Tag: generalship

Words for War: Seven Unknown Quotes on War

Ray Kimball is an Army Strategist with a home library that is completely out of control and getting worse. His opinions are his own and do not reflect the opinions of the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or the Obsidian Order.

Prisoners of War

 “The released prisoners came up the Via Umberto the First in a body…They did not march. They had had enough of lining up for inspection and lining up for chow and lining up to shoot and be shot at…The war aim of most men is to go home. And so for these Italian boys the hateful war was fulfilled, and they were incredibly happy as they walked up the street.” – John Hersey, A Bell for Adano.

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50 Years After Rivonia: Mandela as General and Strategist

By Major Matt Cavanaugh

**Note: Updated on April 2, 2014.

One way of thinking about Nelson Mandela that has been vastly under appreciated is his  strategic judgment.  This is natural as he’s most famous for bringing together the Rainbow Nation after the fall of an entire way of life.  However, he was an insurgent at one point – seeking to overthrow a government through (selective) violent means.  So there is something there for those interested in military judgment – you just have to know where to look.  

60 Minutes is a good place to start.  When Mandela passed a few months back, they did a feature entitled “Nelson Mandela in his own words.”  The video is spellbinding, but so is the transcript. Note the commentary from one of Mandela’s closest compatriots – on how Mandela saw himself:

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