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Below are Pat's recent press releases, interviews, and news stories, beginning with the most recent.  Click on the picture to see associated materials for each news release.  Adobe Reader is required to open these items.


Pat was invited to speak at the 2011 Global Studies Conference at the University of Nebraska, Omaha on 7 October 2011.  Pat talked about President Obama's Afghanistan "surge" in the context of both the Iraq surge and dramatic changes in strategy during the Vietnam War.

To see video of his appearance, click here.

  • New Website launched for Task Force Patriot and the End of Combat Operations in Iraq
    6 August 2011

    We have just launched the website for Task Force Patriot and the End of Combat Operations in Iraq.  You can see it at:

    http://www.taskforcepatriotbook.com

    At this Website you will find additional resources related to the book, including multimedia content such as pictures and video taken during Task Force Patriot's historic last tour in Iraq, as the last combat force to occupy Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. You will also find the latest reviews and news related to the book and Pat's appearances around the country to promote it.

    Task Force Patriot will be publish by Government Institutes Press, an imprint of Scarecrow Press. The expected release date is in December 2011.

    For more, click here.

  • Government Institutes Press deal to publish Task Force Patriot and the End of Combat Operations in Iraq
    1 July 2011

    “Iraq in 2009 was a strange netherworld, not quite war but not yet peace. The country teetered on the threshold of great change--the impending national elections and the promised withdrawal of all US combat forces. These changes would usher in either an era of irreversible stability or a return to the sectarian carnage that nearly destroyed Iraq in 2006. It was during this period of uncertainty that Task Force Patriot arrived to take over as the last US combat force to occupy Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.”

    Government Institutes Press, an imprint of Scarecrow Press, will publish Task Force Patriot. The expected release date is in December 2011.

    For more, click here.

  • "Message versus Perception" published in The Historian
    12 March 2011

    “Over the forty years since the beginning of the Vietnam War, a historical narrative has developed in the United States to explain the substantial support the Johnson administration enjoyed during the escalation. According to this narrative, Johnson deceived the American people into war...Virtually nothing has been written about this period from the perspective it was seen by the American people, in the media of the day. Through an examination of contemporary media, this article will clearly show that, again and again, despite aggressive administration efforts to downplay the growing American commitment, the American press had a very clear picture of the escalation and clearly communicated this picture to the American people.”

    For more, click here.

  • "Fighting to Understand" published in Military Review
    12 March 2011

    “The city of ad Dawr did not seem to be responding as we expected. Security was always good in the city—until U.S. forces entered. When the Proud American Soldiers entered the city of ad Dawr, they encountered uniform animosity from the populace. The unit that preceded us in ad Dawr, Bravo Company, 2d Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, received small arms fire nearly every time they entered the city. Despite Task Force Patriot’s heavy engagement with the leadership and a significant surge of Commander’s Emergency Relief Program (CERP) money, it was not long before our battalion met with the same reception. This violence finally culminated in tragedy when Corporal Tony Carrasco was shot and killed in ad Dawr on 4 November 2009.”

    For more, click here.

  • Armchair General reviews Media War
    24 January 2011

    The interactive history magazine, Armchair General just posted a review by Peter Suciu of Pat's first full-length book, Media War: The Media-Enabled Insurgency in Iraq.

    "A fascinating book that news junkies will appreciate deeply."
    To read the full review, click here.

    Media War is available for the Amazon Kindle and as a Google eBook.

    To learn more about Media War click here.

  • ProSIM announces the publication of Media War as a Google eBook
    18 January 2011


    ISBN: 978-0-615-43267-0

    In Operation Iraqi Freedom, insurgent and terrorist groups have demonstrated the capability to use small, relatively insignificant tactical attacks, amplified through the megaphone of the media, to dramatic effect on the will of the American public to prosecute the war.  This capability has neutralized the overwhelming advantage the US military has in firepower in Iraq by bypassing it completely.  Recent trends (including Israel’s abortive war in Lebanon in 2006) suggest that this capability is proliferating and will characterize every enemy the US military faces for the foreseeable future.  Left unchecked, this capability will weaken the United States’ ability to project military power for all but the most finite, decisive future conflicts.

    ProSIM Company is now a Google Books partner! Its first entry at the Google ebookstore is Pat's first full-length book, Media War.  This book is the culmination of over two and a half years of study of the US military, the insurgency, and the media in Iraq, including lessons learned from Pat's first six-month tour in Iraq working on the front lines of the media war.

    To get Media War: The Media-Enabled Insurgency in Iraq, click here.

  • ProSIM announces the publication of Media War as a Kindle-exclusive title
    20 December 2010


    ISBN: 978-0-615-43267-0

    In Operation Iraqi Freedom, insurgent and terrorist groups have demonstrated the capability to use small, relatively insignificant tactical attacks, amplified through the megaphone of the media, to dramatic effect on the will of the American public to prosecute the war.  This capability has neutralized the overwhelming advantage the US military has in firepower in Iraq by bypassing it completely.  Recent trends (including Israel’s abortive war in Lebanon in 2006) suggest that this capability is proliferating and will characterize every enemy the US military faces for the foreseeable future.  Left unchecked, this capability will weaken the United States’ ability to project military power for all but the most finite, decisive future conflicts.

    This is ProSIM's first Kindle-exclusive title and Pat's first full-length book.  This book is the culmination of over two and a half years of study of the US military, the insurgency, and the media in Iraq, including lessons learned from Pat's first six-month tour in Iraq working on the front lines of the media war.

