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Tequila Junction: 4th-Generation Counterinsurgency
Don't recognize this drug-funded Maoist army ? Its operatives have been busy in at least nine Latin American countries. Bringing an end to America's white-heroin deluge may take temporarily reinforcing -- with a lone U.S. infantry squad -- a few police outposts in Colombia, Panama, and Mexico. After briefly noting the extent of criminal, Communist, and Islamist subversion throughout the region, this book shows the Unconventional Warfare (UW) techniques that 14 isolated GIs might need to vie with many times their number of drug runners and revolutionaries. Among the "how-to" chapters (1) "Best 4GW Defense Is Locally Tailored;" (2) "Deep Interdiction;" (3) "Buffer Zones"; and (4) "Working a Heavily Populated Area." well illustrated, full of tiny element maneuvers, and quite exciting to read. One even shows how to blanket an area with secretly occupied fire team zones. Such an advanced UW concept would also work in other parts of the world. According to Australian Army Journal, "Poole's methods in Tequila Junction are an example of a decentralised approach to counterinsurgency that may provide a tactical level solution ... [to] keep the insurgents off balance in Uruzgan [Afghanistan]." As a final bonus , this book's appendix shows a fully tested way for any U.S. infantry or special operations company to develop its own state-of-the-art techniques for any intensity of combat.
- GenresMilitary Fiction
364 pages, Paperback
First published August 22, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 19, 2011
Here is the link to my review http://lesc.net/blog/tequila-junction...
April 30, 2021
A brilliant 4GW challenge to the current conventional wisdom of modern US infantry forces
This book needs to be read by serious warfighters. Especially those in special ops and the infantry.
H. John Poole is a master infantryman. He served as a USMC infantry officer in Vietnam and then, following the gross reduction in force (RIF) of officer ranks in the Marine Corps at the end of the war, elected to remain in the Marines by enlisting. As an NCO with combat experience, H. John Poole became an unsurpassed small unit infantry instructor and doctrinal master of the field, writing numerous books and manuals challenging the corporate bureaucratic mindset of the military industrial complex that relies on mass and technology to overcome enemy forces while neglecting the military's greatest tactical asset -- it's enlisted infantrymen operating at the platoon, squad and team level. That's a valid charge and it has made Poole a respected but unpopular prophet in the world of professional military development and tactics.
In Tequila Junction, Poole gives us a strategic analysis of the crisis south of the border. From the very hot US-Mexican border down to the icy tip of Chile and Argentina, Poole gives us the critical people, places and dogmas of the narco-terrorists, jihadists, and Maoist insurgents who often work together to exploit the US border situation, undermine US policy in Latin American, and to promote the expansion of Marxism while also expanding the narco-economies that ultimately fund terrorism. It's a frightening connection of the dots most US policy makers and national security bureaucrats would prefer to ignore. But Poole's research and substantial footnotes are hard to argue against. I actually read this recently to prepare for a new national security position working on Latin American threats. It's a darn good open-source document. And it's frightening to contemplate.
Poole also goes at some length to show how a new kind of US military approach might help mitigate this crisis and truly win hearts and minds. But it means ceding power to the NCOs and the rifle squads, and expanding the infantryman's role into the kind of capabilities (UW, CA, direct action) reserved for Special Forces and Force Recon. But his argument that all infantry squads need to be able to perform these tasks is also hard to argue with. Especially as he envisions rifle squads that can live and fight independently of large combat formations and close air support. It's a vision I support but I hardly see how the current thinking of those with stars on their collars could ever accommodate such a concept. There are simply too many COLs and G.O.s who need a job in our rank heavy Army and Marine Corps.
Which is unfortunate as we still seem to be fighting our last war... the one we haven't quite won in Afghanistan.... when the enemies we face, according to Poole, China and the Narco-Cartels, are operating at a whole different level.
This book is HIGHLY recommended for warrior monks, small unit leaders, tactical visionaries, and infantry and Special Operations leaders who want to fight and win those wars looming on our horizon. Amen.
Read it.
Semper Fi... but Rangers lead the Way!
This book needs to be read by serious warfighters. Especially those in special ops and the infantry.
H. John Poole is a master infantryman. He served as a USMC infantry officer in Vietnam and then, following the gross reduction in force (RIF) of officer ranks in the Marine Corps at the end of the war, elected to remain in the Marines by enlisting. As an NCO with combat experience, H. John Poole became an unsurpassed small unit infantry instructor and doctrinal master of the field, writing numerous books and manuals challenging the corporate bureaucratic mindset of the military industrial complex that relies on mass and technology to overcome enemy forces while neglecting the military's greatest tactical asset -- it's enlisted infantrymen operating at the platoon, squad and team level. That's a valid charge and it has made Poole a respected but unpopular prophet in the world of professional military development and tactics.
