I think there is a really interesting question as to what is our army for now.

And I think the sensible thing to do to that would be to have a really frank and a really open conversation about it. I think Britain has a real problem having that kind of honest conversation about its military.

A lot of that was intrinsically based on this Northern Ireland experience,

this idea that some kind of atavistic level, the British Army,

had an experience of counterinsurgency operations

that somehow kind of imbued in the DNA

of the British military was an expertise in these things. And that unraveled in Iraq.

Hey, welcome back to the Modern War Institute podcast. I'm John Ambo, editorial director at MWI,

and for this episode, I sat down for a conversation with

Simon Aikam. He is a journalist whose new book, The Changing of the Guard, tells the story of the

British Army since 9-11. It's sort of a biography of the Army covering the years of the wars in

Iraq and Afghanistan. As you'll hear Simon described, the book is at times critical of the

British Army. But the book and at times critical of the British Army.

But the book and this episode delve into some really important discussions about the relationship

between the army and the society it serves, about the challenges that it struggled with in Iraq

and Afghanistan, some of which the U.S. Army also found itself challenged by it and some that were

unique, and questions of accountability,

identity, and more. It is a great conversation that I hope you enjoy. Before we get to it, a couple

notes. First, if you aren't yet subscribed to the MWI podcast, find it on your favorite podcast app.

And if you have a second, please leave a rating or give it a review, which really helps us reach

new listeners. 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 U.S. government.

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