A new thread, simple theme.
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A new thread, simple theme.
Shadows in the Desert - Ancient Persia at War, Kaveh Farrokh
Just finished reading, "Edward Lansdale: The Unquiet American Paperback"
by Cecil Currey
A good read that provides insights on his influence in the Philippines, most significantly helping getting Magsaysay elected, and then his subsequent operations in Cuba and Vietnam. It is also talked about his time in OSD where he lead the Special Operations Office, and called for the military to develop what we call today an irregular warfare capability. It does reinforce the adage that if you want to get a new idea read an old book. 99% of what we discuss in SWJ, often as though they're new ideas are covered thoroughly in this book, and he dealt with the same bureaucrats we are dealing with today. Very interesting comments on McNamara and others based on first hand accounts. I was principally interested in his work in SE Asia, but learned a lot about our failed efforts in Cuba during the Kennedy administration. According to Lansdale and others our secret efforts to oust Castro were only secret to us, the Cubans and Soviets were obviously well aware of them, and when the U.S. escalated those activities after the failed Bay of Pigs fiasco that is what generated the Cuban Missile Crisis.
One final thought about the strategic implications of the relative political, economic and military situations. It is rather difficult to find the right words and paint the right picture while keeping it short. Possibly the simpliest way is to visualize it as a game of cards, taking a page out of good old CvC book.
After getting the set, partly open, partly hidden you can have, by luck and effort a clearly stronger one then your adversary and rightly guess so but there still is this 'play of possibilities, probabilities, good and bad luck, which spreads about with all the coarse and fine threads of its web'. Even if you have a clear advantage (which you may not know) winning is all but trivial. To win, in the surest and 'best' way you still need to play with as much skill and effort as you can and hope for as much luck as possible.Quote:
We see therefore how from the commencement, the absolute, the mathematical as it is called, no where finds any sure basis in the calculations in the art of war; and that from the outset there is a play of possibilities, probabilities, good and bad luck, which spreads about with all the coarse and fine threads of its web, and makes war of all branches of human activity the most like a game of cards.
Personally I think this mind picture is quite fitting. The leader of the weaker side, once he stepped into the wrong 'war framework' , played 'va banque' in many occasions like the Manstein plan for the invasion of France as the more conventional options of playing the game were very likely dealt with by superior strenght and much longer economic legs. The increasing craze for gadgets or 'Wunderwaffen', miracles indeed, later in the war matches the disperation and the hope to get somehow a good enough lucky punch.
On the other side the other side tended to play it out quite conservatively apart from some higher risk, higher reward plans like Market Garden. Why risk a temporary but embarrasing and painful setback if you could play it slow but safe. With far more ressources to spare the (Western) allies/USA could also cover the risk from the gadget front to a great degree and for example invest massively into a scientific adventure like the Manhattan project. I wanted to wade into prospect and game theory and its partly fitting implications but topic, time and shortness force me to leave it there.
I've recently found Mr Barlow's blog, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading from the first post up until the most recent. I'll cross my fingers that he might one day publish his book on Kindle or Kobo, but as I know first hand, it's not always as easy as simply formatting, uploading and publishing.
For Christmas I received the following books (I recommend reading No. 1 before No. 2, No. 3 is optional, depends what you're into you kinky buggers)
1. Not Mentioned In Despatches (I had to ignore most of his befehlstaktik vs auftragstaktik nonsesne- he has a habit of making the same points over and over again- and his manoeuvre warfare agenda but it is still a very worthwhile read.)
2. Nine Battles to Stanley (The perfect accpaniment to "Not Mentioned..." and contains an analysis of boths sides)#
3. The Steampunk Illustrated Bible (Yeah? And?)
"Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942" by Clay Blair. I picked it up for $5 in new condition at a Tampa Bay used bookstore and have been grinding through its 864 pages at a steady clip. http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-U-Boat.../dp/0679640320
This is the first volume of a massive two-book effort. The second volume details the period of 1942-1945 when fortunes were reversed and the German vessels became the hunted.
Like John Lundstrom's "The First Team: Pacific Air Combat from Perl Harbor to Midway", Blair's work is very detailed and draws from a wide range of sources to paint a picture that contrasts those put forth by many historians.
Blair asserts that the German WWII U-boat effort was not as effective as many historians otherwise believe, and he does so with a really good narrative style which has made the book much easier to read than Lundstrom's resource.
