Hello, Modern War Institute podcast listeners. I'm Captain Jake Maraldi.

This week on the podcast, we have a very special guest. Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslin, what the situation on the ground in Iraq looks like, what use of cadets are doing in support of the mission in Iraq, and how West Point prepares those cadets for the complex challenges of future war.

So please join me for an exclusive interview with General Kaslin, an exclusive window into the current war against ISIS and Iraq.

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the respective participants and do not constitute the position of the United States government.

To learn more about how West Point develops the leaders of the future, please visit usma.edu.

For more content on the future of war, please visit the Modern War Institute website at MWI.usma.edu.

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This is the Modern War Institute podcast.

Good morning, sir.

I want to jump right in talking about your recent trip to Iraq and ask what the purpose of that trip was.

Well, the purpose was really twofold. We actually had the opportunity to take the athletic director in two of our coaches with us.

And I've done this a number of years now. This is the third time. And when you bring the coach into the operational

environment, it gives the coach an understanding of what our graduates do for a living when they

actually graduate. They actually see some of their former cadets that they coach. They see them

in an operational environment, what they're accomplishing. They have a tremendous sense of pride

that they contributed to their development and the effectiveness of what they're doing on the ground today.

And it gives them some credibility so that when they come back and talk to their players, the

cadets of today, and they talk to the recruits, the cadets of the future, they have some legitimacy in what they're actually going to be doing when they graduate.

And also when you're recruiting when you talk to mom and dad, they can have some legitimacy about what actually their son or daughter is going to be doing after they graduate from the United States Military Academy.

The second purpose, it gives me an opportunity as a superintendent to dialogue and engage with our graduates,

our recent graduates, so that we have an understanding of the West Point programs

and the developmental programs that we have here at West Point and get their feedback on which ones they thought were most effective

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