impossible for a young American man to make his career the connector? It took me less than 2 years to gain the trust and I did not speak Arabic. 3-5 years as a Captain or WO spread all over the country would anchor the mission – there would always be a hand over and a legacy.

Thank you Mr Pressfield – for all your books and insight and for this forum

Now, we are asking the US Marines to drive the Taliban out. But, strangely, Obama has asked these Jarheads not to fire in civilian areas. Wow, if I was a Taliban leader, I sure would want to hide out and place my mortars, snipers, and rocket launchers in a civilian village. And, the Marines are in the valleys and the enemy has the high ground. Gosh, another cluster f..k!

I spent 20 years as an officer in Naval Intelligence, two tours in Viet Nam in combat gathering tactical intel, mission planning, and catching and interrogating Congs and NVA soldiers. Afganistan will be another Nam as Obama and his merry men are clueless when it comes to fighting a war. The enemy will wait us out since Muslims, while terrible regular soliders, make great guerilla fighters and have lots of patience. After we leave Iraq, Iran will invite itself in to maintain security and the UN won’t say squat.

Yes. The current system is frustrating. The critique of the personnel system creating generalists rather than experts is true. The advantages of enhanced continuity are obvious.

But… you cannot optimize for everything. I doubt it was by design but the current system does avoid the long term institutional sclerosis, empire building and turf wars that plague organizations where roles and responsibilities are endlessly refined and narrowed. The current system does create adaptable leaders—ones who won’t be obsessed with re-fighting the last war—at the cost of waste and friction. All systems, human or mechanical, require its designers to trade various efficiencies. I think our system today is pretty close to right. There is probably room for more commander flexibility in a time of war. Technology, properly applied (today it is not) can definitely ameliorate the worst outcomes. Those are improvements around the edges. I would love to hear of an alternative that does not require its implementors (the actual personnel decision makers) to possess above average capabilities.

No, I do not think the system achieves optimal results, but I think it may avoid the worst.

Great stuff. My experience was as a Marine platoon commander in Somalia and our CO worked against the tactical thinking by cleaning up streets, scrounging lumber from the UN compound to give away to our AO, etc. It paid enormous dividends.

Hadn’t thought about the personnel/career path problem in this light but also see the benefits of longevity. Transfers to the business world, too, and I’ll now keep that better in mind with my people (www.S3.com).

Thanks, I’ll keep reading. Jack

Regards
Wolf

But here’s some hope: think of all the young Lts-Majors, Corporals-SSgts who are being raised up in this current environment. Some of them will become generals and SgtMajs and maybe then things will perk up. Also, Petraeus may have enough clout to drag certain like-minded people along with him.