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This work traces the creation and evolution of air combat training exercises within the U.S. Air Force from Vietnam through Operation Desert Storm and Operation Allied Force. After Vietnam, the USAF fundamentally changed the way it prepared its combat pilots for air warfare. The creation of the realistic training exercise Red Flag altered the way the air force trained for and executed combat operations. Along the way, the importance of tactical aircraft greatly increased as the importance and contributions of the Strategic Air Command began to wane.

This book highlights a seminal but largely overlooked period in the development of American counterinsurgency strategy. It examines how Progressive counterinsurgency ideas and methods evolved between 1899 and 1913 as Americans fought Philippine Moros in their first sustained military encounter with Islamic militants. It then compares those ideas and methods with current theory on COIN (counterinsurgency) as set forth in The U.S. Army * Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. The author also explores how Moros contested American military intervention in their lives. He asks: How did they bend the narrative? How did Progressive counterinsurgency in Mindanao and Sulu come to have a Moro face? Finally, this work focuses on how John J. Pershing, during his seven years of service among Moros, contributed to Progressive counterinsurgency strategy. How did his approach compare with Gen. Leonard Wood’s radically different ideas on pacification? In the most creative years of Pershing’s life, how did he pull together lessons learned from his Philippine experience to craft a relatively balanced and full-spectrum approach to fighting small wars? What can we take from his experience and apply to America’s fraught relationship with Islamic militancy today?

Only the most ardent of air power historians know the name of General Laurence S. Kuter, despite the fact he welded a B-17 group into a cohesive fighting force, was the deputy commander of allied tactical air forces in North Africa, and later served as commander of the Military Air Transport Service, Air University, Far East Air Forces—later Pacific Air Forces—and finally as a Commander-in-Chief of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). The biography of Larry Kuter is the biography of the United States Air Corps, Army Air Forces and U.S. Air Force

Army Diplomacy demonstrates how, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the United States Army became the principal agent of American foreign policy. The army designed, implemented, and administered the occupations of the defeated Axis powers Germany and Japan, as well as many other nations. Generals such as Lucius Clay in Germany, Mark Clark in Austria, and John Hodge in Korea presided over these territories as proconsuls, and at the beginning of the Cold War more than 300 million people lived under some form of US military authority. This massive occupation effort had roots in a century of army practice, especially influenced by the army’s Rhineland occupation. The army policies in the occupied nations also represented the culmination of more than a century of military doctrine. Army Diplomacy relies upon institutional history, military sociology, and international relations theory to show how the army’s institutional history and doctrine led to development of post–World War II occupation governance that reflected the particular imperatives of the US Army, especially the army’s requirement that all matters of governance be subordinate to requirements of military necessity. Army Diplomacy further shows the army’s bureaucratic skill in winning the intergovernmental debate over postwar governance against other US government rivals. Finally, Army Diplomacy reveals how the implementation of military government in postwar Germany, Austria, and Korea not only informed but also profoundly influenced early US Cold War policy.

The Art of Command provides biographical and topical portraits of exceptional leaders from all four branches of the United States armed forces. Laver and Matthews have identified eleven core characteristics of effective leadership, such as vision, charisma, determination, and integrity, and apply them to significant figures in American military history. In doing so, they argue that leadership is a learned and practiced skill, developed through conscious effort and mentoring by superiors. Tracing the careers, traits, and behaviors of eleven legendary leaders, including Ulysses Grant, George Marshall, Henry Arnold, and David Shoup, each chapter provides detailed critical analysis of a leader's personal development and leadership style. This historically grounded exploration delivers an insightful examination of various military command styles that transcend time, place, rank, and branch of service.

The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War or the October War, was fought by Israel against a coalition of Arab nations, led by Syria and Egypt. The war lasted nineteen days, with the pivotal moment being Major General Ariel Sharon’s crossing of the Suez Canal, which is known as the crossing battle In this narrative Jacob Even and Simcha B. Maoz consider the war and Sharon’s leadership as a case study of generalship for the benefit of new generations of senior field commanders. By focusing on the divisional command, Even and Maoz balance the macro view of the war (in the context of the political atmosphere of the time) with the micro view (as a cascade of individual decisions made by each commanding officer).

