Military Realism
Military Realism

Author: Peter Campbell

Publisher: University of Missouri

Published: 2024-03-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780826223128

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After the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army considered counterinsurgency (COIN) a mistake to be avoided. Many found it surprising, then, when setbacks in recent conflicts led the same army to adopt a COIN doctrine. Scholarly debates have primarily employed existing theories of military bureaucracy or culture to explain the army’s re-embrace of COIN, but Peter Campbell advances a unique argument centering on military realism to explain the complex evolution of army doctrinal thinking from 1960 to 2008. In five case studies of U.S. Army doctrine, Campbell pits military realism against bureaucratic and cultural perspectives in three key areas—nuclear versus conventional warfare, preferences for offense versus defense, and COIN missions—and finds that the army has been more doctrinally flexible than those perspectives would predict. He demonstrates that decision makers, while vowing in the wake of Vietnam to avoid (COIN) missions, nonetheless found themselves adapting to the geopolitical realities of fighting “low intensity” conflicts. In essence, he demonstrates that pragmatism has won out over dogmatism. At a time when American policymakers remain similarly conflicted about future defense strategies, Campbell’s work will undoubtedly shape and guide the debate.

Sherman
Sherman

Author: B. H. Liddell Hart

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 2009-06-16

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 0786748257

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When Liddell Hart's Sherman was first published in 1929, it received encomiums such as these: "A masterly performance . . . one of the most thorougly dignified, one of the most distinguished biographies of the year."--Henry Steele Commager, New York Herald Tribune "It is not often that one comes upon a biography that is so well done as this book. Nearly every page bears evidence of the fact that it is the product of painstaking and exhaustive research, mature thought, and an expert understanding of the subject in hand . . ."--Saturday Review of Literature

Military Realism
Military Realism

Author: Peter Campbell

Publisher: University of Missouri Press

Published: 2019-05-08

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 0826274269

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After the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army considered counterinsurgency (COIN) a mistake to be avoided. Many found it surprising, then, when setbacks in recent conflicts led the same army to adopt a COIN doctrine. Scholarly debates have primarily employed existing theories of military bureaucracy or culture to explain the army’s re-embrace of COIN, but Peter Campbell advances a unique argument centering on military realism to explain the complex evolution of army doctrinal thinking from 1960 to 2008. In five case studies of U.S. Army doctrine, Campbell pits military realism against bureaucratic and cultural perspectives in three key areas—nuclear versus conventional warfare, preferences for offense versus defense, and COIN missions—and finds that the army has been more doctrinally flexible than those perspectives would predict. He demonstrates that decision makers, while vowing in the wake of Vietnam to avoid (COIN) missions, nonetheless found themselves adapting to the geopolitical realities of fighting “low intensity” conflicts. In essence, he demonstrates that pragmatism has won out over dogmatism. At a time when American policymakers remain similarly conflicted about future defense strategies, Campbell’s work will undoubtedly shape and guide the debate.

The Good Soldiers
The Good Soldiers

Author: David Finkel

Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books

Published: 2009-09-15

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1429952717

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It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. "Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences," he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them. Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way. What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. Combining the action of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale—not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.

Ethical Realism
Ethical Realism

Author: Anatol Lieven

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2009-03-12

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0307495337

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America today faces a world more complicated than ever before, but our politicians have failed to envision a foreign policy that addresses our greatest threats. Ethical Realism shows how the United States can successfully combine genuine morality with tough and practical common sense. By outlining core principles and a set of concrete proposals for tackling the terrorist threat and contend with Iran, Russia, the Middle East, and China, Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman show us how to strengthen our security, pursue our national interests, and restore American leadership in the world.

Realistic Combat Training and how to Conduct it
Realistic Combat Training and how to Conduct it

Author: Robert B. Rigg

Publisher:

Published: 1955

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13:

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"This book springs from the pronounced reaction of the several thousand men I have trained under conditions of combat realism, and from my own convictions of its necessity. The chapters to follow speak for many. In the support of realism in training, I have experienced strong and genuine support from those above and below me. The only point of argument has been: "How best to implement realism?" This text deals with implementation. Its primary mission is to provide imaginative ideas, acknowledging that no single person, service, or staff has a monopoly on imagination. The men who have experienced the measures of realism I projected in training, have always wanted and asked for more--not in degree--but in more hours and days of it. Realistic training is dangerous, unless carefully controlled. This training is conducted under rigid control and safety supervision. Of the very few "casualties" resulting from the variety of courses and exercises I have conducted, I became the only serious hospital case. Of negative reaction, there were two soldiers who foolishly blasted a tree down on themselves and swore to get the author for creating a course that would kill them. Battles are fought by rifle squads, tank crews and companies, artillery batteries and battalions, combat engineer platoons, and multiplied combinations of these elements. This text is devoted to the training of these men and those who immediately support them. This text is not designed to develop strategy, or tactics, but to help these units"--Preface.