Gifts of Honor: A Tale of Two Captains

By Steven Pressfield | Published: January 18, 2010

Mangwel and the Konar River Valley

[Friends, with apologies, a stomach virus has laid the blog low.  Here's a re-run of a post that has been a reader favorite. We'll be back on Wednesday!] (more…)

Posted in Afghanistan, Agora, On Tribalism
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Weekend Mashup—August 21 to 23

By Steven Pressfield | Published: August 21, 2009

This past week, the New York Times ran the op-ed “The Land of 10,000 Wars” by Ganesh Sitaraman. Hard to resist the urge to post the entire op-ed here. Check it out if you haven’t read it already.

  (more…)

Posted in Mashup
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A Tale of Two Captains, Part Two

By Steven Pressfield | Published: July 3, 2009

Tribal elders tell US Special Forces about their "muj days," fighting the Russians

A week ago I ran a post about two young Army captains—Jim Gant and Michael Harrison—who served in the same valley in Konar province, Afghanistan.  Their service was six years apart, yet the two were linked by their bonds with a tribal chief named Noorafzhal and by a gift of honor—a shotgun that Capt. Gant and his Special Forces ODA 316 had presented to the tribal elder in August 2003. Just three weeks ago, June 2009, Noorafzhal was still showing that gun off—this time to Capt. Harrison. (more…)

Posted in Afghanistan, On Tribalism
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Sisyphus, Sean Naylor and C-SPAN

By Steven Pressfield | Published: June 30, 2009

First, many thanks to all correspondents and contributors for the tremendous and very thoughtful response  to the previous post, “A Tale of Two Captains.” More to come in a couple of days about Capt. Harrison’s work, including an update dispatch from him in Konar.

But first, here’s a strikingly apt flashback to 2006—when Army Times journalist (and author of the excellent Not A Good Day To Die)  Sean Naylor and I did an interview together for C-SPAN’s “BookTV.” The topic was “The War in Afghanistan.” (more…)

Posted in Afghanistan, Editorial, On Tribalism
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