Tequila Junction: 4th Generation Counterinsurgency

Through an inverted military career, H. John Poole has discovered a few things that more promotable people miss. After spending 2 out of his first 4 years as a combat commander, he did his last 7 as an enlisted tactics instructor. That allowed him to see why U.S. troops have always had so much trouble with counterinsurgency, and short-range combat in general. Their tactical techniques are quite simply outmoded. Those techniques are so unlikely to surprise a "woods-wise" defender as to be "premachinegun" in format. This oversight on the part of their commanders and how it can be corrected forms much of the framework of Poole's work. Since retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1993, Poole has has traveled extensively in the Communist and Islamist worlds and written 15 other tactics and intell. manual supplements. He has also conducted multiday training sessions for 41 U.S. battalions, 9 schools, and 7 special operations units. As most U.S. intelligence personnel know too little about the Eastern thought process and evolution of squad tactics, these supplements provide currently deployed GIs with a rare glimpse into their enemy's intentions. Poole has been to the following Caribbean nations: Bahamas, Turks & Cacos, Caymans, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Antigua, Guadaloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad, and Aruba. He has lived in Mexico and Panama and revisited both places on several occasions. He has also visited every other Central American country except Belize. As for South America, he has traveled recently to Venezuela, and previously through Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Between early tours in the Marine Corps (from 1969 to 1971), Poole worked as a criminal investigator for the Illinois Bureau of Investigation (IBI). After attending the State Police Academy for several months in Springfield, he worked out of the IBI's Chicago office on general criminal and drug cases.