Caslen shares hard lessons of war termination in new book

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, Jr., the former chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, conducts a presentation and discussion on his recently published book, The Impossible Mission, during the Distinguished Speaker Series event hosted by the CGSC Foundation and its Simons Center at the Riverfront Community Center in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas on Oct. 15, 2025.

The CGSC Foundation and its Simons Center hosted the fourth lecture of the 2025 Distinguished Speaker Series at the Riverfront Community Center in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas on Oct. 15, 2025. In this installment of the series, retired Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, Jr., the former chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, conducted a presentation and discussion on his recently published book The Impossible Mission. The evening began with a reception, followed by Simons Center Director John Nelson welcoming the attendees and recognizing sponsors. Toward the end of the dinner period Nelson introduced Caslen.

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, Jr., the former chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, conducts a presentation and discussion on his recently published book, The Impossible Mission, for attendees of the InterAgency Brown-Bag Lecture Series hosted by the CGSC Foundation and it’s subordinate program, the Arthur D. Simons Center for Ethical Leadership and Interagency Cooperation on Oct. 15, 2025, in the Arnold Conference Room of the Lewis and Clark Center on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

In his presentation, Caslen explained how the U.S. decision to go to war in Iraq was controversial, but the decision to terminate the Iraq war should have been even more controversial. The main thesis in his presentation and the book was that after eight-and-a half years of war, and the sacrifice of 4,614 Americans, it is critical that we as a nation understand how this war terminated, and study the lessons learned so that we do not have to re-learn it all over again in the next war.

After his presentation for the InterAgency Brown-Bag Lecture series Oct. 15, 2025, the CGSC Foundation hosted a book signing for retired Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, Jr., author of The Impossible Mission, in the Foundation’s office and gift shop on the first floor of the Lewis and Clark Center.

Caslen covered all the challenges he faced in the beginning of his mission in late 2011 and the confusion between the U.S. Departments of State and Defense of whether he was supposed to lead a division-sized residual force of 10-15,000 troops, or as it ultimately happened, lead a group of 157 troops as the director of the Office of Security Cooperation – Iraq (OSC-I). He recounted how over the next two years OSC-I was stuck in the middle of changing policies, new strategies, absence of U.S. government agencies and the cancellation of authorities inside the newly independent country of Iraq.

As Caslen states in his book – and as many reviewers have echoed – The Impossible Mission is essential reading for elected officials, military professionals, interagency partners and national security leaders seeking to understand the interagency collaboration required to transition U.S. government departments from war, to war termination. The book’s epilogue includes 12 strategic lessons learned that Caslen believes are key to the study of this kind of mission should it be attempted again in the future.

After the presentation and a Q&A period, CGSC Foundation and Alumni Association President/CEO Lora Morgan presented Caslen with a small gift in appreciation for his participation in the Distinguished Speaker Series. Caslen remained on-hand to sign copies of his book for attendees.

Earlier in the day, Caslen made his presentation to to a packed room of U.S. Army Command and General Staff College students, staff and faculty in the Arnold Conference Room of the Lewis and Clark Center on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as part of the Foundation’s InterAgency Brown-Bag Lecture Series. After the brown-bag lecture he conducted a book signing in the CGSC Foundation office and gift shop on the first floor of the Lewis and Clark Center. Video from his brown-bag lecture is available at the link below.

Click the image above to order your copy of the book

For more photos of Lt. Gen. Caslen’s presentations, see these CGSC Foundation Flickr albums:

• Distinguished Speaker Series presentation

• InterAgency Brown-Bag Lecture

• View the full video of Lt. Gen. Caslen’s InterAgency Brown-Bag Lecture (CGSC Foundation YouTube Channel)

Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslen, Jr., was commissioned as an infantry officer in the United States Military Academy class of 1975. He served in the U.S. Army for 43 years retiring in 2018 as the 59th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Before becoming the West Point Superintendent, Lt. Gen. Caslen served as the chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, and was commander of the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth and commandant of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Caslen also commanded the 25th Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was chief of staff of both the 101st Airborne and the 10th Mountain Divisions, where he also served as chief of staff of Task Force Mountain during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He also served in combat and overseas deployments in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Honduras, and Operation Uphold Democracy and the United Nations Mission in Haiti. After his military retirement he served as the 29th president of the University of South Carolina and currently serves as a trustee of the CGSC Foundation and Alumni Association.

Caslen holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Long Island University and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Kansas State University. In addition to his many military awards and accomplishments, Caslen is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Military Academy, a member of the Kansas State Engineering College Hall of Fame and co-authored the book, The Character Edge Leading and Winning with Integrity. He was born in Connecticut, and grew up in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. He has been married to the former Michele Pastin, from Highland Falls, New York, for 45 years and has three adult sons and five grandchildren.  

The CGSC Foundation through its Simons Center conducts the Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS) program to offer extracurricular, educational lectures intended to help enrich the Command and General Staff School curriculum and provide opportunities for outreach to the public. Topics covered in the Distinguished Speaker Series of lectures span the gamut of leadership and ethics, organizational effectiveness, collaboration, as well as current events and issues in business, government and the military. Programs are made possible in part by sponsors.

~Thank you to our 2025 Distinguished Speakers Series Sponsors~

~Five Stars~

Pritzker Military Foundation
The Tim and Karen Carlin Family Foundation

~Four Stars~

Julius Kaaz Construction

~Three Stars~

Col. (Ret.) Bill and Marge Eckhardt
First Command
Robert and Clare Powell

~Two Stars~

Armada Corporate Intelligence
Demaranville & Associate, CPAs
University of Kansas
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Rich and Mary Ann Keller
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Bill West

~One Star~

Advantage Printing
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Stan Cherrie
Lt. Col. (Ret.) William and Kathleen Connor, Sr.
Col. (Ret.) Tom and Candy Dials
Art Fillmore
Geiger Ready Mix
Col. (Ret.) Bob and Terri Ulin

The InterAgency Brown-Bag Lecture Series is co-hosted by the CGSC Foundation and Alumni Association and it’s subordinate program, the Arthur D. Simons Center for Ethical Leadership and Interagency Cooperation. The series is an extracurricular, interagency topic-focused series that is intended to help enrich the curriculum at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.