dreaming big dreams and working to make them come true. That’s the most important thing we do here: help boys find their dream and work with them to stick it. Dream until your dream comes true – but work hard to make it come true when you’re awake! Tell us about “Slim.” (People are wondering.) JN: When units change command in the U.S. Army, the incoming and outgoing commanders physically transfer possession of the unit guidon, a flag that represents the unit. I was saddened to learn that there wasn’t an equivalent totem that personifies The Haverford School, and decided to create one that played on my friends’ teasing that I was moving to Philadelphia to take over Hogwarts. Art Department Chair Chris Fox did a great job constructing Slim, the Voodoo Master of The Haverford School, and the flames shooting out of his skull seemed to be a fitting sign that responsibility for The Haverford School had been passed on to a new Headmaster. Since then, Slim has become an official member of my leadership team with his own School ID card, been kidnapped, acquired a voice (with a British accent, naturally) and a girlfriend, made a snow day call, and will soon be starring in a musical I’m working on with the Drama Department. Cleverly titled “Slim: The Musical,” it will feature songs like “Voodoo Child” by the great Jimi Hendrix and the Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” while sending a positive message of reverence for history, finding your path in life, and the value of the quest for true love, even if you have flashing red eyes. There is also a possibility that Slim’s ceremonial role may be reduced slightly when the School acquires a mace, but only if we can find one that doubles as a flamethrower. We know that you love reading and writing. What are you reading now, and what are a few books that you most often recommend to others? JN: My reading time has been diminished greatly over the past two years as I’ve been writing another book, this one about the past decade of war. I finished it Sept. 1 and have since been engaged in the fascinating process of designing a cover and maps, working with the copy editor on grammar and style, and choosing a title. I’m delighted to announce that Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice will be published by Penguin Press in October of this year; it will include a reading list of about two dozen books that have been important to my intellectual development. You were a Rhodes scholar – not too shabby! How did that come to pass, and can you tell us about your experience at Oxford? JN: I have been very fortunate to have had several mentors who have shaped my life in wonderful directions. The most important was Dan Kaufman, an Army lieutenant colonel teaching international relations at West Point when I met him in 1984. I had come to West Point intending to study electrical engineering; I literally didn’t know what international relations was. Dan changed my academic major and my life. He encouraged me to apply for the Rhodes, and I was very fortunate to be one of 32 Americans chosen my senior year at West Point
John Nagl with his wife Susi Varga, son Jack, Maggie the Lab, and Sparky the Jack Russell terrier.
to study at Oxford for two years. One other West Pointer was chosen that year, my friend Doug Fraley; it was while looking for him that I met Susi. After I served in Operation Desert Storm, Dan decided that the Army would send me back to Oxford to get my doctorate; my doctoral dissertation became my first book, Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam. It was that book that made General David Petraeus, who had been one of my West Point teachers as well, ask me to help him write the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. It’s all Cecil Rhodes’ fault! You’ve mentioned you want to start a film series at Haverford called “Movies Men Should Memorize.” Tell us about that, and what are a few of your favorite movies that men should memorize, and why? JN: I love movies. One of my few disappointments at The Haverford School has been the limited cultural literacy of the members of my leadership team and of the boys; they don’t get way too many of my jokes! In an attempt to solve that problem and prepare the boys for a life that makes full use of the wisdom accumulated in film during the past century, I’m hoping to start up a film seminar that shows classics like “The Princess Bride,” “Animal House” (“Knowledge is Good”), “Apocalypse Now,” “Despicable Me,” and “The Lego Movie.” Age appropriate, of course! I’d also like to invite our friends from Agnes Irwin and Baldwin to attend showings; although they’re movies that men should memorize, young ladies may enjoy them, too!
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