Well, the second day of the conference was just as good, if not better than the first. We started out with a Briefing by Col. Maxwell on "
Preparing for Irregular Threats on the Korean Peninsula" and, as TR mentioned, Col. Maxwell is a very knowledgeable man. One could really tell that he had many years of hands-on experience in SF, while at the same time having an extensive academic background to back up his arguments. Outstanding presentation, the main thesis of which seemed to be that, while we have done a lot of planning for various contingencies of collapse in North Korea, we have done very little
actual preparation.
After Col. Maxwell we heard BG (Ret) Russ Howard on "
Contemplating Irregular Warfare in a Collapsed North Korea" -- Mr. Howard, for those of you that don't know him, was an SF Commander in Vietnam from 1970-72. An outstanding individual, with a vast pool of experience and a great sense of humor. He told me not to get too intimidated by all the high ranking brass. Speaking of that sense of humor, it's really great for me as an outsider to see how tight knit the SOF community really is. People are constantly cracking jokes with each other - it's a great atmosphere!
Mr. Howard's presentation continued Col. Maxwell's train of thought, namely that we are ill prepared for dealing with a collapse of North Korea, which is becoming more and more likely.
The next briefing was by MG (Ret) Geoffrey Lambert on "
IW Opportunities during the Reunification of Korea". Mr. Lambert did a great job at illustrating some of the irregular warfare conditions that we might see before, during, and after a collapse. He also talked about how the Combined Unconventional Warfare Task Force (CUWTF) might fit into the picture.
We then heard from a gentlemen named Dr. Scobell, of the RAND Corporation. The topic was "
China's Lessons from the Korean War and What this Means for the Korean Peninsula in the 21st Century". He did an excellent job of explaining the relevance of the Korean War to China, especially with regard to the United States.
Lastly, we heard from Dr. Brian Myers, a very interesting and comparatively young scholar who specializes in North Korean studies. He gave a truly fascinating briefing on North Korea and the driving forces behind the status quo there. He explained in very plain terms what
the narrative is in nK and how Koreans (north and south) relate to each other. One of his main theses was that, contrary to popular opinion, the conflict on the peninsula is not one of capitalism vs. hardline communism, but rather one of hardline nationalism vs. moderate nationalism. Very thought provoking and insightful brief.
This conference is truly phenomenal, and I can't stress how grateful I am to the SOF community at SOC-KOR for allowing me to attend. Being (merely) an undergraduate student with ambitions of one day becoming an SF Soldier, I am truly in awe at the type of people I am surrounded with here. At one point I was sitting in a group with about six general officers, while General Sharp was just a few feet away, giving his thoughts to the audience.
Being a layman to both the military world, as well as to the higher tiers of strategic thought, hearing all of these briefings back to back is like drinking from a firehose. Still, I try to take notes and soak up as much as I can.
To add value to this thread, if anyone is interested in the details of a particular presentation, feel free to pm me and I will give you the details to the best of my recollection. I can also provide the slides to the presentations, which are probably of more interest than my recollections
. Seeing as they are unclassified and were handed out to us, I think this is ok. By all means, let me know if you think it is inappropriate for me to share the slides with third parties.
v/r