#294 Pete Blaber - Part 1: Delta Force Commander on Roberts Ridge: The Battle of Takur Ghar

Pete Blaber and others emphasize that effective military leadership, especially in high-risk combat operations, is grounded in common sense, trust, contextual awareness, and maintaining a healthy organizational climate. Success depends less on rigid adherence to procedure and more on astute judgment, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and empowering the entire team to speak and act freely.

Foundational Principles of Effective Leadership in Combat Operations

Prioritize Common Sense In Strategic Decision-Making Over Rigid Protocols

Blaber and his peers insist that all military personnel ask for is the application of common sense in strategic decisions, valuing practical judgment over mindless bureaucracy. Within his unit, common sense replaces unwieldy standard operating procedures: there are no step-by-step manuals dictating exactly how to clear a building or what formation to use. Instead, teams adapt to the situation, building on tactics, techniques, and procedures as tools—not as shackles. Historical records or old methods serve as reference points, but not as unbreakable scripts; the goal is always adaptive risk assessment and problem-solving that fits the current reality.

Blaber recounts how discussions about things like using dogs for bunker clearing were rooted in operational value, not on outdated rules. He and his teammate Larry often weighed in on elaborate plans from higher headquarters, such as the misguided “empty target raid” after 9/11, identifying operational “cul-de-sacs” and stressing the need for real-time, ground-driven assessment. Shawn Ryan contrasts this with other units, where red tape—like inflexible rules for night-only flight ops—blocks the sort of pragmatic choices Delta Force values.

Delta Force Principles: Prioritize Contextual Awareness and Flexibility Over Procedures Through Environmental Understanding, Blending In, and Adaptive Problem-Solving

Blaber notes that upon joining the unit, he learned its closest thing to a charter was a set of three guiding principles: (1) understand what’s going on around you; (2) blend in anywhere; (3) realize the only failure is a failure to try. He sums these up as: learn, adapt, and interact in any situation. This framework demands that operators acclimate themselves to the environment, learn firsthand about the terrain and local nuances, and interact directly with people to develop context. Missions are tailored to needs—not by assigning fixed structures, but by grouping resources according to mission demands.

Leaders Must Prioritize Listening To Ground Personnel for Tacit Knowledge and Sensory Information

Deep respect for ground-level knowledge is a non-negotiable leadership value. Blaber and others stress that honest feedback and tacit knowledge from experienced personnel, like Larry, are invaluable. Decision-makers should always ask ground operators, “What’s your recommendation?” because the most accurate, up-to-date reality comes from those closest to the action. Blaber recounts instances where ignoring this frontline input led to flawed decisions, such as ignoring seasoned assessment that Russians could cut off their position by reaching a certain copse of trees.

Listening to the “guy on the ground” results in the surfacing of tacit information and nuggets of wisdom that top-down planning often misses. When leadership listens—like General Hagenbach, who reversed a withdrawal after receiving detailed situational updates from the ground—the outcome can pivot from disaster to breakthrough. Conversely, transferring missions to unprepared teams without their buy-in invites failure. Adaptation and input from those immersed in the environment keep both operators and missions safe and effective.

Building and Maintaining a Healthy Leadership Climate

Healthy Leadership Requires Choices From all Organizational Leaders, Not Just the Senior Commander, to Maintain Morale and Prevent Toxicity

A strong leadership climate is not the product of one charismatic commander but the sum of the choices of all leaders, formal and informal. Toxicity can fester beneath a well-intentioned senior leader if subordinate leaders act as tyrants. Therefore, it’s every leader’s duty to recognize and remove barriers to subordinate growth and success, and to actively prevent the rise of toxic personalities or practices.

Taking the temperature of an organizational climate means engaging with people across all ranks, talking (and listening) not just at but with them, and explicitly including team members like sergeant majors in the feedback loop. The climate is healthy when “the sun is shining, everything’s growing, everyone’s happy, and everyone takes pride in their home.” Leaders must continuously prune and tend to this climate, remaining alert for signs of dysfunction, since neglect can allow unhealthy culture to spread.

Freedom of Speech Empowers Subordinates to Raise Concerns and Prevent Catastrophic Decisions

Blaber views freedom of speech as a hallmark of a positive command climate. Encounters and dialogue should flow equally from private to general: leaders should be as accessible to concerns from the lowest ranks as to requests from senior officers. When personnel are empowered to challenge logic or voice objections to questionable orders—without fear of reprisal—it not only builds trust but also routinely prevents catastrophic errors.

Blaber states that leaders must be approachable and must foster a culture where they talk to everyone the same way, whether it’s a private or a general. Healthy debate and questioning are vital, as they facilitate the surfacing of ground-level data and honest critique that can alter mission plans for the better.

