In this episode of Crashing the War Party, Kelley and Dan talk to former Marine officer Jeffrey Groom, author of American Cobra Pilot: A Marine Remembers a Dog and Pony Show. Groom left the service in 2018 disenchanted with what he saw as the institution's contradictions, waste, and hypocrisies, and worse the growing failure of the military to respond and adapt because of sclerotic thinking and messed up priorities at the top. We talk about why we lost in Afghanistan, and whether men and women are still willing to join the service and sacrifice their lives to defend the nation. We also talk about the Aug. 29 U.S. drone strike that killed an aid worker and his family in Kabul, a parable for our failed war on terror.

Read more from Jeff Groom:

Will US military failures touch off a ‘revolution from below’?-- Sept. 15, 2021

Marines take fight to the sea, targeting China dollars -- April 2021.Increased Military Suicides Aren’t Necessarily About War -- February 2019

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit crashingthewarparty.substack.com