This book is an in-depth exploration of the experience of the US Marine Corps during the so-called small wars era, 1915–1934, with an emphasis on the marines’ employment of aviation. The introduction to the book provides a brief history of the Marine Corps up to World War I, an explanation of small wars as a concept, and terms and definitions. The chapters are chronological, addressing the origins of Marine Corps aviation prior to and during American involvement in World War I and the Marine Corps’ interventions in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, northern China, and Nicaragua. The chapters explore the development of tactics, techniques, and procedures in the employment of aircraft during interventional operations; the evolution of aviation technology, including engine technology; and what the marines accomplished, failed to accomplish, and learned about the employment of aviation in combat against guerrillas and other irregulars. The conclusion addresses why it all matters in terms of the present (today, small wars are more commonly referred to as irregular warfare) and the future. The book includes numerous photographs never published before, as well as maps, appendices, and an extensive bibliography.

George S. Patton, one of the United States’ greatest field commanders, played a vital role in American involvement in World War I and the creation of the United States Tank Corps. While most literature focuses solely on Patton’s life and performance in World War II, the Great War was a pivotal event in his life and military career. Patton gained his first command in World War I with the United States Tank Corps. As the first “tanker” in United States Army history, Patton set up the first American light tank school and later commanded the 1st Tank Brigade in two campaigns, St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The study focuses on Patton’s personal life, his decision to push for an assignment with John J. Pershing, and his roles as a staff officer for the American Expeditionary Force and ultimately as a small unit commander pioneering a new weapons system..

John Shalikashvili: From Boy on the Bridge to Top American General tells the captivating tale of how John Shalikashvili, a penniless, stateless World War II refugee achieved the American dream by being appointed the thirteenth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking officer in the US military, during the Clinton administration. Through a gripping narrative covering his wartime upbringing, aristocratic family background, parental influence, immigrant experience, and betrayals by loved ones—particularly by his high school girlfriend and by his father’s affiliation with the Waffen-SS, which came to light during Shalikashvili’s confirmation process—the biography explores the themes of nature vs. nurture and the role of agency vs. luck (i.e., the influence of his own actions vs. factors beyond his control) in determining Shalikashvili’s character, leadership abilities, and career success.

Although not a household name, Clark Clifford (1906–1998) advised Democratic presidents from Harry S. Truman to Lyndon B. Johnson. The author, American History Professor at William Paterson University, has absorbed a mass of material and delivers an insightful if not always flattering biography. Fiercely ambitious, Clifford was a successful St. Louis lawyer when Truman, a fellow Missourian, became president in 1945. A senior colleague invited Clifford to Washington, where within a year his organizational skills won him promotion to Truman's special counsel. Happy to take credit for Truman's spectacular 1948 election upset, Clifford kept his reputation as a political genius for the next 20 years, although his opposition to sending troops to Vietnam put him in Johnson's doghouse until 1968, when—thanks to the possibility of peace talks and his own deft maneuvering—he replaced Robert McNamara as secretary of defense. This political biography concentrates on Washington infighting, position papers, memos, debates, and quarrels on subjects ranging from the trivial to the world-shaking. Clifford comes across as a clear-eyed political strategist with genuinely noble ideals, but who looked after his own interests, often claiming others' ideas as his own and parlay[ing] his government service into a lucrative private legal career.

Europe endured incessant political discord throughout the twentieth century, and some historians refer to the period's conflicts as the Long War. During the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, regional fighting in southeastern Europe ignited conflict across the continent which continued through both world wars and the Cold War. This book illuminates the complex diplomatic and military struggles of a region whose instability, rooted in nineteenth-century nationalistic fervor, provided a catalyst for the political events that ensued. From the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 to the incarceration of Radovan Karadzic in 2008, this narrative history offers a fresh interpretation of a complicated and brutal era.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest campaign of the Second World War. This volume highlights the scale and complexity of this bitterly contested campaign, one that encompassed far more than just attacks by German U-boats on Allied shipping. The team of leading scholars assembled here situate the German assault on seaborne trade within the wider Allied war effort and provide a new understanding of its place within the Second World War. Individual chapters offer original perspectives on a range of neglected or previously-overlooked subjects: how Allied grand strategy shaped the war at sea; the choices and tensions facing Churchill and other Allied leaders over the allocation of scarce resources between theaters; how the battle spread beyond the Atlantic Ocean in both military and economic terms; the management of Britain's merchant shipping repair yards; the defense of British coastal waters against German surface raiders; the contribution of air power to trade defense; anti-submarine escort training; the role of special intelligence; and the war against the U-boats in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.

