Leadership and Training for the Fight by Paul Howe

[Jeff White]

Paul Howe (if you read Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down you know the name) had a long career in Army Special Operations Forces. Since retirement he has quietly made a name for himself as a trainer.
http://www.combatshootingandtactics.com/

Recently he self published an excellent book on leadership and training. If you're looking for nuts and bolts detail on specific TTPs (tactics, techniques and procedures) then this book isn't for you. If you're looking for thoughts on motivating yourself and others then you need this book. It has an interesting and very effective format. Each chapter begins with a description of part of an operation the author participated in and it's followed by an after action review (AAR) and there the author lays out his leadership and training philosophy as it applied to the operation discussed in the beginning of the chapter.

The principles discussed in the book are not limited to soldiers or a police tactical team. Anyone who supervises others will get something out of this book.

I found many of the training concepts I used validated and learned some new ones. I also was motivated to increase my own training intensity after reading the book.

The student of military history will find the viginettes at the beginning of each chapter very interesting. There are some great insights into how things work in an elite SOF unit.

The book is 196 pages long and since it's self published, it's not edited. You will find the occassional typo. Don't let that put you off. It's the information in the book that's valuable.

You can buy it here:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=35146

Jeff

 

[NMshooter]

Thank you for posting this!

On order.

I am currently reading Not A Good Day To Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda, by Sean Naylor.

Have you read this book yet, and if so what is your opinion?

 

[ShackleMeNot]

Ordered.

 

[Telperion]

Sounds worth a read, ordered.

 

[Jeff White]

NMshooter asked;

I am currently reading Not A Good Day To Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda, by Sean Naylor.

Have you read this book yet, and if so what is your opinion?

Yes, I read it not too long after it came out. A good read. I understand there was a gag order imposed on participants in that operation after it was published.

Jeff

 

[benEzra]

Sounds like a good read.

In BHD, I thought it was striking how much Sgt. Howe and the other Delta guys were "thinking outside the box." Street's a kill zone? Don't keep fighting through it, get inside and go through the walls. Etc.

More than their combat prowess, it seems the D guys were characterized by their ability to THINK while everything around them was going south. A valuable commodity in any situation...

 

[NMshooter]

It is amazing how difficult it is to think things through when your adrenalin is flowing. It often takes major effort to do even the simplest tasks.

The more bad situations you are in, the better you learn to deal with it, but it can be a steep learning curve...

This is why practicing things over and over again in training helps so much, you simply perform the tasks you have trained on and as you have trained to do them.

That leaves you free to think about what is really going on and what your general course of action should be.

 

[El Tejon]

NM, exactly. As we say, it's all about the footwork, then it's about the bling, bling.

Jeff, yes, excellent book. Learned a lot.

 

[Blackhawk 6]

I understand there was a gag order imposed on participants in that operation after it was published.

FWIW, several of the people present, myself included, have spoken at length regarding Operation Anaconda, often at the behest of the Army. I saw BG Wiecinski several weeks ago and he commented positively about the book.

Such an order may have been given, but neither or any of the individuals I keep in contact with received it.

 

[Jeff White]

Blackhawk 6,
I sent you my source for the gag order in a PM.

Jeff

 

[Blackhawk 6]

Jeff,

Got it. Thanks.

 

[NMshooter]

The short version:

Buy this book and The Book of Two Guns by Tiger McKee. You will thank me for it later!

Some comments:

I really like the use of personal experiences to illustrate the points Howe is trying to get across, it helps me to understand what he is talking about.

He mentions many things that experienced personnel probably take for granted that a lot of us may not think about, like in the discussion on the OODA loop where he points out what sorts of things you should be looking for and how to look for them.

This is the sort of book that you can read over and over again, and still pick up things you missed last read.

I like it.

 

[bamawrx]

Make that two votes for "The Book of Two Guns by Tiger Mckee". That book is a work of art.

 

[IV Troop]

I trained with Mr Howe at John Shaw's Mid South Institute for a week last year. He is squared away and a nice guy.

 

[ghost squire]

Thanks for the info, I just added the book to my cart on Amazon.

 

[Gordon]

I got the book a couple months ago when it first came out. It is a great mindset book for a leader of ANY sort.
Ditto on the Tiger Magee read.
I don't think I will train with these guys(ya never know though!) but it IS the straight skinny very well thought out, in the Howe book the techniques are straight out of TODAY's action!