“Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World," said the Rat. "And that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or me. I've never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any sense at all. Don't ever refer to it again, please.” (The Wind in the Willows)
Unlike Kenneth Grahame’s Ratty, some men cannot help but venture beyond the wild wood and into the wile world. Jim Gant is one of those men. I’m sure most of us remember Major Jim Gant from his essay, "One Tribe at a Time." That was the height of his military career. A few years later, Major Gant was yanked out of Afghanistan, ignominiously reprimanded, reduced to Captain and hounded out of the Army. His story is now the subject of a biography. I have yet to read this story, but Colonel Lang pointed me to a review written by Bing West that certainly peaked my interest and sparked memories of a friend and mentor.
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Welcome to “American Spartan,” the “Catch-22” of the Afghanistan war, a mixture of romanticism, fantasy and hard-core dedication. Gant is a real-life character. The author, Ann Scott Tyson, a former Washington Post reporter, is his wife. She has woven together four tales: an over-the-top adventure, a delusional military strategy, a love story and a failure of organizational leadership.
First, the sheer adventure. Gant is a mountain man, circa 1840. He is Jeremiah Johnson, living in the wrong century. Despite his heavy drinking, volcanic mood swings and numerous wounds, he survived more than 40 months of combat. In 2003 and again in 2011, he and a dozen Special Forces soldiers lived in a mountain village in eastern Afghanistan, adjacent to the Pakistan border. When I visited that village, both the elders and the soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 32nd Infantry told tales about Gant’s exploits.
Army and Marine grunts tried; they toiled without complaint at their Sisyphean task. They fought and died for the Afghans, but they couldn’t substitute for the lack of Afghan leadership. At one point, Gant told his team: “We will never win in Afghanistan. . . . It gives us a place to go and be warriors.”
Many - probably most - of our grunts hold that view; they are our guardians, regardless of the folly of the mission. They fight because they are warriors, not because naive generals believe that American soldiers can persuade Afghan tribes to fight for a punk government.
One general wrote that Gant lived in “a fantasy world.” That is true. But the generals placed him there without providing mature leadership to guide him. The combination of the warrior spirit and a fabulist strategy created this tale of daffy devotion. According to his wife, “Jim had become more Pashtun than the Pashtuns.” He tried to be the leader the Pashtuns didn’t have.
Our overall strategy failed because we lacked sufficient control over the feckless Afghan leaders we placed in power. It’s a wonder the exuberant Gant didn’t lead a coup attempt against Karzai. Fortunately, his excessive risk-taking and unbridled devotion did not end in tragedy.Many - probably most - of our grunts hold that view; they are our guardians, regardless of the folly of the mission. They fight because they are warriors, not because naive generals believe that American soldiers can persuade Afghan tribes to fight for a punk government.
One general wrote that Gant lived in “a fantasy world.” That is true. But the generals placed him there without providing mature leadership to guide him. The combination of the warrior spirit and a fabulist strategy created this tale of daffy devotion. According to his wife, “Jim had become more Pashtun than the Pashtuns.” He tried to be the leader the Pashtuns didn’t have.
Our overall strategy failed because we lacked sufficient control over the feckless Afghan leaders we placed in power. It’s a wonder the exuberant Gant didn’t lead a coup attempt against Karzai. Fortunately, his excessive risk-taking and unbridled devotion did not end in tragedy.
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These are excerpts from Bing West’s review of "American Spartan" that appeared in the WaPo in March 2014. Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense and Marine infantry officer, is the author of the classic about Marine advisers in Vietnam, "The Village," and five books about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent time with the handful of Marines in the Combined Action Platoon that lived, fought and died over a two year period in that Vietnamese village that is the subject of “The Village.” West also spent time with Gant in the Afghan village that figures so prominently in “One Tribe at a Time” and “American Spartan.” I would say he knows of what he speaks.
I mentioned that this all reminded me of a great friend and mentor. Not long after I took command of the 25th Infantry Division RECONDO School, an SFC from 3/4 Cav Squadron was assigned as one of my instructors. He was Franklin Douglas Miller, Medal of Honor holder and former one-zero of a recon team in CCN. That’s him in the photo above. He was a consummate instructor and inspiration to our RECONDO students and to myself. He was not the only one-zero in my education. My Chief Instructor, Chuck Clayton, was a fellow one-zero in CCN. As an ROTC cadet, I was nurtured by MSG Albert H. Rivers, who arrived at RPI directly from his last duty as a one-zero in CCN. These are the men that Colonel Lang wrote about in “The City of the Trojans.” These are the rough men who stand ready to do violence on our behalf... without hesitation, complaint or expectation of reward. I am blessed to have known these men.
I suggest, no I implore, you to read Doug Miller’s book, “Reflections of a Warrior,” about his remarkable life. Read it before you read “American Spartan.” Then you will understand Bing West’s admiration for our grunts.
"Share your fears with yourself and your courage with others. You will inspire people to do things that are incredible." (Franklin "Doug" Miller)
TTG
