Jim Gant
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Jim Gant is a former
United States Army Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, is a branch of the United States Army United States Army Special Operations Comm ...
officer. He served for over 50 months in combat in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
and was wounded seven times. He was awarded a
Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...
for his actions in the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
in 2007, and wrote an influential monograph on Afghanistan titled ''One Tribe at a Time: A Strategy for Success in Afghanistan''. Following his last deployment in 2010–12, he was relieved of command and forced to retire after violating military regulations and conducting an extramarital affair with reporter Ann Scott Tyson at his combat outpost in
Kunar Province Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- ...
, Afghanistan. Gant has been credited with inspiring the creation of the
Afghan Local Police The Afghan Local Police (ALP) was a US- UK sponsored local law enforcement agency, defence force and militia in Afghanistan as part of the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs. Formed primarily as a local defence force against Taliban insurgen ...
and the strategy of
Village Stability Operations A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...
in Afghanistan.


Military career

Gant grew up in Las Cruces,
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. He enlisted in the Army in 1986 and became a Special Forces communications sergeant, participating in the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
as an advisor to Egyptian forces. Gant later became an officer and deployed as a captain to Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004 and Iraq in 2006–7. Leading Operational Detachment Alpha 316, Gant deployed to
Kunar Province Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- ...
, Afghanistan in spring 2003 and was based at Forward Operating Base Asadabad. Gant's team was one of the first American units to enter the
Korengal Valley Korangal Valley (alternatively spelled Korengal, Kurangal, Korangal; ), also nicknamed "The Valley of Death" is a valley in the Dara-I-Pech District of Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan. Agriculture and forestry The valley is formed by a ...
. They also operated in Mangwal and built a strong relationship with the Mohmand tribe and its ''
malik Malik (; ; ; variously Romanized ''Mallik'', ''Melik'', ''Malka'', ''Malek'', ''Maleek'', ''Malick'', ''Mallick'', ''Melekh'') is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic d ...
'', Noor Afzal. Gant returned from Kunar in October 2003 but deployed again, to
Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto language, Pashto/Dari language, Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering ...
, in 2004. Gant also served in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
for 13 months in 2006–7, advising an
Iraqi Police The Iraqi Police (IP) is the uniformed police force responsible for the enforcement of civil law in Iraq. Its organisation, structure and recruitment were guided by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, ...
battalion. On December 11, 2006, Gant's team in Iraq was attacked in a complex ambush on the road between Balad and
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
. On May 3, 2007, Gant was awarded a
Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...
for valor for his actions during the 2006 ambush.


''One Tribe at a Time''

In October 2009, Gant wrote an influential paper titled ''One Tribe at a Time: A Strategy for Success in Afghanistan''. Gant first published the paper on the website of Stephen Pressfield, a historical fiction novelist who is popular in military circles. The paper reached a wider audience after its publication on the '' Small Wars Journal'' website. In ''One Tribe at a Time'', Gant argued that the United States should leverage the
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
tribal system in Afghanistan by creating "Tribal Engagement Teams" that would embed at the village level and work with locals to build security. General
David Petraeus David Howell Petraeus (; born 7 November 1952) is a retired United States Army General (United States), general who served as the fourth director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 2011 until his resignation in November 2012. Pri ...
called the paper "very impressive," and General
Stanley McChrystal Stanley Allen McChrystal (born 14 August 1954) is a retired United States Army General (United States), general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 during which his organization was credited w ...
distributed it to all commanders in Afghanistan. The paper received some criticism for promoting "nativist mythologies" but, according to Paula Broadwell, it helped inspire Petraeus to create the
Afghan Local Police The Afghan Local Police (ALP) was a US- UK sponsored local law enforcement agency, defence force and militia in Afghanistan as part of the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs. Formed primarily as a local defence force against Taliban insurgen ...
. Admiral Eric T. Olson, the commander of
United States Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States A ...
, supported Gant's concept as well, and in November 2009 Lieutenant General John Mulholland offered Gant an opportunity to redeploy to Afghanistan to implement his ideas.


Final deployment

Gant returned to Afghanistan in June 2010, and was stationed in the village of Mangwal where he had served in 2003. In September 2010, reporter Ann Scott Tyson took a leave of absence from ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' and went to Kunar to live with Gant for nine months, in violation of military regulations. Gant and his unit built relationships with the tribes by wearing traditional Afghan clothing instead of uniforms and learning
Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
. Gant himself carried Islamic prayer beads, rode on horseback, and had Pashto words tattooed on his wrists. He remained in Kunar for 22 months and achieved significant operational success. General Petraeus called him "the perfect counterinsurgent" and compared him favorably to
T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during the Arab Revolt and Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the First W ...
, calling him "Lawrence of Afghanistan." Petraeus made Mangwal a "showcase" for his counterinsurgency strategy, and congressional delegations such as those of
Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (; born July 9, 1955) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A membe ...
and
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
visited the village. By the middle of 2011, Gant had recruited 1,300 Afghan Local Police. At the same time, Gant was suffering from severe
post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...
. He allegedly drank alcohol during the deployment, which is prohibited by Army regulations, and "self-medicated" with pain medication. In early 2012, as Gant was in the process of moving from Mangwal to the nearby village of Chowkay, he came in contact with First Lieutenant Thomas Roberts, a
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
graduate who had recently arrived to Kunar. Roberts reported to his chain of command that Gant was engaging in "immoral and illegal activities and actions". After the subsequent investigation Gant was relieved of command, demoted to the rank of captain, and given an official reprimand by Lieutenant General Mulholland. He retired from the military soon afterwards. Gant's actions led him to be compared to
Colonel Kurtz Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, portrayed by Marlon Brando, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film ''Apocalypse Now''. Colonel Kurtz is based on the character of a nineteenth-century ivory trader, also cal ...
from the 1979 film ''
Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkn ...
''. During his career he served for over 50 months in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and was wounded seven times. After the
death of Osama bin Laden Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
, U.S. forces found a copy of ''One Tribe at a Time'' in bin Laden's compound, along with a document in which bin Laden mentioned Gant by name and said that he "needed to be removed from the battlefield". Gant has been credited with inspiring the Village Stability Operations (VSO) strategy which was widely employed by special operations forces in Afghanistan.


Later life

Tyson and Gant have married and live in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, Washington. In 2014, Tyson wrote a book about Gant titled ''American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant''. In 2021, Gant participated in the efforts of
Task Force Pineapple Task Force Pineapple is a task force set up by a volunteer group of U.S. veterans to evacuate American citizens, as well as Afghan allies and their families, following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. As of 30 August 2021, the group had e ...
to evacuate Afghan allies during the Fall of Kabul.


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links


Video: Author Ann Scott Tyson's Guntruck Hit By Roadside IED Blast – ABC News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gant, Jim United States Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) United States Army personnel of the Iraq War Military personnel from New Mexico People from Las Cruces, New Mexico United States Army officers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)