On June 24, 2007 Bruce McQuain joined us for another edition of Someone You Should Know. He told us about an Army Major who was doing incredible work training and leading army and police forces in Balad, Iraq.
This eventually led to two of the most amazing comments we have received in ten years of blogging.
Jim Gant says:
December 22, 2007 at 6:34 pmSir,
Just listened to this on your website. I enjoyed it very much. I am honored and humbled. My Iraqi interpreter who fought with me on this day and was with me for over a year is now living with me at Fort Bragg, NC. Once again, thank you.
Major Jim Gant
United States Army Special ForcesJames Karl Gant Sr. says:
December 23, 2007 at 8:37 pmMy son … with whom I am well pleased!!
Jim Gant Sr ( Major Gant is no Jr. )
The excellent milblog Op-For has a post about a recent Washington Post story and the headline grabbed my attention:
Jim Gant, the Green Beret who could win the war in Afghanistan
In recent months, Gant, now a major, has won praise at the highest levels for his effort to radically deepen the U.S. military’s involvement with Afghan tribes — and is being sent back to Afghanistan to do just that. His 45-page paper, “One Tribe at a Time,” published online last fall and circulating widely within the U.S. military, the Pentagon and Congress, lays out a strategy focused on empowering Afghanistan’s ancient tribal system. Gant believes that with the central government still weak and corrupt, the tribes are the only enduring source of local authority and security in the country.
“We will be totally unable to protect the ‘civilians’ in the rural areas of Afghanistan until we partner with the tribes for the long haul,” Gant wrote.
A decorated war veteran and Pashto speaker with multiple tours in Afghanistan, Gant had been assigned by the Army to deploy to Iraq in November. But with senior military and civilian leaders — including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates; Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; and Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command — expressing support for Gant’s views, he was ordered instead to return to Afghanistan later this year to work on tribal issues.
“Maj. Jim Gant’s paper is very impressive — so impressive, in fact, that I shared it widely,” Petraeus said, while McChrystal distributed it to all commanders in Afghanistan. One senior military official went so far as to call Gant “Lawrence of Afghanistan.”
How lucky are we to have men like this on our side?