The Social Science of War podcast, published by the Department of Social Sciences at West Point just put out an episode on the war in Ukraine titled Land Warfare in Europe, Part 2: Large-Scale Combat Operations in Ukraine. It features Dr. Jack Watling, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges (ret), and Major Ryan Van Wie as they discuss “what tactical and operational lessons the war in Ukraine can teach us about large-scale combat operations.”

Guest bios:

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges is a retired United States Army officer. His flag officer assignments include time as the commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, and then as the commander of United States Army Europe from 2014 to 2017.

Major Ryan Van Wie is a US Army infantry officer and a former assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point. He served as a company commander in Operation Atlantic Resolve in Europe in 2017 and is currently the operations officer of 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, deployed under Operation European Assure, Deter, and Reinforce.

Dr. Jack Watling is senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute. Jack works closely with the British military on preparing for the future of land warfare, and he has published and spoken extensively on lessons learned from the Russian war in Ukraine.

The episode covers a broad range of topics with some personal highlights being

• A major discussion of dispersion on the modern battlefield in both forward and rear areas.

• The challenges faced by logistics operations in the current environment and how they should adapt.

• Anticipated challenges that the US might face if conducting a similar operation to Russia.

• Lessons learned for NATO deterrence in Europe.

Overall I thought the discussion covered a much broader range of topics than the usual commentary on the war including some subjects that I have been personally missing such as the discussion on deterrence. The guests provide good diversity of perspectives and the host, Kyle Atwell, does a very good job of generating questions and doesn’t feel the need to really get in the way of his guests. I would definitely recommend listening to the entire hour.

Summary in comments