William S. McCallister is a retired military officer. While on active duty, Mr. McCallister served in various infantry and special operations assignments specializing in civil-military, psychological and information operations. He has worked extensively in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
ONE TRIBE AT A TIME
The Full Document at last!
By Steven Pressfield | Published: October 29, 2009
Download Major Jim Gant’s “One Tribe At A Time” to your computer, or view it right now.
[Because of the extraordinary response to Maj. Jim Gant's paper, One Tribe At A Time, I've decided to leave it up all week in the "Number One Slot." My ongoing interview with Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai will pick again next Friday; the Chief has been in Kabul all week, meeting with U.S. and British commanders, and we haven't had time to speak. So all's well that ends well!]
The downloadable and open-able .pdf of One Tribe is here, on the right. On a personal note, let me say again that I consider it a privilege to offer this document in full, not only because of my great respect for Maj. Jim Gant, who has lived and breathed this Tribal Engagement idea for years, but for the piece itself and for the influence it is already having within the U.S. military and policymaking community.
One Tribe At A Time is by no means a super-pro Beltway think tank piece. What it is, in my opinion, is an idea whose time has come, put forward by an officer who has lived it in the field with his Special Forces team members–and proved it can be done. And an officer, by the way, who is ready this instant to climb aboard a helicopter to go back to Afghanistan and do it again.
Questions and comments
At the moment, Maj. Gant is at Fort Polk, Louisiana, getting ready to deploy to Iraq, where he will lead an Iraqi commando battalion. He’ll be available in the meantime, however (depending of course upon time demands), to answer questions or take criticisms. Just respond in the comments section below. And I myself have further thoughts I’d like to offer on this subject in the coming weeks.
Here’s a quick one:
The most common response I anticipate to the Tribal Engagement concept (and it’s a valid criticism, shared by Maj. Gant) will go something like this: “Yeah, this is a great idea–but where are we going to find the men to implement it?”
Men for the job
Tribal Engagement Team members, should this concept be adopted, would be called upon to commit for multiple tours under the loneliest, harshest and most hazardous conditions imaginable. To succeed with the tribe they are assigned to, they would have to demonstrate impeccable combat credentials and, even rarer, possess the “people skills” to establish and maintain rapport across a cultural chasm—Western to Tribal Afghan—that has defeated every outside entity from Alexander the Great to the British and the Soviets. The task would be extraordinarily difficult, dirty and dangerous, and in the end would almost certainly be rewarded neither by career advancement (because the enterprise would be unprecedented and outside the normal channels of military promotion) nor by recognition from the public at large, who in all probability will rarely hear of it and wouldn’t understand or appreciate it if they did.
How can we identify and attract such men?
Do you remember this tiny, three-line ad from the London Times, December 29, 1913?
Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honour and recognition in case of success.
5000 volunteers queued up in response to this advertisement, posted by Ernest Shackleton seeking crewmen for his Antarctic expedition.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think our young American warriors would respond with any less enthusiasm than their British cousins did a century ago to a similar call. Do you?
Again, many thanks to Maj. Jim Gant for writing One Tribe At A Time, to Printer Bowler for designing and editing the .pdf and to Callie Oettinger for managing the outreach. I’m proud to put this document in circulation with as much reach as this modest blog can offer. We all hope it proves of interest and of use.
Jim,
You never cease to impress. I miss you brother be safe!!
Rob,
Great to hear from you brother.
You take care. Let me know if you need anything.
STRENGTH AND HONOR
Jim
I am reading today that we are going to be “turning a page” in Afghanistan. In the last few days there have also been some other “gonnas” and this makes me do some writhing in my seat because it reminds me so much of Vietnam and the light at the end of the tunnel that was snuffed by TET! If a group is willing to take any level of losses than they can assault, chew-up or capture any high profile political icon. Guerrilla warfare is 90% political theater—look what we can do and no one can stop us!
The Taliban don’t need to know what were going to do to them, let them feel the results, the American military doesn’t have to be told so let’s not get any false hopes up at home. Let’s please not fall in that particular hole again.
You build a society the same way you build a pyramid, from the bottom up, not the top down. I’m glad somebody gets that. I hope you will have some influence on policy in DC. Good luck.
- Bill
as a descendent of Shackleton I remember the ad well. The expedition was then forgotten in the hubbub of the First World War. Even in the 1970’s, when I first read his story few people knew of him.
Shackleton died a page 3 footnote at an early age, but his legacy of duty, honor, country still remains.
This is what we need more of today. Perhaps we can bring Afghanistan into the 19th Century within 20 years, but the failed state model must be checked for our own security. Thank God we have some of those same men and women willing to remember history and take the long term view. There are not enough of them.
….It’s a tribe indeed!- we’re in Afghanistan dealing with” The Great Game: the old saying : my enemies enemy is my friend not when in their heart they’re still my enemy”. This is a great read if you haven’t read it already: “History of Afghanistan” Steven Pressfield All the best – G-D speed. Elizabeth
hey sir…this ssg reyes from fort polk…i was part of D-co 3bn 162nd…we did ur ldr engagments and now i see why u kicked ass lol…i never knew u wrote a documentary…i should have shaken ur hand…i read it over and over a
Kompliment – macht Spaß auf diesem Blog zu lesen – weiter so!
I enjoyed reading about the benches and foot stools.