Leaders Must Eliminate Barriers Hindering Growth, Including Those Fostering Fear Over Trust

Leadership must be vigilant in removing friction points and fear-based barriers from the organization. If leaders tolerate bullies, naysayers, or “squashers of ideas,” morale and effectiveness will plummet and leaders themselves will lose the respect of their subordinates. Ultimately, maintaining a thriving climate is a constant, active responsibility.

Pre-digital Upbringing as Foundation For Combat Effectiveness

Pre-digital Children Developed Problem-Solving Skills Independently

Blaber credits his pre-digital childhood in Oak ...

The evolution of military command systems towards greater technological connectivity and remote oversight has created an environment where decision-makers are increasingly detached from the sensory realities of the battlefield. Pete Blaber, a veteran special operations commander, and Shawn Ryan highlight the recurring operational failures and unnecessary casualties rooted in this fundamental disconnect.

The Fundamental Problem of Remote Command and Control

Blaber describes a glaring flaw in hierarchical decision-making: commanders far removed from the battlefield lack the crucial "biologic" sensory information—sight, sound, smell, touch—needed for effective and responsible leadership. He emphasizes that direct sensory input, not filtered through screens or radios, is essential for making sense of a rapidly evolving combat environment. While technology such as secure communications, video feeds, and predator drone downlinks can provide a one-dimensional view of tactical events, they create an illusion of omniscience and control for generals who remain physically distant from the troops.

This false sense of command empowers leaders in tactical operations centers (“jocktocks”), comfortable and insulated, to micromanage battles like a video game. They become enthralled by the ability to issue orders remotely, forgetting that real infantry operations demand quick adaptation, improvisation, and a ground-level understanding of fear, chaos, and context—sensations invisible from afar. As Blaber notes, "decision-making and problem-solving by disconnected chains of command never has and never will be capable of making sense of the reality of the situation on the ground." Instead, such systems reliably produce confusion, out-of-touch questions, and orders that ignore ground realities in favor of bureaucratic, ego-driven procedures.

Takur Ghar Battle: Failure of Disconnected Command

The operation at Takur Ghar during the Afghanistan war serves as a prime example of how remote command leads to catastrophic decisions. Despite the presence of experienced ground leaders, a general ordered an unprepared SEAL Team 6 insertion onto a hostile mountain, ignoring those best positioned to assess the risks. The SEALs were given inadequate preparation, lacking vital acclimatization, environmental reconnaissance, equipment checks, and frequency coordination. Their concerns were dismissed, and protocol was breached by sending them into an ongoing operation without the necessary groundwork.

Communication chaos followed: mid-battle, command elements unilaterally changed radio frequencies without notifying key personnel on the ground, effectively severing lines of coordination. For 24 minutes during a key firefight, crucial calls went unheard as units cycled through the wrong communication nets. This confusion left the field artillery officer—remotely in charge by virtue of hierarchy despite a lack of infantry experience—scrambling to grasp the reality. He repeatedly ordered “assaults” and nearly directed fire onto friendly forces, misled by his misunderstanding of both the situation and military terminology.

The Ranger quick reaction force (QRF) was rushed into helicopters with no briefing, no satellite communication, and no knowledge of the mission or terrain. They were directed to land on a known enemy kill zone, earlier struck twice, exposing them to concentrated machine gun and RPG fire. The second QRF helicopter was similarly dispatched, with its Rangers climbing a mountain on foot only to be pinned down by accurate, coordinated enemy fire.

Logistical mismanagement also cost lives. Critically wounded medic Jason Cunningham bled out when his medevac was denied—commanders above the battlefield concluded it was too risky, refusing requests for urgent evacuation even after ground leaders secured the landing zone and pledged support. The command’s caution, rooted in an incomplete understanding of risk and tactical necessities, directly led to avoidable loss of life.

Blaber is unequivocal: “their deaths was the responsibility of this disconnected chain of command, micromanaging and ignoring when they needed it, ignoring the guys on the ground. This C2 system is broke hard."

Pattern of Micromanagement Across Multiple Conflicts

Blaber’s and Ryan’s criticism is not isolated to Takur Ghar. They highlight a pattern of slow, bureaucratic, and disconnected decision-making recurring across various modern battlefields. In Bosnia, multinational hierarchical structures forced all decisions through bottlenecks—American, British, and German generals in layered approval chains. This allowed Russian forces to seize the Pristina airfield unopposed while NATO command debated procedures, requiring 96-hour timetables for plans that should have taken hours.

A similar pattern occurred in Somalia’s Battle of Mogadishu. Here, commanders fixated on using Black Hawk helicopters as assault platforms, igno ...

