New Bestseller at CARL - Boots on the ground by dusk

Check CARL Holdings: Boots on the ground by dusk : my tribute to Pat Tillman

About this book: "On April 22, 2004, Lieutenant David Uthlaut received orders from Khost, Afghanistan, that his platoon was to leave the town of Magarah and "have boots on the ground before dark" in Mariah, a small village on the border of Pakistan. It was an order the young lieutenant protested vehemently, but the commanders at the Tactical Command Center disregarded his objections. Uthlaut split his platoon into two serials, with Serial One traveling northwest to Manah and Serial Two towing a broken Humvee north toward the Khost highway. By nightfall, Uthlaut and his radio operator were seriously wounded, and an Afghan militia soldier and a U.S. soldier were dead. The American soldier was Pat Tillman."

Related podcast:

Interview with the author: C-Span Book TV

CGSC Panel Discussion on C-Span

A panel discussion on civilian-military relations from U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (Fort Leavenworth, KS) was telecast on C-Span's Book TV on May 26, 2008 and will be rebroadcast on Sunday, June 8 at 10PM.

If you'd like to view this online visit this website. (Requires Real Player)

Panelists included:

• Dale Herspring, author of "Rumsfeld's Wars"
• Marybeth Ulrich, author of "Democratizing Communist Militaries"
• Col. Matthew Moten, author of "The Delafield Commission and the American Military Profession"
• Peter Feaver, author of "Armed Servants"
• Don Snider, co-author of "The Future of the Army Profession"

Lone Survivor

Ed Tracy interviews Navy Cross recipient and Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell about his experiences in Afghanistan and his book, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. Originally aired 05/19/08.

Book available at CARL in multiple formats

New at CARL - the Utility of Force

Check our holdings: The utility of force: the art of war in the modern world

"Gen. Rupert Smith (Ret.), who commanded British forces during the 1991 Gulf War, argues that our current understanding of war is outdated and that war planners of the future should incorporate both military and political strategies to achieve their goals."

Book excerpt

Related podcast: C-Span Interview - the author discusses his book with Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information.

Operational Leadership Experiences

We've added some 834 interviews from the Operational Leadership Experiences project to our online catalog. Browse them here (originally made available online in our digital library)

"A project of the Combat Studies Institute, the Operational Leadership Experiences Interview Collection archives firsthand, multi-service accounts from military personnel who planned, participated in and supported operations in the Global War on Terrorism."

The Situation in Iraq: A Briefing from the Battlefield

The Situation in Iraq: A Briefing from the Battlefield by Anthony Cordesman, Center for Strategic and international Studies, briefing from 22 Feb 2008.

"No one can spend some 10 days visiting the battlefields in Iraq without seeing major progress in every area. A combination of the surge, improved win and hold tactics, the tribal uprising in Anbar and other provinces, the Sadr ceasefire, and major advances in the use of IS&R have transformed the battle against Al Qaida in Iraq. If the US provides sustained support to the Iraqi government -- in security, governance, and development -- there is now a very real chance that Iraq will emerge as a secure and stable state..." Click here for access to full briefing commentary.

Link to briefing slides

The Pentagon's Ray Gun

View this 60 Minutes segment which aired on 2 March 2008, entitled the Pentagon's Ray Gun

"Straight out of Buck Rogers and perfect for crowd control, this non-lethal weapon could help eliminate the deaths incurred while trying to control crowds, especially in Iraq. David Martin reports."

Directed energy weapons : do we have a game plan? by Timothy Lincoln

Summary: Warfare is an evolving process where innovations in technology and the application of that technology to military operations combined to provide an opportunity to gain military advantage. Today's military performs missions across the spectrum of warfare. In these roles, operators and planners must leverage technology in order to gain an advantage over their enemy and protect their forces. Directed Energy (DE) weapons (DEW) are at the forefront of the next revolution in military weaponry. These weapons seemingly promise the military planner and operator a wide variety of lethal and non-lethal capabilities to meet the challenges across the spectrum of warfare. The progress the U.S. is making in the development of these weapons holds the prospect of significant new capabilities in both offensive and defensive operations.

