Major Brian Kerg

“We always win.” So I heard a senior ranking officer say in the waning days of Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of two major annual exercises conducted on the Korean peninsula. The remark did not come from complacency or laziness. It was a recognition of the inevitable outcome of the exercise, and it was not unique to that exercise or the Korean theater of operations. The United States and its allies have taught themselves that victory is inevitable no matter how they play the game.

First published in the Naval Review. Landlubbers we are not. The land is inert, enlivened by the intrusion of what comes and goes by way of the sea. To be a landlubber is to retreat into the comforts of the known and familiar, to shun adventure, to turn away from the call of the sea; however, the essence, the spirit of our country, of Maritime Britain, is not this.

You have probably seen them in action. They craft briefs for flag and general officers. They lead operational planning teams (OPTs). They develop future operations, campaign orders, and war plans. They represent their commanders at venues where decisions of impact are made. To do this, they are granted a level of access, trust, and authority that is rare among staff officers, and they are assumed to have the credibility to match.