Pete Blaber’s operational career traversed a series of major U.S. missions, each contributing critical lessons learned from both successes and failures in Panama, Colombia, Somalia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan.

Panama and Early Career Development

Spanish-Speaking Infantry Commanders Surpass Agency In Gathering Intelligence

Blaber’s leadership in Panama with 28 fluent Spanish speakers among his 111-man infantry company gave his unit a decisive intelligence edge. These Spanish-speaking personnel enabled direct communication and rapport with locals—critical for operations in Latin America. He observes that military units with language capabilities often gathered more actionable intelligence than agency personnel, who faced significant language barriers.

Language Barriers Hinder Intelligence; Spanish-Speaking Personnel Crucial in Latin America

Blaber’s early experiences revealed that the quality of intelligence was often directly tied to language fluency—particularly in Latin America, where local engagement was vital. Spanish-speaking soldiers could move freely and discreetly while gathering crucial insights, outpacing agency reports hampered by limited linguistic ability.

Colombia Operations Against Drug Cartels

Guiding Principles—Understand the Environment, Blend in, and Try—Ensured Success Against Medellín and Cali Cartels By Maintaining Low Visibility and Working Through Local Partners Instead of Displaying American Military Dominance

Blaber distilled his approach into three guiding principles: understand what’s going on around you, blend in anywhere, and recognize that the only failure is a failure to try. In Colombia, this meant immersing himself in local history, sharpening his Spanish, and studying both the FARC and ELN guerrilla groups that controlled much of the cocaine trade. Blending in also required business attire rather than military clothing to integrate with embassy and Colombian counterparts. Believing that Americans should not be visibly leading operations, Blaber let the Colombian HRT conduct high-profile targets such as Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel, both to avoid inflaming national sensitivities and to circumvent the risk of turning targets into anti-U.S. martyrs.

Agency Embassy Teams (CIA, DEA, Military) Hinder Collaboration, Special Operators Bridge Information Sharing

Blaber witnessed major challenges arising from the embassy “country team” system, where agencies (CIA, DEA, military) often competed rather than collaborated. Credit incentives fostered siloed information flows and inter-service rivalry, as different agencies sought to be the ones to “get Pablo” or dismantle a cartel for budgetary rewards. The majority of embassy team members rarely left secure compounds, resulting in out-of-touch battlefield reporting. Blaber and his special operations team were called in specifically to bridge these gaps and facilitate actionable intelligence sharing among agencies.

Civilian Ground Intelligence More Valuable Than Satellite Imagery In Locating Hidden Target

Actionable tips from local networks—such as running vehicle license plates through a Colombian database—regularly proved more effective than even satellite imagery. Satellite photos could confirm location, but it was the human networks and local records that led them to pivotal locations, such as cartel-command offices or hideouts.

Quick Action on Intelligence Enabled Successful Captures, as Delays Allowed Targets to Move

Blaber stressed the necessity of immediate action on “sigint hits” (signal intelligence). When a wiretap or electronic intercept indicated a cartel leader’s location, he rushed to alert Colombian partners and embassy liaisons, knowing any delay would allow targets to evade capture. This principle was tested repeatedly during operations leading to the takedown of both Medellín and Cali Cartel leaders, as in the successful raid arresting the Orella brothers, who were hidden in secret rooms.

Somalia and Aviation Integration

Helicopters Hide Little Birds' Faster, Safer Special Ops Infiltration

Blaber’s Somalia experience highlighted the profound tactical differences between using large helicopters like Black Hawks and small “Little Bird” helicopters. Black Hawks took 90 seconds to deliver troops and presented large targets for enemy fire. In contrast, Little Birds—compared by Blaber to “flying dirt bikes”—could quickly and stealthily insert operators in about 15 seconds, offering dramatically lower risk of casualties.

Mission Templates Limited Flexibility and Restricted Creative Solutions

Counterproductive reliance on rigid mission “templates” hampered innovation. Superiors, often personally invested in specific aviation platforms, overruled creative infiltration ideas—such as using disguised local vehicles—in favor of predictable helicopter packages. This tendency “fenced in” operations by restricting thinking to a narrow set of options and discouraged consideration of schedule patterns, alternate routes, or the use of disguises, ultimately curbing both surprise and effectiveness.

Bosnia: A Living Laboratory For Innovation

Innovation Thrives With Mission-Driven Operators

Describing Bosnia as a “living laboratory,” Blaber recounted near-total freedom for creative problem-solving. Teams invented and adapted technology, such as disguising antennae as household items or developing the “Kevlar tennis net” vehicle trap by collaborating with German scientists, adapting and spray-painting it to blend in with local surroundings.