New from the Strategic Studies Institute

A number of new publications have been released by the Army's Strategic Studies Institute already this year and you can view each of these in their entirety online. Select this link to browse these new titles.

Titles include:

• Development and reform of the Iraqi police forces
• Transforming to effects-based operations : lessons from the United Kingdom experience
• Women in combat compendium
• Coin of the realm : U.S. counterinsurgency strategy

New at CARL - In the ruins of empire

In the ruins of empire : the Japanese surrender and the battle for postwar Asia by Ronald Spector

Spector follows up on Eagle Against the Sun, his account of the American struggle against the Japanese in World War II, with a chronicle of the aftermath of this crucial conflict. He tells the fascinating story of the deadly confrontations that broke out--or merely continued--in Asia after peace was proclaimed. Under occupation by the victorious Allies, this part of the world was plunged into new power struggles, or back into old feuds, that in some ways were worse than the war itself. International suspicions were still strong; die-hard Japanese officers plotted to prevent surrender; in Manchuria, Russian "liberators" looted, raped, and killed innocent civilians; in China a fratricidal rivalry continued between Chiang Kai-shek's regime and Mao's revolutionaries; and Southeast Asia and Korea became powderkegs, with Communists only one of several competing anticolonial factions.--From publisher description.

Related Audio: C-Span's After Words : Ronald Spector author of "In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia" interviewed by Steven Clemons.

Updated CRS Report on IEDs

Congressional Research Service Report for the Congress - Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan: Effects and Countermeasures November 21, 2007

Summary: Since October 2001, improvised explosive devices (IEDs, roadside bombs, and suicide car bombs) have been responsible for many of Publish Postthe combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.1 Vehicle-borne IEDs and car bombs are now used to strike police stations, markets, and mosques, killing local citizens as well as U.S. troops. U.S. forces counter the devices through utilizing intelligence sources, and by disrupting portions of the radio spectrum that insurgents use to trigger IEDs. Insurgents quickly adapt to countermeasures, and new, more sophisticated IEDs are increasingly being used in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Recent trends show a decrease in the number of IED attacks in Iraq since June 2007, but an increase in the number of effective IED attacks in Afghanistan. Department of Defense (DOD) officials have also charged that Iran may be supplying new IED technology to insurgents in Iraq. There is growing concern that IEDs might eventually be used by other insurgents and terrorists worldwide.2 This report will be updated as events warrant.

Left of Boom series - Rick Atkinson

About this series:

From the Washington Post Website: "...staff writer Rick Atkinson describes the effort by the U.S. military to combat the improvised explosive devices used by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2002 until now. Part one describes the effort through the summer of 2004.

The series is drawn from more than 140 interviews over the past six months with military and congressional officials, contractors, scientists and defense analysts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Washington and elsewhere. Most agreed to speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity. Ten senior officers or retired officers, each of them intimately involved in the effort to combat IEDs, were asked to review the findings for accuracy and security considerations."

Part 1 - Summer 2002 - Summer 2004 "The IED problem is getting out of control. We've got to stop the bleeding."

Part 2 - Summer 2004 - Summer 2005 "There was a two-year learning curve . . . and a lot of people died in those two years"

Part 3 - Spring 2005 - Summer 2006 "You can't armor your way out of this problem"

Part 4 - Spring 2006 - Summer 2007 "If you don't go after the network, you're never going to stop these guys. Never."

New at CARL - Wars of blood and faith

Check our holdings: Wars of blood and faith : the conflicts that will shape the twenty-first century

Summary: Bestselling author and strategist Peters confronts the crucial security issues of the modern era. He argues that the world has entered a violent, rather than ideological, period that will continue to be the source of ferocious rebellions, genocide, and global terrorism.

Related podcast:

Author Ralph Peters at the Pritzker Military Library - Strategist and author Ralph Peters returns to the library to discuss his new book, Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the Twenty-First Century. Originally aired 11/29/07.

Center for Strategic Studies: Featured new pubs

Below are several recently featured publications by the Center of Strategic Studies, US Army War College including two top research papers in the USAWC Research Competition 1) Iraq: The Lessons of a Hard Place and 2) "Making Riflemen From MUD": Restoring The Army's Culture Of Irregular Warfare.

