In this month’s episode, Zach hosts Dr. Ben Connable. Before entering academia, Ben served as a Marine machine gunner, intelligence officer, and Foreign Area Officer. Today, he is a research leader, consultant, professor, and Executive Director of the Battle Research Group Foundation, Inc. He also serves as an adjunct professor in Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, a part-time principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, and the senior research advisor to DT Institute, a peace and development nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.
In March of this year, Ben published Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War, a book that “reveals the gritty details of land warfare at the tactical level and challenges today's overly subjective and often inaccurate approaches to characterizing war.”
This episode explores Ben’s research, his book, and his compelling findings—many of which challenge widely held assumptions about war and combat.
Topics covered include:
Ben’s career in the Marine Corps and the influence this had on his follow-on academic pursuits.
Advice for Marines interested in pursuing a similar path.
What drove Ben to research, write, and publish Ground Combat.
Ben’s research methodology.
The battle of Cuito Cuanavale and other cases Ben uncovered that are almost entirely unknown to western military audiences.
The dangers of “path dependency” in PME.
Ben’s critique of an overarching “character of war” and his explanation of “characteristics of combat.”
Ben’s skepticism towards “military revolutions” and his observations of evolutionary change.
Ben’s advice to infantry Marines on building training and education based on analysis of his research.
The role of military history in preparing for war.
Wehrmacht fetishization and the negative influence of this trend on military PME.
Ben’s notoriously brutal Ground Combat military history quiz.
Insight into Ben’s current projects. And much much more!
Links for referenced media:
Ben’s interview on Controversy and Clarity.
James Sladden and Ben on the Battle of the Irpin River on Controversy and Clarity.
British Army Review article on the Battle of the Irpin River.
Ben’s website.
Have ideas of people we should interview or topics to discuss? Please send along your recommendations and questions we should be asking!
Editor’s Notes:
1940 drone strike referenced was a Spaviero drone aircraft and not a Crocco Telebomb.
Battle Research Group is not yet a 501(c)(3), status is pending.
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