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Ben Connable

Independent Research Leader, Consultant, Professor
- Adjunct Security Studies Professor at Georgetown
- Principal Research Scientist, Center for Naval Analyses
- Senior Research Advisor to DT Institute
- Author of the forthcoming book, Ground Combat

I direct and conduct research on regional security and development, on conflict and strategy, and on the cultural influences on human behavior.

This website aggregates my published research and commentary for public access.

Groundcombat.org

Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War (Ben Connable, Georgetown University Press) will be published in March 2025. It is available for pre-order.

Groundcombat.org describes the book and also includes the Ground Combat Quiz and (in March 2025) will include a download site for the Ground Combat Database-Version 1 (GCD-V1). Visit this site to have your email address added to a notification list for database release (no marketing) and to take the challenging quiz.

groundcombat.org

Take the Quiz

New and Relevant

My most recent and/or most relevant reports and commentary

Ground Combat PRE-ORDER NOW

Pre-order link to my forthcoming book, Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War

Groundcombat.org

Russian Will to Fight in Ukraine (2024)

Continuing to degrade Russia's military and its economy is the right strategy to break Russian will to fight in Ukraine (War On The Rocks)

The Battle of Irpin River (2024)

Primary-source battlefield study of the Battle of Irpin River in Ukraine in 2022, details on combat and on the Ukrainian rush to defend Kyiv

Give All Our M1 Tanks and Cold War Gear to Europe, Ukraine (2023)

Lawfare article arguing for full, thoughtful disbursement of all our Cold War combat gear to Europe and Ukraine

Combat Morale Podcast - Will to Fight (2023)

Combat Morale Podcast discussion about the RAND will-to-fight work and its impact

Listen

Character of War Podcast (2023)

Controversy & Clarity podcast on the character of modern war research, Marine Corps force design, will to fight, et al.

Listen

Assessment of War Podcast (2023)

U.S. Army War College War Room podcast with LTG Eric Wesley talking about assessment of the Afghanistan campaign and in the future

Listen

How to Assess the Will to Fight (2023)

This is a roadmap for organizations looking to build a will-to-fight assessment capability.

Primary Source Research Ukraine (2022)

Argues for more primary source research in Ukraine and in other conflict zones, getting focused researchers on the ground

Digital Twin for Simulation (2022)

Improve military simulation through the use of biopsychosocial modeling and the use of digital twins

Demonstration Armies are Weak Armies (2022)

Lawfare article on the weaknesses exhibited by Russia's demonstration army and what it means for Western security force assistance

Iraq Track II Report (2022)

Atlantic Council report recommending policy options for the Government of Iraq