Close Reconnaissance Identified Targets in Urban Areas Where US Military Presence Would Trigger Alerts

Operators dressed as road workers for urban reconnaissance and abductions to avoid arousing suspicion. They monitored the daily patterns of targets—such as following a war criminal to the market—then executed capture plans using civilian vehicles and teams in work attire, enhancing both familiarity and stealth.

Military Force Cannot Impose Democracy: Lessons From Capturing War Criminals In a Society With Historical Grievances

Operating against persons deeply embedded in ethnic and historical strife, Blaber’s teams studied centuries-old grievances dating back to 1389, blending into society rather than trying to impo ...

Orchestration and Justification For Starting Ukraine War

Pete Blaber and Shawn Ryan present the war in Ukraine as a consequence of U.S. foreign policy mismanagement, orchestrated largely by inexperienced Ivy League professionals from the State Department, CIA, EU officials, and Ukrainian oligarchs, along with influence from George Soros–funded NGOs. They argue that the 2014 Maidan protests in Kyiv, commonly seen as a rising popular movement, were actually heavily coordinated and manipulated by U.S. and Western interests. Evidence cited includes videos from 2014 and 2015 showing uniform props, paid protesters, and identical protest gear—suggesting a lack of authentic grassroots motivation.

Blaber claims a leaked call between Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Gregory Piatt shows the U.S. preselecting Ukraine’s next prime minister, and further alleges that the U.S. spent around $5 billion via USAID to install pro-U.S. Ukrainian politicians. The supposed grand strategy was to ignite ethnic conflict in the predominantly Russian-speaking east to destabilize Russia internally and encourage regime change against Putin—a move Blaber characterizes as dangerously naïve “kids playing with matches.”

The Ethnic Cleansing Campaign and International Law Violations

Following the overthrow of the democratically elected Yanukovych government (a result confirmed by the UN), Blaber claims neo-Nazis assumed control over key ministries in Ukraine, immediately sparking a campaign of shelling and military aggression against ethnic Russians in Donetsk and Luhansk. Between 2014 and 2021, he alleges 14,000 ethnic Russian civilians died in Eastern Ukraine due to artillery, mortar, and drone attacks.

The Ukrainian government, after 2015, imposed laws banning the Russian language, outlawed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and stopped pension payments to eastern regions, actions described as clear violations of the UN Charter of Human Rights. According to Blaber, these moves eliminated basic rights and triggered referenda in Donetsk and Luhansk, where 80% or more voted to secede and pursue self-governance or reunification with Russia.

Despite calls from ethnic Russians and their leaders for UN humanitarian investigations, the requests were dismissed, and Blaber states that severe ethnic cleansing in eastern Ukraine was ignored by both the UN and Western media.

Russia's Military Response as Humanitarian Intervention

Blaber compares Russia’s 2022 military intervention to an urgent act of trespass to stop an ongoing crime, arguing that Putin only acted after years of pleas from eastern oblasts and mounting deaths. He portrays Russia less as an invader and more as a humanitarian responder who acted reluctantly, trying for years to avoid NATO confrontation.

He also highlights that Crimea quickly voted, with approximately 89% turnout and about 85% support, to secede and rejoin Russia, citing the region’s historic naval base and symbolic significance. Donetsk and Luhansk similarly held referenda with over 80% support for independence. Putin resisted direct involvement until these democratic results and the humanitarian crisis compelled action.

The Propaganda War and Media Complicity

Blaber calls the conflict “the biggest propaganda war of all time,” criticizing Western media and governments for controlling the narrative and suppressing facts. He claims mainstream Western press coverage has been intentionally absent in eastern Ukraine to avoid exposing narratives that show Russian forces as liberators rather than occupiers—citing celebrations by locals and coverage of Ukrainian atrocities, such as staged massacres witnessed and reported by independent French journalists.

He accuses the U.S. government and allies (particularly during the Obama and Biden administrations) of teaming up with tech companies like Facebook and Twitter to coordinate propaganda, manage public opinion, and actively censor alternative narratives, marking the rise of what he terms the “censorship industrial complex.”

Current Casualties and Failed Strategy

Blaber alleges Ukrainian casualties are catastrophic, quoting hacked database figures of 1.25 million soldiers killed and noting ongoing losses of around 1,000 soldiers daily as of 2025, which, he argues, makes any military victory impossible. With Ukrainian industry devastated and corruption rampant, Ukraine’s war effort is portrayed as unsustainable.

Mass forced conscription is said to demonstrate the lack of genuine will to fight among the Ukrainian public; young men flee or resist, with viral footage showing violent recruitment tactics as both families and bystanders intervene. Blaber contends that, historically, no nation has ever won a war where soldier ...