Collins Center Update Vol 9 Iss 4 (Fall 07) Published:October 2007 Executive Summary:The Collins Center Update is a quarterly newsletter detailing the activities of the Center for Strategic Leadership, U.S. Army War College. Articles in this issue include: “The Sixth Annual Reserve Component Symposium”, “Linking Strategic Mission Command to Operational Battle Command”, “Education for Transatlantic Security”, “The Role of Armed Forces in the War on Terror” and “Transformation Efforts of the Moldovan Armed Forces.” View Publication

Threats at Our Threshold Published: October 2007 Author(s): Professor Bert B. Tussing Executive Summary: The terrible wake-up call of 9/11 brought homeland security and homeland defense into full focus for a nation ill-prepared for the threat of transnational terrorism. Our nation has done much to meet that threat, yet much more still needs to be done. Balancing security concerns against those of individual liberties, ensuring parallel commitments to law enforcement and defense remain complementary but distinct, are just two of the issues of concern. In this spirit, the U.S. Army War College’s Center for Strategic Leadership partnered with The George Washington University, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Heritage Foundation to conduct the first annual Homeland Defense/Homeland Security conference. The conference was an ambitious endeavor, designed to draw on a cross-section of experience from the partner institutions, their supporters, and their audiences in addressing the issues at hand. This volume is a reflection of those discussions. View Publication "Making Riflemen From MUD": Restoring The Army's Culture Of Irregular Warfare Published: July 2007 Author(s): LTC James D. Campbell, PhD, U.S. Army National Guard Executive Summary: Nearly 300 years of American military tradition, from the colonial period until 1941, created a deeply engrained facility with unconventional warfare. Since World From the Pequot War in 1637, to the Seminole Wars in the early nineteenth century, the Apache campaigns after the Civil War, and in twentieth century small wars from the Philippines to Vietnam, the mandate for human intelligence has been a key component of unconventional warfare. Since World War Two, the wider military has lost this expertise and comfort with unconventional operations, with the Special Operations community taking on the sole proprietorship of this role. The top research paper in the USAWC Research Competition captures the experience, and lessons, of fighting on the western plains after the Civil War, and the creation of the Philippine Scouts at the beginning of the twentieth century. This was named top research paper in this year's USAWC Research Competition. View Publication Beyond Iraq: The Lessons of a Hard Place Published: July 2007 Author(s): Mr. Anton K. Smith, U.S. Department of State Executive Summary: The global jihadist insurgency is undercutting the modern states system. Rebalancing focus on the instruments of national power is key to containing and shaping instability in the Middle East. The author calls for better understanding of the cultural and historical differences between the West and the rest of the world; understanding the primacy of economic development over political process; and alliances with regional states. This is a USAWC award-winning student paper. This paper received The Military Order of the World Wars Writing Award. View Publication

Military Policy Awareness Links

Do you subscribe to Military Policy Awareness Links (MiPALs)?

MiPALs are published by the National Defense University (NDU) Library as a current awareness service. Their objective is to provide access to key U.S. policy statements on the country or topic of the MiPAL.

While MiPALs emphasize U.S. military policy, each MiPAL includes resources analyzing the topic from governmental and non-governmental sources, including think tanks and scholarly journals. All documents are available full-text on the internet. Some may be available only through commercial databases; these are clearly identified.

Track updates to the MiPALs by using the “Rich Site Summary (RSS)”

Available MiPALs:

Afghanistan • Central Asia • China • Colombia • Haiti • India • Iran • North Korea • Pakistan • Russia • Saudi Arabia • Syria Homeland Security • National Security Strategy • Terrorism • Transformation • Weapons of Mass Destruction

Regional Policy Overviews:

Africa • East Asia & the Pacific • Europe & Eurasia • Near East & North Africa • South & Central Asia • Western Hemisphere

New at CARL : Hog pilots, blue water grunts

Check our holdings: Hog pilots, blue water grunts : the American military in the air, at sea, and on the ground by Robert Kaplan

