Task & Purpose Task & Purpose

Crispin Burke

Major Crispin Burke has been serving on active duty in the U.S. Army since 2002. He is an Army aviator qualified in the UH-60 Black Hawk and the LUH-72 Lakota helicopters. His assignments include the 82nd Airborne Division during Hurricane Katrina, Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras, the 10th Mountain Division during the Iraq War, and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany. Major Burke administers the blog, "Wings Over Iraq." He has been featured in the New York Times, Small Wars Journal, Foreign Policy, World Politics Review, and the Wall Street Journal.

Recent articles from Crispin Burke

civil-military divide
The Long March
The Civil-Military Divide Extends All The Way To The Afghan Battlefield
A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache provides security during the combined arms demonstration hosted by the South Carolina Guard Air & Ground Expo at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, South Carolina, May 6, 2017.
The Long March
The Biggest Problems Facing Military Aviation, According To An Army Aviator
A military spouse goes through the growing pile of bills she is struggling to pay at her home.
Career
The Truth About Multi-Level Marketing Businesses And How They Hurt Military Members
Soldiers from the 36th Infantry Division, Texas Army National Guard observe a section of the Rio Grande River at sunset, Sept. 11, 2014.
News
No, The White House Can’t Actually Order The Guard To Sweep Up Immigrants
Laura Westley in Iraq.
Community
Overpaid, Oversexed And Over The Military: A Review Of ‘War Virgin’
A review of Laura Westley’s “War Virgin: My Journey Of Repression, Temptation And Liberation.”
A U.S. Army Soldier maneuvers a Talon Robot, designed to defeat improvised explosive devices, into position to gently picking up a baseball during Counter-IED training at Forward Operating Base Tagab, Oct. 15, 2013.
Leadership
What Major League Baseball Can Teach Us About Recruiting And Keeping Good Troops
Talent management in Major League Baseball offers lessons on recognizing, rewarding, and recruiting personnel.
Stryker WIN-T Inc 2 Evaluation
Leadership
We Preach Subordinate Empowerment, So Why Don’t We Practice It?
Army leaders claim they practice mission command, but it’s a different story behind closed doors.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, then 20th Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command Task Force 214 commander, speaks at a memorialization ceremony in the Campisi Alert Facility at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, June 13, 2013.
Community
5 Epic Military Leadership Fails Of This Decade
The last six years have not been without their share of bad behavior and consequences.
Screenshot from the Army's online newsletter, "Flightfax," issue number 51.
Humor
There’s Some Bizarre Humor Hidden In The Army’s Aviation Safety Magazine
The Army's online newsletter for aircraft safety also offers readers random one-liners embedded in its pages.
Barrage balloons floated by the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion seen above Omaha Beach during the first days of the Normandy invasion, June 1944.
History
‘Forgotten’ Reveals The Untold Story Of D-Day’s Heroic African-American Soldiers
New book highlights the history of the mostly African-American 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion that landed on the beaches of Normandy.