I always found submarine warfare an interesting, if only peripheral topic to read on, but I have really enjoyed the various movies like Das Boot. Blair's work is a good book that covers a lot of ground while still providing details where they matter--at least for my taste.
1. Patton and Rommel, Dennis Showalter. Good read, and a good introduction to both. Read D'Este's Patton biography, to which this doesn't compare, but didn't know much about Rommel. Showalter does a good job of showing Rommel's genius for knowing where to be on a battlefield, and how he was Johnny on the spot over and over again. He shows the limitations of that too, but not as fully. Showalter's writing style annoyed me though, he threw in all kinds of contemporary analogies (Monica Lewinsky IIRC!) which now read as very dated and forced.
2. Men Against Fire, SLA Marshall. I know (thanks to the old thread on here actually) that his combat participation stuff is widely debunked, and he played fast and loose with the facts. But I figured if General Van Riper is convinced of its value, it's gotta be worth reading. Enjoying the book, but taking it with a big grain of salt.
I finished now the paper summing up the book Farm to Factory by Robert C. Allen to understand more about the pre-war Soviet economy. It is interesting to compare the early Soviet experience with the later (early) Chinese one of which I got a decent understanding thanks to The Chinese Economy by Barry J.Naughton.
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, authors of Why Nations Fail have a blog entry based partly on his graphs.Quote:
Soviet economic performance is usually dismissed as a failure. In contrast, I argue,the Soviet economy performed well. Japan was certainly the most successful developing economy of the twentieth century, but the USSR ranked just behind it. This success would not have occurred without the 1917 revolution or the planned development of state owned industry. Planning led to high rates of capital accumulation, rapid GDP growth, and rising per capita consumption even in the 1930s. The collectivization of agriculture was not necessary for rapid growth--I argue that industrial development would have been almost as fast had the five year plans been carried out within the frame work of the NEP–but it none-the-less nudged up the growth rate.
Without entering into the debate itself, in which many questions are still open it is certainly interesting to note the effect of big shift from the surplus labour in agriculture into the producing sector and mostly heavy industry. Female labour was also moblized to a far greater degree. This was enabled by the steady increase in capital investment coupled with ruthless policies and more (technical) education for a far greater part of the population.Quote:
The important leap in Allen’s conclusion, and the reason why his thesis is ultimately unconvincing is that as Gerschenkron noted long ago in Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective, partly in the Russian context also, backward economies can grow rapidly and may do so using a variety of arrangements. This is made feasible because they are benefiting from catch-up and technological convergence. The fact that Soviet Russia took advantage of catch-up opportunities and transferred resources from its massively inefficient agriculture to industry implies neither that central planning was efficient in the short run nor that it could be a steppingstone for more growth-enhancing institutional structure in the long run.
The many modern factories built in that period were heavily influenced by the American way of mass-production and given the policies of the regime and the many basic needs of the population and economy aimed at producing decent-enough quantiy then quality. Military production received very considerable attention quite early and the factories seem to have been easy to switch to war production. Basic ressources were rather readily accessible with capital being the bottleneck, although food production suffered initially very severly under a bundle of radical Soviet policies, resulting in widespread famines, especially in the Ukrainian SSR.
A very nasty surprise in industrial production was in store for the invader, which could only deploy part of his industrial power. (Obviously there is a great deal of propaganda and illusions in it, but the surprise was certainly there. Notice the very lenghty discussion of the oil problem and it's strategic implications for Mr. Hitler. Fits perfectly with what Tooze worked out).
Van Halen: Exuberant California Zen Rock 'N' Roll by John Scanlan
review - examiner.com
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The Apocalypse Now Book by Peter Cowie
review - variety
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Dictator's Homes by Peter York
review - the age
A Soldier's Tale: The Bloody Road to Jerusalem by Uri Avnery.
This book unites two classic works on the War of 1948, first published in 1949 and 1950 and adds an introduction and some commentary.
The first book, 'In the Fields of the Philistines' was a huge success. Still today it feels fresh and captive, pulling you sometimes right into the actions and giving you the impression of looking out of the eyes of somebody else. The style is powerful and able to paint memorable and fitting pictures for the mind. The author later explained how the book was crafted.
He was involved in many important battles during the war, first around the road to Jeruslam and later in the South and becomes a member of the famous Samson's foxes. Mounted on Jeeps, perhaps influenced by the SAS experience in North Africa, the small unit is highly influential because it is a rare combination of mobility and firepower. Some themes become a bit repetitive, like the conflict between front line troops and the 'shirkers' back home and his view about politicians. He sounds indeed like the radical voice of the 'youth'.Quote:
I wrote before the action, during the action, and after the action. When an exhausting battle was over, my comrades would lie down and snore. I picked up my pencil and paper and wrote. I wrote on the ground, in the trenches, and on the hood of a jeep. I wrote in the canteen surrounded by hundreds of noisy comrades and I wrote in bed at night.
