Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 148
October 16, 2009
Interview with a Tribal Chief #4: Warlords and Taliban
[Welcome back, Chief Zazai, after last week's break in our ongoing, multi-part interview. As you know, we took that space last week to post an open letter to Gens. Jones, Petraeus, McChrystal and Adm. Mullen, alerting them to your formation of a Tribal Police Force in the Zazi Valley and asking for help in aligning that force with the American troops (10th Mountain Division) whose Area of Operations (AO) includes your district. Respect for confidentiality prevents me from publishing...
October 14, 2009
Writing Wednesdays #12: Self-Talk and Self-Sabotage
If you've read The War of Art, you know that the thematic core of the book is the concept of Resistance. Resistance with a capital R, which the book defines as "an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It's a repelling force. It's negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work."
Resistance is what keeps an entrepreneur from making the cold calls he knows he has to, to get his business rolling. It's the force that keeps an aspiring painter away...
October 12, 2009
One Tribe At A Time #3: The "How" of Tribal Engagment
What would it take in cash and gear to put one U.S. Tribal Engagement Team to work with one Afghan tribe in one village? Here is Special Forces Major Jim Gant's start-up shopping list:
Three to twelve [U.S.:] men, based on the environment
2 interpreters
2 SAT phones
2 SATCOM radios (piggyback frequency)
2 PRC-119s
2 ATVs
2 Pickup trucks
3 Generators
2 Computers with a biometrics kit
Plus initial infill logistics package for the tribe:
100 AK-47s
30,000 to 50,000 rounds of ammunition
Assorted medical...
October 9, 2009
An Open Letter to Gen. James Jones, National Security Advisor
[This week has been a rough one for our troops in Afghanistan--and a contentions one among policymakers here in the States. I'm going to interrupt our ongoing interview with tribal chief Ajmal Khan Zazai to post this open letter. The same note was sent by e-mail two days ago to the parties below.:]
TO: Gen. James Jones, Adm. Michael Mullen, Gen. David Petraeus, Gen. Stanley McChrystal
FROM: Steven Pressfield
SUBJ: An opportunity in Afghanistan
Dear Gen. Jones,
I'm the author of Gates of Fire. I...
October 7, 2009
Writing Wednesdays #11: The Universe is Self-Ordering
Chaos. The Big Bang. Crap flying everywhere.
Imagine ourselves back at the beginning of time. The universe is raw energy, blasting at light-speed in all directions. (Stay with me, this is going somewhere). What happens? As time passes, electrons coalesce around nuclei. Molten matter cools; stars and planets form into spheres. Celestial objects find paths and settle into orbits. The gravity of one star system counteracts the fields of others. Galaxies appear. Order emerges.
On planets where...
October 5, 2009
One Tribe At A Time #2: Tribal Engagement Teams
Last week in our first excerpt from Special Forces Major Jim Gant's paper, "One Tribe At A Time," Maj. Gant laid out the concept for a specialized type of American unit–a Tribal Engagement Team. Such teams would be small, highly trained and motivated, and granted broad latitude in the means of pursuing their mission. They would live full-time in the villages with the tribes, "lead, assist, train, supply," and help organize Tribal Security Forces (TSFs.)
Dr. Akhbar was the first person ODA 316...
October 2, 2009
Interview with a Tribal Chief, Part 2: Warlords
SP: Welcome back, Chief Zazai, for this second installment of our multi-part interview. As our readers know from last week, you are a paramount chief of eleven tribes in your home district, the Zazi Valley in Paktia province. Your father fought the Soviets and the Taliban and was assassinated in 2000; you yourself have fought those fights and have survived two recent attempts on your own life. It's a pleasure and a privilege for me to be able to talk with you today.
Chief Zazai: Thank you...
September 30, 2009
Writing Wednesdays #10: Sex Scenes
I once did a rewrite on a porn flick. Before I began, the producer wanted to get together with me, to give me my marching orders and to make sure that I didn't slow the project down by making avoidable rookie mistakes. We met for breakfast at a coffee shop in Santa Monica. In that meeting, I got two of the best lessons in writing I've ever received.
Why porn is so bad
"Kid, every porno movie is the same: talk, talk, screw, screw. That's why they're so lousy. That's not good story-telling...
September 28, 2009
"One Tribe At A Time," #1
The thoughts and I ideas that I will put forward in this paper are mine alone. Although I credit the U.S. Army Special Forces for the training I have received and the trust of [its:] commanders, nothing in this paper reflects any other person's or organization's
Maj. Gant and ODA 316 in Afghanistan 2004
This is the opening author's note from Maj. Jim Gant's paper, "One Tribe At A Time," which this blog is proud to present–in excerpt and quasi-serialization form–over the next few weeks.
September 25, 2009
An Interview with an Afghan Tribal Chief, Part #1
Chief Zazai, right, with his father, Chief Raiss Afzal Khan Zazi and his bodyguard, both murdered in 2000
This will be the first of a multi-part conversation with Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai of Paktia province, Afghanistan. Let's plunge right in.
SP: Chief Zazai, this summer you were elected to the paramountcy of eleven tribes in your home region in Paktia province along the border with Pakistan. Why did the tribes meet at this time? What was their agenda?
Chief Zazai: On July 17th, 2009, my 11...
