In my opinion, the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade “School of Excellence” is not only knowingly employing but promoting a neo-Nazi. His name is Dusty Miller. Having seen his work I believe his employment as a former instructor at the MI Captain’s Career Course was the initial step toward his personifying the Peter Principle at the Army’s 111th Military Intelligence Brigade “School of Excellence.”
“The Peter Principle is a concept in management theory in which the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate’s performance in their current role rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and “managers rise to the level of their incompetence.” – Wikipedia
Once apprised of my complaint about the mismanagement of the 35F All-Source curriculum by a former missile maintenance NCO, the Brigade commander asked “What does Ligon have against Bill Glessner?” This reminds me of Norman F. Dixon’s book On the Psychology of Military Incompetence in which he describes commanders pathological avoidance of problem solving by various techniques such as scapegoating (blaming the complainer). Considering everything I wrote I thought it would have been crystal clear it was the devastating impact Glessner’s ignorance was having on the instructors, students and the curriculum that concerned me. If it was simply a personality clash I wouldn’t bother. The same of what I write now.
I taught the M.I. Captain’s Career Course 1994-1996. Prior to that I had spent all my time in SF both enlisted and commissioned with the exception of a year in Korea as the Targeting Officer for Special Operations Command – Korea. Then the British instructors were SAS officers and NCOs assigned here to “cool off” after operations in Northern Ireland. These men were the real deal.
When I volunteered for mobilized retiree duty in 2006 I asked to return to Ft. Bragg. The army sent me back to Ft. Huachuca. The Brigade commander diverted me to the Captain’s Career Course telling me specifically to teach the COIN block of instruction in order to input my experience into the curriculum.
I was assigned to Block F (the COIN segment of the course) and shadowed the apparent subject matter expert, Dusty Miller, around observing “his” practical exercise North Star (unclassified). At the time, Miller’s desk was crowded into the same small office as the committee chief’s. This made it impossible for any of the instructors to have a private conversation with the committee chief -many of which were about Miller’s bullying and issues with the North Star scenario.
Miller was a retired British Counterintelligence officer. He left a letter written by Battalion Commander LCol. Riehle to the State Department “Granting Miller U.S. citizenship was critical to national security” conspicuously on top of a book shelf in the committee chief’s office near the key locker. Miller was no rocket scientist. He insisted on eating at the German restaurant in town. During a conversation one day Miller burst out with “THOSE BLOODY, BLACK BASTARDS!” Comments like those, his penchant for German food, and his Nazi North Star exercise, in my opinion, reveal his reasons for both emigrating from England and the North Star scenario.
Miller always reminded me of the TRADOC accolades. It reminded me of the commercial “But we all bundle!” I wondered if Riehle or TRADOC ever actually looked at the lesson plan or been in the classroom. Student critiques consistently praised North Star as the greatest thing since slice bread. Understandably so. In comparison to the previous interminable weeks of stultifying, pure MI curriculum, North Star – “anything not intel related” in the students’ words- would have been eagerly received by mind-numbed students.
Teaching them to be Naziis destroying U.S. forces shouldn’t be one of them.
The North Star exercise consisted of a scenario in which German SS troops invade and occupy England during World War II. Student captains role played German SS intelligence officers with the mission of destroying U.S. forces. Miller’s role, of course, was as the SS Kommandant.
Aside from the moral and – in Miller’s case – Freudian implications there arose some technical anomalies I couldn’t ignore. To do so would have let the students graduate with an incorrect concept of what COIN is and errors in analysis. It had also come to my attention Miller had threatened students with expulsion from the captain’s course if they complained about the exercise. I was also told some student captains were so “in role” they were giving the Seig Heil salute and pasting swastikas over the windows of the classroom doors. [Note: there are some startling similarities between Miller’s North Star and sociological studies in which teachers get students to adopt aberrant group behavior. One Scandinavian movie dramatized this by having the high school students all wear white shirts. Eventually the teacher had them saluting him with their bladed hands across their chests (a quasi Heil Hitler). The class nonconformist committed suicide and the group leader committed murder.] Miller plagiarized the North Star scenario from a British TV show in the ‘80s.
