America Forgetting Lessons of Iraq, Afghanistan, General Says in Colorado Springs Speech by Tom Roeder, The Gazette.
Herbert Raymond "H.R." McMaster, now a two-star general of some renown, returned to Colorado Springs on Nov. 13 to tell an audience that America is beginning to forget some of the hardest lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan.
McMaster gained fame in 2005 while commanding the Fort Carson-based 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Iraq. There, the regiment pioneered the "clear, hold, build" strategy in the insurgent haven of Tal Afar, between Baghdad and Mosul. The strategy later was adopted throughout Iraq and during the 2007 surge that helped speed America's exit.
Now, McMaster said, with the end of the Afghanistan war on the horizon, the military is cutting its ground force and falling back on air and sea forces to fight.
"What we are at risk of today is neglecting some of the hard-won lessons of our war in Iraq and our ongoing war in Afghanistan," McMaster told 130 people gathered for a luncheon of the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council…