In Tequila Junction, Poole gives us a strategic analysis of the crisis south of the border. From the very hot US-Mexican border down to the icy tip of Chile and Argentina, Poole gives us the critical people, places and dogmas of the narco-terrorists, jihadists, and Maoist insurgents who often work together to exploit the US border situation, undermine US policy in Latin American, and to promote the expansion of Marxism while also expanding the narco-economies that ultimately fund terrorism. It's a frightening connection of the dots most US policy makers and national security bureaucrats would prefer to ignore. But Poole's research and substantial footnotes are hard to argue against. I actually read this recently to prepare for a new national security position working on Latin American threats. It's a darn good open-source document. And it's frightening to contemplate.
Poole also goes at some length to show how a new kind of US military approach might help mitigate this crisis and truly win hearts and minds. But it means ceding power to the NCOs and the rifle squads, and expanding the infantryman's role into the kind of capabilities (UW, CA, direct action) reserved for Special Forces and Force Recon. But his argument that all infantry squads need to be able to perform these tasks is also hard to argue with. Especially as he envisions rifle squads that can live and fight independently of large combat formations and close air support. It's a vision I support but I hardly see how the current thinking of those with stars on their collars could ever accommodate such a concept. There are simply too many COLs and G.O.s who need a job in our rank heavy Army and Marine Corps.
Which is unfortunate as we still seem to be fighting our last war... the one we haven't quite won in Afghanistan.... when the enemies we face, according to Poole, China and the Narco-Cartels, are operating at a whole different level.
This book is HIGHLY recommended for warrior monks, small unit leaders, tactical visionaries, and infantry and Special Operations leaders who want to fight and win those wars looming on our horizon. Amen.
Read it.
Semper Fi... but Rangers lead the Way!
November 17, 2021
On the recommendation of my friend Peter Nealen, I picked up H. John Poole's Tequila Junction: 4th-Generation Counterinsurgency for research on the narco situation in Central and South America. While I knew from previous research that Russia and China had made inroads into the region in an effort to undermine an already tenuous American influence in the region, I did not know the Chinese had made as many connections as they have. That alone made it an illuminating read.
The real meat and potatoes of this work is highlighting American deficiencies in fourth generation/asymmetric warfare and showing how current doctrine only serves to perpetuate our martial Achilles heel. Very surprising and refreshing was seeing Poole (who strikes me as a right of center individual) admitting that the US strategy in Central and South America during the Cold War (aka prop up dictatorships, death squads, and brutal insurgents to counter communist influence) did far more harm than good. I've been saying that for years (and experts have been saying it for much longer), so to see someone else who is not only a subject matter expert but someone who differs from me politically was nice to see.
Poole digs into how to crack the nut of fourth generation warfare. The long and short of it is that if you want to defeat an insurgency, you have to sway the populace to your side. The objective is no longer simply closing with and destroying the enemy with overwhelming firepower. To defeat insurgents, one must think and act like an insurgent. Poole details how he would propose the American government might go about doing this, and honestly, it gives me a lot of food for thought, not only as a writer but as a former soldier.
I'd definitely recommend it to folks looking to educate themselves on the situation in Central and South America (while this was penned circa 2008, not too much has changed in the 13+ years since publication) and on fourth generation warfare.
The real meat and potatoes of this work is highlighting American deficiencies in fourth generation/asymmetric warfare and showing how current doctrine only serves to perpetuate our martial Achilles heel. Very surprising and refreshing was seeing Poole (who strikes me as a right of center individual) admitting that the US strategy in Central and South America during the Cold War (aka prop up dictatorships, death squads, and brutal insurgents to counter communist influence) did far more harm than good. I've been saying that for years (and experts have been saying it for much longer), so to see someone else who is not only a subject matter expert but someone who differs from me politically was nice to see.
Poole digs into how to crack the nut of fourth generation warfare. The long and short of it is that if you want to defeat an insurgency, you have to sway the populace to your side. The objective is no longer simply closing with and destroying the enemy with overwhelming firepower. To defeat insurgents, one must think and act like an insurgent. Poole details how he would propose the American government might go about doing this, and honestly, it gives me a lot of food for thought, not only as a writer but as a former soldier.
I'd definitely recommend it to folks looking to educate themselves on the situation in Central and South America (while this was penned circa 2008, not too much has changed in the 13+ years since publication) and on fourth generation warfare.
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February 26, 2011Quality info on the vulnerability on our southern border.
December 12, 2013
Quantifiable data on how we are at war and don't even realize it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews