Jim Gant: Difference between revisions

'''Jim Gant''' is a former [[United States Army Special Forces]] officer. He served for over 50 months in combat in [[Iraq]] and [[Afghanistan]] and was wounded seven times. He was awarded a [[Silver Star]] for his actions in the [[Iraq War]] in 2007, and wrote an influential [[monograph]] on Afghanistan titled ''One Tribe at a Time: A Strategy for Success in Afghanistan''. Following his last deployment in 2010–12, he was relieved of command and forced to retire after violating military regulations and conducting an extramarital affair with reporter [[Ann Scott Tyson]] at his combat outpost in [[Kunar Province]], [[Afghanistan]]. Gant has been credited with inspiring the creation of the [[Afghan Local Police]] and the strategy of Village Stability Operations in Afghanistan.

Gant grew up in [[Las Cruces, New Mexico|Las Cruces]], [[New Mexico]].<ref name="Tyson2010"/> He enlisted in the Army after high school and became a Special Forces communications sergeant,<ref name="Tyson2010"/> participating in the [[Gulf War]] as an advisor to Egyptian forces.<ref name="Morgan 2021 p. 26">{{cite book sfn| last=Morgan | first=Wesley | title=The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley | publisher=Random House Publishing Group | year=2021 | isbn=978-0-8129-9506-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuUbEAAAQBAJ | access-date=14 January 2022 | pagep=26}}</ref>

He later became an officer and deployed as a captain to Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004 and Iraq in 2006–7.<ref name="Tyson2010"/> Leading Operational Detachment Alpha 316, Gant deployed to [[Kunar Province]], Afghanistan in spring 2003 and was based at Forward Operating Base [[Asadabad, Afghanistan|Asadabad]].<ref name="{{sfn|Morgan |2021 |p. =26"/>}} Gant's team was one of the first American units to enter the [[Korengal Valley]].<ref>{{sfn|Morgan |2021, |p. =76.</ref>}} 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|last=Meek|first=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<ref>{{sfn|Morgan |2021, |p. =33.</ref>}} but deployed again, to [[Helmand Province]], in 2004.<ref name="Broadwell">{{Cite book|last=Broadwell|first=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}}</ref>

Gant also deployed to [[Iraq]] twice.<ref name="Huffpost"/> On December 11, 2006, Gant's Special Forces team in Iraq was attacked in a complex ambush on the road between [[Balad, Iraq|Balad]] and [[Baghdad]] in [[Iraq]].<ref name="Tyson2007"/> On May 3, 2007, Gant was awarded a [[Silver Star]] for valor for his actions during the 2006 ambush.<ref name="Tyson2007">{{Cite news| issn = 0190-8286| title = The Insurgents' Increasingly Complex Tactics in Ambushes| newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]| accessdate = April 22, 2020| date = June 3, 2007| url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/06/03/GR2007060300182.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Soldier in Heroic Battle to Receive Silver Star|url=https://www.army.mil/article/2982/soldier_in_heroic_battle_to_receive_silver_star|access-date=2022-02-02|website=www.army.mil|last=Kojetin|first=Nicole|language=en}}</ref>

In October 2009,<ref>{{sfn|Edwards |2020, |p. =422.</ref>}} Gant wrote an influential paper titled ''One Tribe at a Time: A Strategy for Success in Afghanistan''.<ref name="Time">{{Cite web| title = The Fall of the Green Berets' Lawrence of Afghanistan|website=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.<ref name="Edwards424">{{Cite journalsfn|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|doi=10.1080/09592318.2020.1713554|pagep=424|s2cid=214296335}}</ref> The paper reached a wider audience after its publication on the ''[[Small Wars Journal]]'' website.<ref name{{sfn|Edwards|2020|p="Edwards424"/>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>

General [[David Petraeus]] called the paper "very impressive," and General [[Stanley McChrystal]] distributed it to all commanders in Afghanistan.<ref name="Tyson2010"/> The paper received some criticism for promoting "nativist mythologies"<ref>{{Cite web|last=Grunstein|first=Judah|title=The Horror, the Horror: Afghanistan Edition|url=https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/trend-lines/4569/the-horror-the-horror-afghanistan-edition|access-date=2022-01-26|website=World Politics Review|language=en|date=6 November 2009}}</ref> but, according to [[Paula Broadwell]], it playedhelped a role in inspiringinspire Petraeus to create the [[Afghan Local Police]].<ref name="Broadwell"/> Admiral [[Eric T. Olson]], the commander of [[United States Special Operations Command]], supported Gant's concept as well, and in November 2009 Lieutenant General [[John F. Mulholland Jr.|John Mulholland]] offered Gant an opportunity to redeploy to Afghanistan to implement his ideas.<ref name="Simons">{{cite web|last=Simons|first=Anna|page=20|title=21st-Century Challenges of Command: A View from the Field|website=Strategic Studies Institute|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep11169|date=2017}}</ref>

Gant returned to AfghansitanAfghanistan in June 2010,<ref name="Huffpost">{{Cite web| last = Wood| first = David| title = TheIn GreenAfghanistan, BeretA WhoseU.S. StrategySpecial CouldForces HaveMajor's SavedMeteoric Afghanistan,Rise ButAnd NotHumiliating His CareerFall| work = [[HuffPost]]| accessdate = April 22, 2020| date = 0400March 24, 2014| url = https://www.huffpost.com/entry/afghanistan-jim-gant-american-spartan_n_5008520}}</ref> and was stationed in the village of Mangwal where he had served in 2003.<ref name="ABC"/> In September 2010, reporter [[Ann Scott Tyson]] took a leave of absence from ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and went to Kunar to live with Gant for nine months, in violation of military regulations.<ref name="Huffpost"/>

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.<ref>{{sfn|Edwards |2020, |p. =435.</ref>}} He remained in Kunar for 22 months<ref name="Huffpost"/> 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.<ref>{{sfn|Edwards |2020, |p. =426.</ref>}} By the middle of 2011, Gant had recruited 1,300 Afghan Local Police.<ref name="Huffpost"/> At the same time, he engaged in unorthodox behavior such as ritually cutting himself and telling his soldiers that, "I believe in the wrathful God of combat. I believe in [[Hecate]]".<ref>{{Cite web| title = The Rise and Fall of Major Jim Gant|website=War on the Rocks| accessdate = April 22, 2020| url = https://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.<ref>{{sfn|Edwards |2020, |p. =434.</ref>}} He allegedly drank alcohol during the deployment, which is prohibited by Army regulations, and "self-medicated" with pain medication.<ref name="ABC"/>

In early 2012, as Gant was in the process of moving from Mangwal to the nearby village of Chowkay, he came in contact with First Lieutenant Thomas Roberts, a [[West Point]] graduate<ref>{{sfn|Edwards |2020, |p. =426.</ref>}} who had recently arrived to Kunar.<ref name="ABC"/> Roberts reported to his chain of command that Gant was engaging in "immoral and illegal activities and actions".<ref name="ABC"/> After the subsequent investigation Gant was relieved of command, demoted to the rank of captain, and given an official reprimand by Lieutenant General [[John F. Mulholland, Jr.|John Mulholland]].<ref name="ABC"/> He retired from the military soon afterwards.

==ReferencesNotes==