There's a strong strand of literature which really disparages this whole process and in a way

wants to return to the kind of simplicity of Patton or Montgomery's headquarters.

My point overwhelmingly would be that the headquarters are enlarged because decision-making is proliferated.

Complicated operations require complex systems of command.

So I think that we're stuck with collective command, whether we like it or not.

And I see, if anything, an accentuation of this professionalized system distribution over the next 10, 20 years.

Hey, welcome back to the Modern War Institute podcast.

I'm John Amble, editorial director at MWI, and this episode features a conversation about a concept that really is fundamental to the military and its operations.

Command.

In fact, my guest for the conversation literally wrote the book on the subject.

Dr. Anthony King is chair of war studies in the

Politics and International Studies Department at Britain's Warwick University and the author

of Command, the 21st Century General. During the discussion, he describes how the way that

general officers command their forces might change as warfare's character evolves. He also explains

how exercise and command has changed

from an individual endeavor to something he calls collective command. He even touches on history,

asking, for example, how Patton or Montgomery would have fared in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before we get to the conversation, a couple quick notes. First, be sure you're subscribed to

the MWI podcast podcast you can find it

pretty much anywhere you get your podcast and second as always what you hear in this episode are the views

of the participants and don't represent those of west point the army or any other agency of the us

government all right here's my conversation with dr anthony king with Dr. Anthony King.

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