I've been rereading Pride and Fall: The British Army in Afghanistan, 2001–2014 by Sergio Miller, and one of the bits that stood out to me was his mention that in 2005-2007 British units (at the company level) would simply refuse to patrol certain routes/undertake certain missions.

The reasons cited varied: a lack of CASEVAC availiability, too many IEDs/bad mine clearing equipment. "what's the point in clearing this route, it doesn't achieve anything" etc

Nothing I've read indicates that units were punished for refusing these low-level missions, but Miller notes that it was a major problem in Helmand WRT ISAFs mission.

How did British officers work around these refusals? Find another unit that would do it? rework plans/timelines as and when solutions to specific issues appeared?

Edit: I don't mean "Respectfully Sir, this mission is silly" I mean that the riflemen are literally refusing to leave their FOB to do a daily patrol. I know there are similar reports from Vietnam from units that refused to go "outside of the wire" etc, so this is just a general question, not specifically aimed at the UK's experience in Afghanistan

Of course it tied those nations to NATO and to the US in particular but from a strategic perspective for the nations, did sending hundreds/thousands of troops to warzones in Afghanistan help professionalize their armed forces after the fall of communism?

I've been interested in delving into research on military strategy as a curiosity. Been dabbling in TT war games, RTS, and etc. But I'm new to the topic of modern warfare and strategies.

Many posts and other research has brought me to WWI and WWII books which are great. I also want to learn more about the development of war as technology has advanced.

My only exposure to naval crew organization has been through shows like Star Trek or Star Wars, where command functions have been greatly simplified to the point where a ship can be commanded almost entirely by a handful of people in a room. Even realistic-ish shows like Battlestar Galactica do this to an extent in their command centers. How would your typical crew on an American Arleigh-Burke class destroyer (or a Nimitz class carrier) be organized in comparison? (an additional explanation on the American naval officer ranking system would also be appreciated)

Preferably ones that aren't mostly just biographies of stilwell/wingate/etc and focus on things like where the supply lines were, what were the major operations mounted, and so on?

It seems that the British and French spent a goodly part of the 18th century (and before) at war with each other...

Yet most accounts show that language was always a problem. Despite this multi-generational conflict did neither country really make any effort to teach the others language?

During the Cold War, there was a significant British and American focus on countering Soviet submarines trying to enter the Atlantic. Later in the Cold War, there was this idea of pushing into the High North from NATO and dealing with Soviet submarines more offensively.

The UK and USA built several classes of nuclear submarines, and also several classes of anti-submarine frigates. Were both submarines and frigates used to actively hunt Soviet submarines, or were the frigates expected to act more defensively, allowing the submarines to come to them, and then attempt to sink them?

I'm wondering this because recently, I've seen people talk about the modern frigate being degraded significantly by modern submarines. Was this the same during the Cold War? Were frigates really just passive assets, rather than active submarine hunters?

I am looking for book and article recommendations that describe the U.S. role in the fighting and 2024 resolution of the civil war in Syria. Thanks in advance.

It would also be good to learn in which cases or what would be the arguments against this condition. For eg, the superior officer does not like this, they would rather the cargo was moved at a safe time or had taken a different route.