    To get Media War: The Media-Enabled Insurgency in Iraq, click here.

  • Pat Returns from Iraq!
    22 October 2010

    Pat has returned with the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), 1st Infantry Division from their successful deployment to conduct security force assistance in Northern Iraq. Read the two full stories in the 1st Infantry Division Post, at the links below:

    1st Infantry Division Post, 6 August 2010

    1st Infantry Division Post, 1 October 2010

  • Wiley announces the publication of ASVAB AFQT Cram Plan
    14 July 2010


    ISBN: 978-0-470-59889-4

    “So, you’ve decided to serve your country. Before you can raise your hand and swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, there is one big hurdle in your path, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). You must especially do well on the Armed Forces Qualifying Test (AFQT), the four key subtests of the ASVAB that the services use to measure you against your fellow recruits.”

    Pat wrote the introduction to the CliffsNotes book, ASVAB AFQT Cram Plan. To buy it, click here!

     

  • Pat has a new blog!
    8 June 2010

    Pat just unveiled his new blog, Media Warfare. Pat provides insights, commentary, and book reviews on the history and future of media and warfare. From the dawning of the age of popular war to the War on Terrorism, this blog is all about the interaction between the government, the military, the people, the media, and war.

    To see Pat's blog, click here.

  • Interview with Stars and Stripes
    26 May 2010
    “'On the one hand, [Naqshabandi is] a religious order, and on the other it's kind of a Ponzi scheme,' said U.S. Army Maj. Pat Proctor, the operations officer for 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, based in Tikrit. 'They Attack us--it's not really effective--but then they post a video of it on the Internet and they get donations from all over the country.'”

    Pat Proctor talked to embedded reporter Michael Gisick of Stars and Stripes during Operation Vigilant Patriot, a combined US/Iraqi Police/Iraqi Army operation in Tikrit in April 2010.  To see the online version of this article (Middle-East edition, 26 May 2010, Page 3), click here.

  • Pat Deploys to Iraq
    27 August 2009
    Pat will deploy this week with the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), 1st Infantry Division.  Pat's unit will conduct security force assistance in Northern Iraq. To see the full story in the 1st Infantry Division Post, click here.

    If you would like to post a message for Pat as he leaves, you can do so at his FaceBook page.

    Interview with 1st Infantry Division Post.
    15 June 2009

    “At every level and with everything that we're doing...we're partnering with the Iraqi Army, who is using a different language and tactics that we're not used to,” said Maj. Proctor He also said the Soldiers have to learn how to interact with a force they can't always coordinate and talk to due to language barriers, but at the same time learn how to integrate themselves with an army of a completely different culture.

    During his deployment to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Pat sat down for an interview with Shantelle J. Campbell for the 1st Infantry Division Post. In the article, Pat shares his thoughts on the training and his unit's upcoming mission in Iraq.  To see the online version, click here.

      "'Proud Americans' partner with security forces at NTC"

  • Interview with High Desert Warrior.
    12 June 2009

      "Realistic training prepares 4th Brigade combat team of the 1st Infantry Division"

  • Pat's new page at PublishersMarketplace.com.
    29 December 2008

    Pat now maintains a page with his recent and current projects at PublishersMarketplace.com! Check out Pat's PublishersMarketplace page.

  • The Other Napoleonic Wars published at ArmchairGeneral.com.
    18 November 2008

As the US military fights two grueling counterinsurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, these other Napoleonic Wars, in Italy and Spain, deserve new attention.  Though they happened two centuries ago, they can tell us much about why normal people take up arms and oppose powerful, modern armies.  The lessons the French learned through success in Italy and failure in Spain are as relevant today as they were in the age of Napoleon.

For more, click here.

  • The Mythical Shia Crescent published in Parameters.
    25 April 2008

“Sometime in late 2006, America awoke to the realization that, by deposing Saddam Hussein and toppling his Ba’athist regime, it had inadvertently removed a major obstacle to Iranian dominance in the Middle East. Assessments of the associated events reached hyperbolic levels. Dire warnings of a growing Iranian hegemony began to surface. Sunni leaders such as Jordan’s King Abdullah II began to warn theWest of an emerging “Shia Crescent,” led by Iran and encompassing Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.1 The idea caught fire in American media and became the dominant narrative in discourse on Middle East policy”

For more, click here.

  • Pat's new page at FaceBook.com.
    15 April 2008

    Pat now maintains a page with calendar events and updates at FaceBook.com! Check out Pat's FaceBook page.

  • Pat's new page at MySpace.com.
    1 December 2007

    Pat now maintains a 'blog and community at MySpace.com! Check out Pat's MySpace page.

  • Interview with Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times.
    13 October 2007

“Another major said that young officers were engaged in their own revisionist history, and that many had believed the war could be won with Mr. Rumsfeld’s initial invasion force of about 170,000. 'Everybody now claims, oh, I knew we were going to be there for five years and it was going to take 400,000 people,' said Maj. Patrick Proctor, 36. 'Nobody wants to be the guy who said, ‘Yeah, I thought we could do it.’ But a lot of us did.'”

Pat recently participated in an interview with Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times during her trip to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The article focuses on the critical thinking going on at the Command and General Staff College and School of Advanced Military Studies concerning the planning for and conduct of the Iraq War.  The article is available both online and on the front page of the Sunday, 14 October 2007 edition of the New York Times.  To see the online version, click here.

  "Blunt Talk About Iraq at Army School"

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Copyright © 2011 Pat Proctor
Last modified: 30 December 2011
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