There were a considerable number of captains who didn’t know Germany had not invaded England during WW II! In my opinion, Miller was a historical revisionist living a frustrated fantasy as well as a Nazi.
Each time time I tried developing a discussion among the instructors about the North Star, fear of Miller’s temper suppressed free thought. It came to a head as I followed Miller into a classroom one day. A message had been received reporting civilian clothes were stolen off a clothes line. Miller asked the classroom leader what that indicated. The student captain didn’t know. Not unreasonable without any further information. Miller said “It’s obviously a U.S. Special Forces team operating in the area!” This may seem trivial to some but it crystalized the difference between having an actual Special Forces captain develop a COIN exercise and a British pseudo-spook. I waited for the student leader – anyone- to ask the obvious question. No one did. As Miller wheeled about on his heels, I asked the student leader “Would you accept a mission to operate in hostile terrain if you had to infil without proper and sufficient clothing?” He, of course, said no. Miller turned around quite irritated. I asked “What does stealing civilian clothes tell you?” Student leader:”Whoever is doing it didn’t expect to be there.” “Right!” I was getting excited seeing the actual analytical wheels turning in his head. “Who else could it be in the AO but not expect to be equipped properly?” I asked. “A downed pilot” he said (there had been allied air sorties over the occupied AO). Bingo! I was actually pretty proud of him. Miller was not pleased and quit talking to me from then on. The emperor had no clothes.
Shortly after, during lunch one day, Miller walked to the front of my desk demanding we discuss things. First, I was sick and told him so –repeatedly- and didn’t feel like having that conversation today. Secondly, there were students in the room and it was impolitic to discuss differences in front of them. Miller exploded. He leaned over my desk with a bladed hand in my face yelling “I’M THE FUCKING 2IC HERE AND WHAT I SAY GOES!” I calmly asked him if that is what it said in his contract. He was a defense contractor instructor. I was an active duty U.S. army captain. In my book the bars (or any active duty rank) beats a contractor. I went to the committee chief – a newly promoted LCOL – who tried to be invisible. I went to LCOL Riehle, the battalion commander, who said “You people think you’re smarter than everyone else don’t you!” That made me angry. During my in-briefing with Riehle made a point of mentioning I graduated from BYU – and followed with the usual bigoted “some of my best friends are Mormon”. “You people…(fill in sarcastic comment)” whether referring to race or creed is code for bigotry.
I decided to look in Miller’s inner sanctum – a locked office on the other side of the building. It was a temple to Naziism. Every page of the instructor copies of the practical exercise were emblazoned with the swastika. There were propaganda leaflets showing the Statue of Liberty bent over being raped by an SS storm trooper, Uncle Sam being beaten, the American flag being goose-stepped on, and other symbols of America being disgraced. It was like being inside Miller’s head.
I didn’t ask for this situation. I wasn’t the one that threatened and bullied. I tried resolving it in a collegial manner and was bullied or ignored. Miller’s tantrum in front of students, yelling in my face and Riehle’s religious sarcasm crossed the line. I wrote a five-page complaint to EO. The 111th MI Brigade commander said “there’s nothing to see here.” I was removed from the COIN block and relegated to teaching one week of the two week Guard/Reserve Captain’s Course. I relished the assignment. I tasked student teams to select countries from the StratFor website in which there was current political instability, conduct an Area Study using the SF format, identify three High Value Targets and develop a Target Intelligence Package on the highest priority target. Despite the time crunch they did very well. I advised them to keep their work on disks because odds were they may use them. A few did. [NOTE: this is something non-intel personnel can do on their own and be just as good analysts – if not better! Contact the SF O&I committee at Bragg for the formats, curriculum]
Miller, in true Peter Principle fashion, is now writing curriculum for the entire 111th MI Brigade school house. Having never served in the U.S. military. Having never been an analyst. Having no qualifying civilian education (to my knowledge). He’s not the only one. Such mileage from accents!
To be an effective teacher one must think outside the (TRADOC / Phd.Ed) box.
Non-technical intel curriculums (35F, 35D) courses should be reclassified as Additional Skill Identifier (ASI) qualifying correspondence courses for actual combat arms personnel. Cut out the middle man.
