The topics we discussed in this episode include:
-Smith’s thoughts on professional military education (PME) and training
-What good PME and training look like
-The best PME experience Smith ever had
-Major General O.K. Steele’s approach to training and PME
-The effect that bootcamp had on Smith’s development as a person
-How to get young Marines interested in learning
-The value of getting to know your Marines
-Why squad leaders are the most important people in a unit
-The key role of trust in maneuver warfare
-Smith’s thoughts on leaders being teacher-scholars
-What gets in the way of building trust in a unit
-Responding to when Marines make honest mistakes (“sins of commission”)
-The zero-defect mentality and the value of second chances
-The responsibility of a commander to protect their Marines
-The “colonel syndrome” and becoming self-interested
-Why it’s tough to be a major in the Marine Corps
-What it was like serving with Tony Zinni
-Smith’s battlefield “sixth sense”
-How the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) fought
-Comparing how Marine and NVA units fought
-The role that Vietnam played on Ray Smith’s journey to maneuver warfare
-Smith’s destruction of an NVA battalion in Aug 1968
-Working with a company of tanks as a rifle company commander
-Smith’s experience in Operation Urgent Fury, the invasion of Grenada
-The need to know your enemy in maneuver warfare
-What surprised Smith the most about Grenada
-Smith on the fog of war
-The biggest maneuver warfare lesson Smith took away from Grenada
Links
“Commemoration of Grenada with MajGen Ray Smith, USMC (Ret) at Marines' Memorial 10-23-2019”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzSi_5ZvJ7Q