I wasn’t writing a diary. A diary is a dialogue with yourself, a record of your most intimate thoughts. But my articles were meant to be published. I knew they would appear the next day in black and white in the newspaper. All these reports appeared in the paper Yom Yom (Day by Day), the evening edition of the great Israeli daily paper Haaretz (The Land).
'The other side of the coin' was written in one go after the war and offers sometimes a stark contrast to the first book. It combines the story of his recovery at a hospital with intermitting memories, handling themes which didn't make it into the field reports. To avoid the military censorship it was tagged as literature, and it does certainly contain actions and orders which show dark sides. For example civilians get shot following orders from higher up with the intention to get others to flee and to stay away.*
All in all it offers a multifaceted view of the conflict from a soldiers eyes and ears, with acts heroic, good, curious, strange, bad or ugly.
*As Ariel Sharon died I took a look at his life and his controversial role as leader of unit 101. Having read the book the Qibya massacre does no longer stand out that much as it is put into a bloody and murky context of other war crimes inflicted by people on both sides.
Just finished Lawrence in Arabia. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...ence-in-arabia
My review:
The author has collected a lot of information (some of it new, a lot of it not well known) and it would have been a 5 star book if he had stuck to telling great stories; but he also wants to right historical wrongs and sell the book as some sort of "explanation" of how and why the modern Middle East became what it did. In this respect, he rarely rises above the "Guardian" level of fashionable BS; it would have been so much better if he had tried to just calmly tell us the stories without attempting to justify the sub-title (War, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern middle east) since this is actually NOT a book written at that level and shouldn't pretend to be one.
And dont expect this to be a good description of the long and confused war fought in that region from 1914 to 1918. Several major events are mentioned and some British defeats are described in greater detail, but almost always without any systematic description of the fronts, the opposing armies, or the bigger economic or military picture in the region (touched upon, but not systematically described, analyzed, etc.).
Still, worth reading if you want to know more about some very interesting characters (first and foremost Lawrence, but also Kurt Prufer, William Wales, Aaron Aaronson, etc) and their adventures in the region. But unless you are willing to blindly trust the author's ability to pick and choose what to highlight and what to ignore (and I would not), you cannot take this anecdote-heavy account as a balanced and accurate account of the forces at play, much less a good analysis of why things turned out the way they did.
Updated a bit to clarify a couple of things: The author has collected a lot of information (some of it new, a lot of it not well known) and it would have been a 5 star book if he had stuck to telling great stories; but he also wants to right historical wrongs and sell the book as some sort of “explanation” of how and why the modern Middle East became what it did. In this respect, he rarely rises above the “Guardian” level of fashionable BS; it would have been so much better if he had tried to just tell us the stories without attempting to justify the sub-title (War, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East) since this is actually NOT a book written at that level and shouldn’t pretend to be one.
And don’t expect this to be a good description of the long and confused war fought in that region from 1914 to 1918. Several major events are mentioned and some British defeats are described in greater detail, but almost always without any systematic description of the fronts, the opposing armies, or the bigger economic or military picture in the region (touched upon, but not systematically described, analyzed, etc.).
Still, worth reading if you want to know more about some very interesting characters (first and foremost Lawrence, but also Kurt Prufer, William Yale, Aaron Aaronson, etc) and their adventures in the region. But unless you are willing to blindly trust the author’s judgement in picking and choosing what to highlight and what to ignore (and I would not), you cannot take this anecdote-heavy account as a balanced and accurate account of the forces at play, much less a good analysis of why things turned out the way they did.
Some old-fashioned readers may also find his “postmodern” mean-spiritedness a bit jarring. A lot of “heroes” need to be taken down a peg, but there is an air of smug moral superiority about this author that some may find a bit off-putting.
Still, worth reading for the detailed stories alone.http://www.brownpundits.com/2014/01/...nce-in-arabia/
and my comments about Empires of the Silk Road http://www.brownpundits.com/2014/01/...the-silk-road/
Correction request above - done by Moderator.
I have a book on my reading list (for class) titled Hanoi's War by Lien-Hang T. Nguyen that I will get to in a couple of weeks. I'm excited about reading this one.