Summary: "Foreign affairs journalist Kaplan lets readers experience up close the American military worldwide in the air, at sea, and on the ground: flying in a B-2 bomber, living on a nuclear submarine, and traveling with a Stryker brigade on missions around the world. Provided unprecedented access, Kaplan moves from destroyers off the coast of Indonesia to submarines in the central Pacific, from simulated Iraqi training grounds in Alaska to technology bases in Las Vegas. He goes deep into their highly technical and exotic worlds, and tells this story through the words and perspectives of the enlisted personnel and junior officers themselves--men and women who, as he writes, have "had their national identities as Americans engraved in sharp bas-relief." He not only conveys the vast scope of America's military commitments, but also shows us astonishing and vital operations as they unfold--from the point of view of the troops themselves.--From publisher description."

Sample Text

Related podcast: Robert Kaplan talks about Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts , his new book about the modern military across the globe.

Military podcasts

Try subscribing to these podcasts covering contemporary as well as historical military topics. If you'd rather not subscribe but simply listen to a few audios from time to time remember you can listen to these MP3 files on your desktop. Thanks to the Marine Corps Library for compiling this list.

Pritzker Military Library: Military History

Military History Podcast

Military Podcasts for the Military

USMC Podcasts

NMCN News

Air Force Podcasts

Iran Military Policy

Browse these titles available at CARL related to Iranian military policy.

Pritzker Military Library Podcast: Topic: Iran : the next military frontier?

"The Sept. 2007 visit of Iran's president, Dr. Ahmadinejad, to the United States has brought U.S. relations with Iran into sharp focus. Iran's relationship with Iraq and role in the Middle East is complex. What role is Iran playing in the war on terror and in the U.S. role in Iraq? Does Iran's apparent supplying of weapons to Iraqi insurgents justify calls for action against that country? Join John Callaway and guests: Danny Postel, Ahmad Sadri, and Richard S. Williamson."

House to House by David Bellavia

Check our book holdings of House to House: an epic memoir of war by SSG David Bellavia

This work also available as an audio book.

Description: "On the night of November 10, 2004, a U.S. Army infantry squad under Staff Sergeant David Bellavia entered the heart of the city of Fallujah and plunged into one of the most sustained and savage urban battles in the history of American men at arms.

With Third Platoon, Alpha Company, part of the Army's Task Force 2/2, Bellavia and his men confronted an enemy who had had weeks to prepare, booby-trapping houses, arranging ambushes, rigging entire city blocks as explosives-laden kill zones, and even stocking up on atropine, a steroid that pumps up fighters in the equivalent of a long-lasting crack high. Entering one house, alone, Bellavia faced the fight of his life against six insurgents, using every weapon at his disposal, including a knife. It is the stuff of legend and the chief reason he is one of the great heroes of the Iraq War.

Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story. Populated by an indelibly drawn cast of characters, from a fearless corporal who happens to be a Bush-hating liberal to an inspirational sergeant-major who became the author's own lost father figure, it develops the intensely close relationships that form between soldiers under fire. Their friendships, tested in brutal combat, would never be quite the same. Not all of them would make it out of the city alive. What happened to them in their bloody embrace with America's most implacable enemy is a harrowing, unforgettable story of triumph, tragedy, and the resiliency of the human spirit."

Book Excerpt: Last Mission before Fallujah

Watch this BookTV webcast of the author SSG David Bellavia describing his book House to House.

Related article: Into the Hot Zone by Michael Ware

Post-traumatic stress disorder

The CARL has added a number of new items relating to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD including the The Veteran's PTSD Handbook just published this year.

To browse some of our other materials relating to PTSD just click on this link.

Learn more - PTSD in the news

New at CARL: The day of battle by Rick Atkinson

The day of battle : the war in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson

"In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. In An Army at Dawn—winner of the Pulitzer Prize—Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.

The Italian campaign’s outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the war’s most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.

Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of history’s most compelling military campaigns."

Related Podcast - Rick Atkinson discusses his new book in this Pritzker Military Library program. Listen. (~1 hour 20 minutes)

Also by Rick Atkinson: An Army at Dawn (1st volume of his Liberation trilogy) , In the company of soldiers : a chronicle of combat , The Long Gray Line