During the Vietnam War, combined action platoons (CAPs) were the primary counterinsurgency instruments for the U.S. Marine Corps. The American contingent of each CAP consisted of approximately a dozen U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman, or medic, all of whom lived in South Vietnamese villages to eradicate the military and political presence of the Viet Cong. Americans in CAPs trained the inexperienced local militia, provided twenty-four-hour military security, and rendered civil and medical aid to the civilian population. This book shows how and why both the U.S. Marine Corps as an institution and the individuals in CAP villages aimed not only to defend but also befriend the villagers. Unlike regular U.S. military units, many of the Americans in CAPs departed their villages with a greater respect and understanding for the Vietnamese people and their culture. Although a daunting task, creating and maintaining a friendly rapport with the villagers was vital for both personal and unit survival. The indigenous civilians knew who in the cluster of hamlets had a history of fighting alongside or supporting the Viet Cong. To extract this intelligence, the Americans had to make the villagers comfortable with their presence. Defend and Befriend chronicles the experiences of the Americans who were thrust into this terrifying yet ultimately gratifying duty.

The Eagle on My Arm details the journey to recovery of Vietnam veteran Patrick Bradley. Enlisting at the age of eighteen, Bradley was mortified by the scenes in the North Vietnam jungles, and found himself unable to cope. At a psychiatrist’s recommendation, Bradley traveled to the Canadian wilderness where he spent three years studying and documenting bald eagles and their behavior. He made groundbreaking discoveries during his research, linking the use of chemical DDT to the decrease in southern bald eagle populations. Additionally, he made notable progress in his recovery, able to better control his previously unmitigated anger and rage. Bradley teamed up with other veterans to form the Avian Veteran Alliance in 2015, a non-profit that pairs wounded warriors with injured birds of prey. Where the Eagles Soar, written by biographers Dava Guerin and Terry Bivens, is one of only a handful of books concerned with the unique link between avian therapy and wounded warrior recovery. Introducing the psychiatric benefits of avian and animal therapy is crucial to the cultural climate regarding mental health, and sheds light on positive and exciting alternatives in the study of PTSD among war veterans.

Compared to armies and navies, which have existed as professional fighting services for centuries, the technology that makes air forces possible is much newer. As a result, these services have had to quickly develop methods of preparing aviators to operate in conditions ranging from peace or routine security to full-scale war. The first book to address the history and scope of air power professionalization through learning programs, Educating Air Forces offers valuable new insight into strategy and tactics worldwide. Here, a group of international experts examine the philosophies, policies, and practices of air service educational efforts in the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the UK. The contributors discuss the founding, successes, and failures of European air force learning programs between the Great War and World War II and explore how the tense Cold War political climate influenced the creation, curriculum, and results of various programs. They also consider how educational programs are adapting to soldiers' needs and the demands of modern warfare. Featuring contributions from eminent scholars in the field, this volume surveys the learning approaches globally employed by air forces in the past century and evaluates their effectiveness. Educating Air Forces reveals how experiential learning and formal education are not only inextricably intertwined, but also necessary to cope with advances in modern warfare.

This biography examines the long career of Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, who was born to a family of modest means in rural Virginia. His early education at the Virginia Military Institute, steeped him in Confederate lore and nurtured his “can do” attitude, natural aggressiveness, demanding personality and sometimes self-serving nature. These qualities later earned him the sobriquet “Sic’em, Ned,” which stuck with him for the remainder of his career. Almond commanded the African-American 92nd Infantry Division during World War II. The division failed in combat and was re-organized, after which it contained one white, one black, and the Army’s only Japanese-American (Nisei) regiment. The years since that war have seen the glorification of the “Greatest Generation,” with all racist notions and ideas “whitewashed” with a veneer of honor. When war came to Korea, Almond commanded X Corps in the Inchon invasion, liberation of Seoul, race to the Yalu. When the Chinese entered the war and sent the US Army into retreat, Almond mounted one of the largest evacuations in history at Hungnam -- but not before the disaster at Chosin claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and marines. This book reveals Almond as a man who stubbornly held onto bigoted attitudes about race, but also exhibited an unfaltering commitment to the military profession. Often viewed as the “Army’s racist,” Almond reflected the attitudes of the Army and society. This book places Almond in a broader context and presents a more complete picture of this flawed man yet gifted officer.

