The Operational Arch

In this episode, hosts Major DJ Taylor and Major Evelyn Payne sit down with Major General (Ret.) James "Spider" Marks — decorated Army intelligence officer, Georgetown University professor, and CNN military analyst — for a wide-ranging conversation on operational planning, intelligence, and leadership.
General Marks draws on over 30 years of service, including his roles as Senior Intelligence Officer during the 1992 LA Riots and Operation Iraqi Freedom, to share hard-won lessons on anticipating threats, bridging the gap between tactical and strategic objectives, and navigating the complexity of modern military operations. He also tackles the growing role of AI on the battlefield, the challenge of controlling the narrative in an information-saturated environment, and what it truly means to keep it simple as a planner and leader.
Whether you're a SAMS student, a field grade officer, or a student of strategy, this episode delivers candid, experience-driven insight into the art of operational thinking.
Timestamps0:00 — Producer intro / Episode overview
1:01 — Show intro & Guest bio (MG Spider Marks)
2:27 — Advising operational leaders in a volatile world
5:10 — AI, screens, and staying in the loop
8:01 — Managing complex organizations and decision-making
10:18 — Linking political objectives to tactical goals
15:16 — What he'd do differently as a planner
17:43 — Understanding the operational environment with limited time (AI, outside experts)
22:09 — Formalizing informal relationships
25:50 — DSCA & the LA Riots
36:28 — How to see around corners today
39:20 — Controlling the narrative in the age of instant media
42:50 — Who influenced him most
46:18 — Parting advice to SAMS students

Major Spencer Bates sits down with Colonel Ethan Diven, the US Army Command and General Staff College Commandant, and former Commander of Operations Group at the NationalTraining Center, to explore the evolving challenges facing the operational force. From multi-domain competition to professional military education reform, COL Diven draws on a career spanning NTC, Afghanistan, Operation Octave Quartz,and Operation Allies Refuge to deliver hard-won lessons on planning, leadership, and the responsibility of field-grade officers.
Colonel Diven's key take-aways?
1.    Ruthlessly protect your time to think while in PME — it is the point.
2.    Leadership is always required in an operational planning team, from any position.
3.    Army University exists to accelerate observations from the contemporary environment and reimagine how education is delivered — with war fighting always at the core.
 Timestamps
0:50 — Introduction & Guest Background
2:13 — Current Challenges Facing the Operational Force
6:11 — Building Better Divisions: Evolving from Brigade-Centric to Division-Level War Fighting
9:19 — Multi-Domain Operations: NTC Initiatives & Incorporating MDO Challenges
12:16 — Building Jointness: Initiatives Across the Services
14:02 — Army University's Role in Developing Future Leaders
16:25 — What the Force Expects from Field Grade Graduates
19:40 — Building the Operational Artist: The Transformative Experience of PME
21:22 — Humility, Responsibility & Self-Awareness as a Leader
23:16 — Value-Added from Day One: What Graduates Must BeUpon Returning to the Force
25:43 — How PME Translates to Real-World Campaigning
26:47 — Operation Octave Courts: Repositioning fromSomalia Under Constraints
30:32 — Bridging Strategy to Execution: Critical Transitions in Joint Operations
32:21 — Operation Allies Refuge: Planning in a Contested & Rapidly Evolving Environment
35:48 — Planning Across Distributed Teams: Managing Time, Space & Coordination
37:39 — The Power of Assumptions in Operational Planning
39:53 — Key Takeaways & Closing Thoughts

