Jim Gant: Difference between revisions

Gant later became an officer and deployed as a captain to Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004 and Iraq in 2006–7.<ref name="Tyson2010"/> Leading [[United_States_Army_Special_Forces#Basic_Element_–_SF_Operational_Detachment-A_(SFODA)_composition|Operational Detachment Alpha]] 316, Gant deployed to [[Kunar Province]], Afghanistan in spring 2003 and was based at Forward Operating Base [[Asadabad, Afghanistan|Asadabad]].{{sfn|Morgan|2021|p=26}} Gant's team was one of the first American units to enter the [[Korengal Valley]].{{sfn|Morgan|2021|p=76}} They also operated in [[Mangwal, Afghanistan|Mangwal]] and built a strong relationship with the [[Mohmand tribe]] and its ''[[Malik#Pashtun usage|malik]]'', Noor Afzal.<ref name="ABC">{{Cite web|lastlast1=Meek|firstfirst1=James Gordon|last2=Schwartz|first2=Rhonda|title = Top Green Beret Officer Forced to Resign Over Affair With WaPo Reporter| work = ABC News| accessdate = April 22, 2020| url = https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/jim-gant-top-green-beret-officer-forced-resign/story?id=24266710}}</ref> Gant returned from Kunar in October 2003{{sfn|Morgan|2021|p=33}} but deployed again, to [[Helmand Province]], in 2004.<ref name="Broadwell">{{Cite book|lastlast1=Broadwell|firstfirst1=Paula|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2xKP4FWigAcC&pg=PT67|title=All In: The Education of General David Petraeus|last2=Loeb|first2=Vernon|date=2012|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-101-55230-8|language=en|page=67}}</ref>

In October 2009,{{sfn|Edwards|2020|p=422}} Gant wrote an influential paper titled ''One Tribe at a Time: A Strategy for Success in Afghanistan''.<ref name="Time">{{Cite webmagazine| title = The Fall of the Green Berets' Lawrence of Afghanistan|websitemagazine=Time|last=Thompson|first=Mark|date=25 June 2014|accessdate = April 22, 2020| url = https://time.com/2921469/the-fall-of-the-green-berets-lawrence-of-afghanistan/}}</ref> Gant first published the paper on the website of [[Stephen Pressfield]], a historical fiction novelist who is popular in military circles.{{sfn|Edwards|2020|p=424}} The paper reached a wider audience after its publication on the ''[[Small Wars Journal]]'' website.{{sfn|Edwards|2020|p=424}} In ''One Tribe at a Time'', Gant argued that the United States should leverage the [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] tribal system in Afghanistan by creating "Tribal Engagement Teams" that would embed at the village level and work with locals to build security.<ref name="Murtazashvili2016">{{cite book|author=Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili|title=Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SO-7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA192|date=April 21, 2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-11399-2|pages=192}}</ref><ref name="Tyson2010">{{Cite news| issn = 0190-8286| last = Tyson| first = Ann Scott| title = Jim Gant, the Green Beret who could win the war in Afghanistan| newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]| accessdate = April 22, 2020| date = January 17, 2010| url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011502203.html}}</ref>

Gant and his unit built relationships with the tribes by wearing traditional Afghan clothing instead of uniforms and learning [[Pashto]].<ref name="ABC"/> Gant himself carried Islamic [[prayer beads]], rode on horseback, and had Pashto words tattooed on his wrists.{{sfn|Edwards|2020|p=435}} He remained in Kunar for 22 months<ref name="Huffpost">{{Cite web| last = Wood| first = David| title = In Afghanistan, A U.S. Special Forces Major's Meteoric Rise And Humiliating Fall| work = [[HuffPost]]| accessdate = April 22, 2020| date = March 24, 2014| url = https://www.huffpost.com/entry/afghanistan-jim-gant-american-spartan_n_5008520}}</ref> and achieved significant operational success. General Petraeus called him "the perfect counterinsurgent" and compared him favorably to [[T. E. Lawrence]], calling him "Lawrence of Afghanistan."<ref>{{Cite web| title = Report: Petraeus Hails 'Lawrence of Afghanistan' |publisher=Military.com| accessdate = April 22, 2020| url = https://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/07/01/report-petraeus-hails-lawrence-of-afghanistan.html}}</ref> Petraeus made Mangwal a "showcase" for his counterinsurgency strategy, and congressional delegations such as those of [[Lindsey Graham]] and [[John McCain]] visited the village.{{sfn|Edwards|2020|p=426}} By the middle of 2011, Gant had recruited 1,300 Afghan Local Police.<ref name="Huffpost"/> At the same time, heGant engagedwas insuffering unorthodoxfrom behaviorsevere such[[post-traumatic asstress ritually cutting himself and telling his soldiers that, "I believe in the wrathful God of combat. I believe in [[Hecatedisorder]]".<ref>{{Cite web| title name= The Rise and Fall of Major Jim Gant|website=War on the Rocks| accessdate = April 22, 2020| url = https:"Boot"//warontherocks.com/2014/04/the-rise-and-fall-of-major-jim-gant/}}</ref> Gant believed that he had lived previous lives as a warrior, including a life as an ancient [[Sparta]]n.{{sfn|Edwards|2020|p=434}} He allegedly drank alcohol during the deployment, which is prohibited by Army regulations, and "self-medicated" with pain medication.<ref name="ABC"/>

Tyson and Gant have married and live in [[Seattle]], Washington.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-28047971|title=Jim Gant, Ann Scott Tyson and their Afghan Affair|website=BBC|publisher=|accessdate=25 May 2020}}</ref> In 2014, Tyson wrote a book about Gant titled ''American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant''.<ref>{{Cite webnews|last=West|first=Bing| title = 'American Spartan ' by Ann Scott Tyson, about Maj. Jim Gant's mission in Afghanistan| worknewspaper = [[The Washington Post]]| accessdate = April 22, 2020| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/american-spartan--by-ann-scott-tyson-about-maj-jim-gants-mission-in-afghanistan/2014/03/28/4440187e-aac8-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_story.html|date=28 March 2014}}</ref> In 2021, Gant participated in the efforts of [[Task Force Pineapple]] to evacuate Afghan allies during the [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|Fall of Kabul]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Meek|first=James Gordon|title=US special operations vets carry out daring mission to save Afghan allies|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-special-operations-vets-carry-daring-mission-save/story?id=79670236|access-date=16 January 2022|website=ABC News|language=en}}</ref>

*{{Cite journal|last=Edwards|first=David| title = 'The perfect counterinsurgent': reconsidering the case of Major Jim Gant|journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies|volume=31|issue=2| accessdate = April 23, 2020| url = https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09592318.2020.1713554|year=2020|pages=420–444 |doi=10.1080/09592318.2020.1713554|s2cid=214296335}}

*{{Cite newsmagazine|last=Bergen|first=Peter|date=2011-05-04|authorlink=Peter Bergen|title=The Crossroads: Can we win in Afghanistan?|workmagazine=The New Republic|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/87846/afghanistan-war-osama-bin-laden-death-united-states-obama-taliban|access-date=2022-01-31|issn=0028-6583}}