Military History Book Club – June 2026

Expectation of Valor – Col Kevin Benson

Prestonwood CC, 15909 Preston Road, Dallas, TX. Please arrive by 7:30 a.m. to order from the menu.  Breakfast is $15.  Discussion: from 7:30 to 9:00

Thomas Woloszyn –  Colonel Tom Woloszyn, USA, Ret. retired after a 30-year Army career and recently  retired from the Department of the Army where his last assignment was the Civilian Deputy of Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Tom is a specialist in Nuclear, Chemical, Biological weapons Radiological Defense officer and an Army strategist.

                                                   “Expectation of Valor is a master class in operational planning and high-level staff work. It is a must-read for field grade officers and planners of all services. It also will reward any reader interested in the mechanics of large-scale conflict.” ― ARMY Magazine

Given the length of time the United States spent in Iraq, there is a perception that there was no consideration before the war of what should be done after coalition forces arrived in Baghdad and removed Saddam Hussein. However as this unofficial history reveals, there was a great deal of planning to address how to achieve the policy objectives for Iraq set by the Bush administration. Kevin Benson—director of plans for the United States Third Army, the ground forces command headquarters for GEN Franks’ Central Command, at the start of the war—details the development of the invasion plan and its subsequent execution from D-Day in March 2003 until the change of command of operations in Iraq and the departure of Third Army in June 2003.

He addresses the persistent trope that “the Army did no planning” for “Phase IV,” revealing that extensive plans were proposed, and were met with very little interest in Washington. The book covers the difficulties encountered in dealing with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, from getting his approval on the number of forces requested to conducting the campaign to find the “smoking gun” of WMD; the instructions given to Army, Marine and coalition forces; and the daily secure video teleconferences with Central Command and the Pentagon, and the rather remarkable conversations and guidance that came from these meetings.

RSVP to Bob Epstein at: macabee1948@gmail.com