As World War II recedes from living memory, there remain untold stories of important behind-the-scenes operatives who provided vital support to the leaders celebrated in historical accounts. Colonel Truman Smith is one of the most compelling figures from this period, but there has never been a biography of this important and controversial man. In Exposing the Third Reich, Henry G. Gole tells this soldier's story for the first time. An American aristocrat from a prominent New England family, Smith was first assigned to Germany in 1919 during the Allied occupation and soon became known as a regional expert. During his second assignment in the country as a military attaché in 1935, he arranged for his good friend Charles Lindbergh to inspect the Luftwaffe. The Germans were delighted to have the famous aviator view their planes, enabling Smith to gather key intelligence about their air capability. His savvy cultivation of relationships rendered him invaluable throughout his service, particularly as an aide to General George C. Marshall; however, the colonel's friendliness with Germany also aroused suspicion that he was a Nazi sympathizer. Gole demonstrates that, far from condoning Hitler, Smith was among the first to raise the alarm: he predicted many of the Nazis’ moves years in advance and feared that the international community would not act quickly enough. Featuring many firsthand observations of the critical changes in Germany between the world wars, this biography presents an indispensable look both at a fascinating figure and at the nuances of the interwar years.

Many histories have been written about West Point and some of its famous graduates, but very few address an entire class. For Brotherhood and Duty is a narrative history of the Class of 1862 from the time its members first entered the United States Military Academy in 1858 through the end of the Civil War. These cadets watched as their superintendent, commandant, and instructors changed frequently, eleven states seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy, and resignations left the class at half strength before graduation. The remaining members of this class “joined in a common cause,” as evidenced by their class motto. Their shared experiences during the catastrophic events that threatened to split the Union in two created strong beliefs in duty to country. From these beginnings, a brotherhood emerged that was soon tested in combat, and none was found wanting. For Brotherhood and Duty provides a look at the Civil War from the viewpoint of a gallant group of junior officers who served on staffs or in regular units. Twelve Union and four Confederate members of this class are highlighted as they participated in various campaigns. One rose to command a cavalry division, one would receive the Medal of Honor, and one former classmate fired the first shot at Fort Sumter. Coupled with extensive photographs, illustrations, and maps, their words speak eloquently about their doubts, fears, and experiences as these young men participated in the greatest conflict ever undertaken on American soil.

This book presents research on the eastern front of World War I, a subject comparatively eclipsed by scholarly study of the western front. Focusing on the first two years of the war, the volume concentrates primarily on elements of the conflict between the Central Powers (specifically Germany and its ally Austria-Hungary) and pre-revolutionary Russia. The book approaches topics of interest through a tripartite structure, addressing the operational conduct of the war, the combatants’ cultural conceptions of themselves and the enemy, and how the conflict has been understood and commemorated in the years since the end of the war. The volume concludes with a chapter that brings together themes studied throughout the book in a discussion of the potential continuities between the German conduct and perception of war from the First World War to the Second.

Prior to his service in the Civil War, nothing about Ulysses S. Grant indicated that he would be an extraordinary leader. His performance as a cadet at West Point was mediocre and he finished in the bottom half of his class. Nevertheless, during his early service in the Civil War, most notably at the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg, Grant demonstrated that he was developing an uncommon drive. When it was most crucial, Grant proved his mettle by taking control of the Union troops and leading his forces to complete victory through a combination of integrity, determination, and reason. A General Who Will Fight is a detailed study of leadership that explores Grant's rise from undisciplined cadet to Commanding General of the United States Army. Some experts have attributed Grant's success to superior manpower and resources, to the help he received from other Union armies, or even to a ruthless willingness to sacrifice his own men. This study, however, refutes these arguments and reveals that the only explanation for Grant's success lies in his leadership skill, professional competence, and unshakeable resolve. Much more than a book on military strategy, this innovative analysis examines the decision-making process that enabled Grant both to excel as an unquestioned commander and to win.