About:
A Few Bad Men: The True Story of US Marines Ambushed in Afghanistan and Betrayed in America by Fred Galvin is a personal account of the injustice he suffered by both the military system and the military justice system. Fred Galvin is a retired Marine major, his co-author is Sal Manna, a journalist and historian.
- 336 pages
- Publisher : Post Hill Press
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 163758413X
My rating for A Few Bad Man - 5
Buy A Few Bad Man from Amazon.com*
More books by Fred Galvin*
Thoughts:
This is a devastating book, recounting betrayal of American soldiers that rose to the highest levels of Marine and political leadership. The narrative is a short biography of Mr. Galvin, and the events leading up to, during, and after the Bati Kot ambush in 4 March, 2007 targeting Fox Company-the first operational deployment of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC)
A Few Bad Men exposes what happens when front line soldiers are scarified to satisfy political optics. It takes a harsh, realistic look at the friction officers have to navigate between asymmetric, hot warfare in Afghanistan and the bureaucratic, cold warfare at home.
Major Galvin is not holding much back, but I would imagine that being able to survive both a battlefield ambush, and a malicious political campaign by some of the most powerful people in your command chain, officers and civilians, would make you realize that you've got nothing left to lose.
Man of la Book’s Margin Notes: The Systemic Scapegoat
From an analytical and security perspective, A Few Bad Men is an incident response report on a catastrophic logic failure within the chain of command.
1. Weaponized Information Warfare
When enemy forces realized they had lost the engagement, they immediately shifted to disinformation strategy. They flooded local media with false claims that that Fox Company Marines panicked and shot unarmed civilians.
No one in the military command / political chain seemed interested in validating their claims, but instead accepted their propaganda at face value. The Marines were left undefended when top brass turned their cross hairs on them, treating them as a political liability.
Galvin shows how the U.S. military command, completely lacking in robust "input validation" protocols, accepted this adversarial propaganda at face value. Instead of standing by their frontline operators, the top brass executed an immediate patch to save face, treating their own elite troops as a disposable liability.
2. The Court of Inquiry Bottleneck
The Marines were dragged before a military Court of Inquiry, they did not know that it was a losing battle - justice corrupted. They were already publicly condemned to appease foreign political leaders, and senior officials were in on the campaign. The Court's investigation already had a pre-determined guilty verdict.
In the book, Galvin writes about the work required to painstakingly go through e military's flawed evidence, forensic data, vehicle telemetry, and bullet trajectories. All those were needed to prove the Marines only fired at an active enemy.
3. The 12-Year System Recovery
Ultimately, a Navy Court of Inquiry cleared Galvin and his men of wrongdoing in 2008. They were, however, marked for life, and their military careers were as good as over. They had to carry this tattered reputation in their public life as well due to the wide publicity and interest in the case.
Galvin campaigned for 12 years, along with allies in Congress and in the press, to finally get a formal statement of exoneration from the Marine Corps. It's a reminder to all of us, that undoing damage, physical, psychological, or to one's reputation, is much harder that creating it.
Unfortunately, not much has changed in the world. A single unverified headline triggered panic in the Pentagon's leadership chain. If anything, it's gotten worst thanks to social-media and the barrage of disinformation and misinformation.
The authors are not afraid to shine a harsh light on career officers that prioritize their own promotions and reputations over the lives of their men. It was disheartening to read, even though most of us know such things exist everywhere.
The book's tone is dark and bitter. Mr. Galvin's anger is certainly justified but it makes the narrative repetitive. I certainly understand his anger, but just sticking to the facts with less emotion would probably have served the readers better.
Buy A Few Bad Man from Amazon.com*
More books by Fred Galvin*
Major Galvin highlights a terrifying organizational vulnerability: senior leaders who prioritize public relations and career self-preservation over the truth and the well-being of their teams. When an institution's corporate culture begins to reward risk-avoidance and scapegoating over accountability, what structural reforms can be implemented to rebuild a baseline of trust between the front-line and the boardroom?"
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I bought this book
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