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

This interview features retired Colonel Pete Blaber, a former Delta Force commander who served at every level of the unit and authored 'The Mission, The Men and Me.' The conversation covers his childhood development of common sense principles through pre-digital era independence, his military career from Rangers to Delta Force, and major operations across multiple conflicts.

Blaber begins by describing how growing up in the pre-digital era taught critical skills: unstructured problem solving, adaptive risk calculation, and trusting one's senses. These foundational abilities shaped his military approach. He discusses joining the military after being inspired by the failed Iran hostage rescue mission at Desert One, eventually making it through Delta Force selection despite a memorable encounter with wild pigs during the long walk.

A significant portion focuses on his analysis of the Ukraine war, which he calls 'the propaganda war.' Blaber claims the conflict was orchestrated by the Obama administration through State Department officials like Victoria Nuland and Jake Sullivan, who engineered fake Maidan protests to overthrow Ukraine's democratically elected government. He argues this led to ethnic cleansing of Russian populations in Eastern Ukraine, resulting in 14,000 civilian deaths between 2014-2021, and that Russia's 2022 intervention was actually a rescue mission rather than an unprovoked invasion. He estimates Ukrainian military casualties at 1.25 million.

Blaber details his operational experiences, including Colombia where he helped capture Pablo Escobar's associates and the Cali cartel through innovative intelligence gathering. He describes Bosnia operations capturing war criminals using creative techniques like the 'Kevlar Tennis Net' for vehicle interdiction.

The interview extensively covers the Battle of Takur Ghar (Roberts Ridge) during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan. As AFO (Advanced Force Operations) commander, Blaber led the intelligence gathering that located Al-Qaeda forces in the Shahi Kot Valley. However, he criticizes the micromanagement by disconnected headquarters that led to tragic decisions, including forcing SEAL teams into premature insertion without proper preparation time. The battle resulted in multiple casualties including Neil Roberts, John Chapman, and Jason Cunningham due to what Blaber characterizes as catastrophic command and control failures by generals operating from remote TOCs rather than listening to ground commanders.

Throughout, Blaber emphasizes that modern military failures stem from disconnected hierarchical decision-making that ignores the principle of 'always listen to the guy on the ground.' He argues this same flawed command structure has been exported to Ukraine with similarly disastrous results.