William Ostlund
Boulder, Colorado, United States
10K followers
500+ connections
About
Experienced Director with a demonstrated and extensive history of managing large…
Experience
Education
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Fletcher School, Tufts University
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Activities and Societies: PhD Course work complete - fields of study: International Security Studies, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, US Diplomacy.
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- Present
Publications
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PODCAST: William “Bill” Ostlund - “A Four Decade Warriors LIfe ”
DTD Podcasts
This week in the studio a man with almost 4 decades of military service to this country. His dream started in the summer before his freshman year of high school when he finished reading a military based book about every three days. By doing this his mind was set on a life a service which began in 1983 when he was assigned to the 1st Battallion, 75th Rangers. He made colossal strides in his career by not only becoming a Ranger but also a Jumpmaster by the rank of Specialist. In 1987, as a then…
This week in the studio a man with almost 4 decades of military service to this country. His dream started in the summer before his freshman year of high school when he finished reading a military based book about every three days. By doing this his mind was set on a life a service which began in 1983 when he was assigned to the 1st Battallion, 75th Rangers. He made colossal strides in his career by not only becoming a Ranger but also a Jumpmaster by the rank of Specialist. In 1987, as a then Staff Sergeant, he transitioned to the Nebraska National Guard and attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha. After receiving his bachelors degree he went back on active duty as a commissioned officer. He served six combat tours – he led a platoon in Desert Storm, parachuted into Iraq as an operations officer, commanded a battalion in Afghanistan – deemed the most decorated battalion in the Global War on Terror (earning a Presidential Unit Citation, Valorous Unit Award, over 400 individual valor awards that included 3 living Medal of Honor recipients); he twice commanded a large Counterterrorism Task Force in Afghanistan, and he commanded a Infantry Brigade in Afghanistan. He ended his illustrious career as the Director of Military Instruction at the United States Military Academy at West Point and he is here to tell how his warriors life has affected him, his immediate family, and his much larger adopted family (the soldiers under his command), and what he is doing with that second chapter of his life.
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PODCAST: The Burden of Commanding the Most Decorated Unit Post-9/11
Combat Stories
Today we hear a special Combat Story of one of the military’s most revered leaders who many have never heard of (but should). This is the experience of retired Colonel Bill Ostlund, a beloved mentor and leader developer who served 35 years in the Army working his way up from a private and growing into combat command in some of the bloodiest fighting of any unit in the post-9/11 era.
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PODCAST: The Leadership Experience - Col. (R) William Ostlund
THe Leadership Experience
Col. Chung sits down with Col. (R) William Ostlund, who is the former battalion commander of Task Force Rock, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. Task Force Rock was the most decorated unit in the war on terror. Six hours into a 425-day tour, in an area partially dubbed both the Valley of Death and the Valley of Fire, the battalion lost its first Soldier.
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PODCAST: Lessons From The Hardest Place
Irregular Warfare Group
Retired colonel Bill Ostlund is a career infantry officer who commanded a battalion, two counterterrorism task forces, and a brigade combat team in Afghanistan, in addition to leading a platoon during Operation Desert Storm and serving as a brigade operations officer in Iraq. He also served as the Joint Special Operations Command liaison officer to the commander of the International Security Assistance Force, the executive officer for the commander of US Special Operations Command, and the…
Retired colonel Bill Ostlund is a career infantry officer who commanded a battalion, two counterterrorism task forces, and a brigade combat team in Afghanistan, in addition to leading a platoon during Operation Desert Storm and serving as a brigade operations officer in Iraq. He also served as the Joint Special Operations Command liaison officer to the commander of the International Security Assistance Force, the executive officer for the commander of US Special Operations Command, and the director of the US Central Command Commander’s Action Group, providing unique strategic insight into the war in Afghanistan. He retired from the Army as the director of the Department of Military Instruction at West Point and holds a master’s degree in international relations with a focus on security studies from The Fletcher School, Tufts University.
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PODCAST: The Largest Air Assault in History
Modern Warfare Institute
On August 1, 1990, Col. Bill Ostlund was a lieutenant arriving at his first unit as an Army officer. The next day, Saddam Hussein ordered his Iraqi forces to invade Kuwait. Within barely more than a week, his unit received a deployment order, and just a month after that they were en route to Saudi Arabia. While there, they trained. As a platoon leader, Ostlund was responsible for getting the platoon ready for the mission that would come in January 1991: a battalion air assault mission into Iraq.
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PODCAST: Never Leave a Fallen Comrade
Modern Warfare Institute
n 2007, as commander of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment—part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade—he was deployed in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan. In late July of that year, he got word that a soldier in an adjacent unit—Staff Sgt. Ryan Fritsche—was reported missing after a firefight with enemy forces. He volunteered to put together a force from his unit to recover the missing soldier.
Knowing that if you’re killed on the battlefield, your fellow soldiers will stop at…n 2007, as commander of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment—part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade—he was deployed in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan. In late July of that year, he got word that a soldier in an adjacent unit—Staff Sgt. Ryan Fritsche—was reported missing after a firefight with enemy forces. He volunteered to put together a force from his unit to recover the missing soldier.
Knowing that if you’re killed on the battlefield, your fellow soldiers will stop at nothing to get to you and bring you home is, as Col. Ostlund describes, an incredibly vital part of the Army’s ethos. The story you’ll hear in this episode is an example of that ethos in action. -
VIDEO: Col. Bill Ostlund Speaks at the 2019 Yearling Winter Weekend
Modern Warfare Institute
COL Bill Ostlund addresses the West Point class of 2021 in February 2019 - during their Yearling Winter Weekend dining out.
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On Trust and Leadership
Modern War Institute
Mission command is fundamental to the way we, in the Army, fight. It is rooted deeply in our Army doctrine and it is how we expect commanders to command and lead. The first principle of mission command is “Build cohesive teams through mutual trust.”
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PODCAST: Taliban Assault at Wanat
Modern Warfare Institute
On July 13, 2008, around 200 Taliban fighters attacked a group of US soldiers, along with a small contingent of Afghan soldiers, in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan. In the intense fight that followed—what would become known as the Battle of Wanat—nine Americans lost their lives, and more than two dozen were wounded. It remains one of the deadliest battles for US forces during our long war in Afghanistan.
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Conventional Force and Special Operations Force: Interoperability and Interdependence
The Institute of Land Warfare
An US Army Colonel’s unclassified lessons learned while serving as the commander for a conventional US Army Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) in Afghanistan. This brigade had a co-located US Navy SEAL platoon, routine US Army Special Forces support, and occasional Counterterrorism support. In addition, the IBCT provided “Uplift” support for Special Forces across Afghanistan.
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Irregular Warfare: Counterterrorism Forces in Support of Counterinsurgency Operations
The Institute of Land Warfare
An US Army Colonel’s lessons learned while twice serving as the commander for a large, joint, interagency, multi-national Counterterrorism Task Force in Afghanistan. This commander served with some of the most well-known commanders in the Global War on Terror and received their support in writing these unclassified lessons.
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Transformative Force: How Counterterrorism Lessons Built a More Efficient US Military
Fletcher Forum of World Affairs [on line]
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Tactical Leader Lessons Learned in Afghanistan
Military Review
An US Army Airborne Battalion Commander’s lessons learned during a 15 month combat tour in the austere, contested mountainous Kunar Province of Afghanistan. This battalion is known as the most decorated battalion in the Global War.
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Training and Leading in the Gulf War
MCOE
A platoon leader’s view of training an US Army Air Assault platoon for and in the Gulf War and then leading the same platoon in the Gulf War.
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