In this episode of The Operational Arch, hosts Spencer Bates and DJ Taylor sit down with Lieutenant General Chun In-bum (Ret.), former commander of the Republic of Korea Special Warfare Forces and U.S. Army War College graduate, for a wide-ranging conversation on the enduring U.S.-ROK alliance. General Chun explores the deep historical, cultural, and security ties that bind the two nations — from Korea's democratic founding under American mentorship to the shared sacrifices of the Vietnam War. The discussion shifts to the operational challenges of the Korean Peninsula, including terrain, deterrence, the importance of adaptive planning, and the combined Second Infantry Division as a model for allied partnership. The episode closes with a sobering look at North Korea's battlefield performance in Ukraine, the growing Russia-DPRK relationship, and General Chun's call for greater focus on civil-military relations and cognitive warfare as the defining challenges of the modern era. 
0:00     Guest Introduction & Overview— Introduction of Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Chun In-bum, ROK Armed Forces
1:50     The U.S.-ROK "Blood Alliance"
7:05     Cultural Ties: Religion, Education & K-Culture
10:36    Security Challenges: China, Japan & the North Korean Threat
14:13    "Never Underestimate the North Koreans"
16:21    Campaigning on the Korean Peninsula
19:34    Simple Ops, Detailed Logistics: the key to effective combined operations
21:52    The ROK as Partner, Not Competitor
31:09    The KPA in Ukraine: Motivation, Indoctrination & Vulnerability
41:04    Civil-Military Relations & Cognitive Warfare: the defining challenges of the modern era

In this episode of The Operational Arch, hosts Spencer Bates and DJ Taylor sit down with Steven Box, founder and CEO of Vanguard Tactics and a top-ranked competitive Warhammer coach, alongside SAMS professor Matt Yandura. The conversation explores how Box's "IDEA" framework — developed over years of competitive tabletop wargaming and coaching — maps surprisingly well to military decision-making: gathering the right information under time pressure, making rapid decisions, executing with composure, and assessing outcomes to adapt. The episode also digs into why SAMS invited an outside expert from a non-traditional field and what operational planners can learn from embracing failure, coaching others, and considering future operating environments.

Content:
0:00 — Intro & episode overview
2:31 — Steven Box's background: from Royal Navy aptitude tests to volleyball, bodybuilding, and Warhammer
7:42 — What is Warhammer? A layman's explanation
9:03 — Why SAMS brings in outside experts: Professor Yandura on SAMS' mandate to experiment
11:31 — Introducing the IDEA framework (the "Box Method")
12:10 — I — Information: Gathering the right info under time pressure; SWOT analysis on the battlefield
15:05 — D — Decision: Translating information into decisive action; identifying priorities and trade-offs
18:47 — E — Execution: Resource allocation, composure under pressure, managing variance
21:14 — A — Assessment: What went well, what didn't, and when to pivot
23:57 — Coaching philosophy: meeting people where they are and building from there
25:31 — The value of purposeful failure and learning from losses
32:41 — SAMS' Future Operating Environment course: forecasting, futures thinking, and speculative scenarios
45:32 — Closing takeaways & acknowledgments (CGSC Foundation shoutout)

In this episode of The Operational Arch, host Major DJ Taylor hands the mic over to three key SAMS leaders: Mr. Kirk Dorr (Deputy Director of the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS)), Dr. Bruce Stanley (Director of the Advanced Military Studies Program (AMSP)), and Colonel Paul Godson (Deputy Director of AMSP). Together, they pull back the curtain on the Advanced Military Studies Program, covering what it is, what it produces, and exactly how officers can go from being curious about the program to becoming a competitive applicant. They dispel myths about AMSP as merely a "planners' school" and show how the program develops leaders to meet the Army's most demanding missions as experts in Army and joint doctrine, leading diverse operational planning teams, and enabling senior leaders. The ten-month program focuses on warfighting, operational art, and the critical and creative thinking required to anticipate and adapt to rapid change on the modern battlefield.
0:00 Intro and Guest Introductions
4:20 How Has AMSP Changed Over the Years?
8:48 What Does the Operational Force Expect from Graduates?
10:16 What Attributes Define a Strong AMSP Student?
14:25 The Flow of the Academic Year (June–May)
19:52 How to Get Competitive / The Application Process
23:36 The AMSP Exam and Interview
27:19 Selection , the HRC Marketplace, & Recent Process Changes
35:22 How to Prepare / Tips for Applicants
44:40 "What If I Don't Want to Be a Planner?"
46:10 Family Considerations
49:57 What Should Every Graduate Take With Them?
52:51 Closing Remarks