Hanoi's War is a superb book.
The Whole Heart of Tao by John Bright Fey
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Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954-1975 translated by Merle Pribbenow
review - air and space power journal
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Crazy From The Heat by David Lee Roth
review - publisher's weekly
interview - vhlinks
video
and so little time to read :(.
Wrong turn by Col Gian Gentile
The end of history and the last men by Francis Fukuyama
The soldier and the state by Samuel P Huntington
The Routledge Handbook of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency by Paul B Rich and Isabelle Duyvesteyn (eds)
The latest edition of The Journal of Military Operations (a big praise for that one)
The latest Edition of The Military Review
...
I just finished War on the Waters by McPherson. It is a short history of two navies in the Civil War. It is a good overall narrative of the war on the salt and fresh water and does a good job of showing how important those operations were to the overall war effort, especially the huge and critically important contribution the Union Navy made to the defeat of the CSA.
One thing of interest from the small war point of view is the problem the Federal forces had in protecting their river supply lines from Confederate irregular forces. The rivers could be considered the MSRs of their day-MSR Tennessee and MSR Cumberland so to speak-and the steamers plying them were subject to attack via field artillery and small arms from the shore. What the Union Navy did was to arm and armor (lightly armored , hence 'tinclads') other river steamers and use them for convoy escort and patrol. An example tactic cited was a column of cargo steamers on its way with a number of tinclads interspersed. That sounds familiar.
http://www.amazon.com/War-Waters-Con.../dp/B0093A42XY
Transforming Command by Eitan Shimar-
Focuses on Mission Command in theory and practice within the historical lens...held by American, British, and Israeli frames.
Telling It Straight by Marina Mahathir
interview
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One Man's View of the World by Lee Kuan Yew
review
"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." Albert Einstein
(For those who feel guilty about not being able to keep up with their reading - as I often do. If one must prioritize, keep up with your thinking instead, and read as you can on products focused on the questions that thinking generates in your mind.)
Hi Robert!
Regrettably, I didn't have time to read your entire comment, but I completely agree with everything you said; more people should learn to think for themselves! Especially the quote from Alfred Einstein. Focus is also important also as well, so true! I think
"Siberian Education", Nicolai Lilin... probably strongly exaggerated, but relaxing read
Not sure anyone around here has reached that 'certain age' yet. So keep reading like there is no tomorrow.
Then there are those who plow through reading lists so as to tick off books read... while having missed the point or lessons of the book are the best reason to scrap these long course reading lists... unless the readers are required to present what they learned from each and ever one of the books.
Avoiding the Fall: China's Economic Restructuring
Pettis combines mostly basic macro insights and some original ideas with concise logic to connect many of the sometimes puzzling aspects of Chinas economy in a way which makes a great deal of sense. It is difficult to give much higher praise.
My personal views did conflict in some areas with some of his arguments. After reading his book it would be foolish to uphold most of them in the face of such evidence*. Unless the Chinese government does a brilliant job against considerable internal political pressure the GDP growth story can not continue as it did.
I truly hope that the China is able to transform as softly as possible and that the creditor citizien is no longer basically robbed by the debitor elite. In economic terms it would be also of considerable importance for the Western World, with countries like Germany being quite exposed and Australia basically relying on it. Who knows?
A nice interview of the author, but it lacks of course the compelling written case.
*The rural population is still very high relative to other countries with less massive malinvestment, but it should be quite a bit older.
P.S: The implications of Pittins analysis do not change the factor that China is and will very reliant on maritime trade. However the vast reform task ahead of the Chinese leadership might make some 'patriotic' actions more likely to divert some of the inner attention and energy.
Earlier today I read Andrew Cockburn’s article “Tunnel Vision,” about the Air Forces’s effort to put the A-10 out to pasture, in the latest number of Harper’s. It is behind a paywall—Harper’s does not give away content—but worth either the purchase or a trip to the library. I enjoyed it, but not being an expert would also enjoy feedback on the article from those who are (experts). http://harpers.org/archive/2014/02/tunnel-vision-2/
Zen at War by Brian Daizen Victoria.
review - the zensite
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About halfway through this; good read. Thanks for the suggestion.
Article loosely related to Zen at War review above.
Was Japan An Aggressor Nation? by Tamogami Toshio
I didn't have time to read the entire article, but I completely agree with everything it said; more nations should not deny their own history! or deny! or something! Especially when not pursuing a path of decline! or pursuing! or whatever :)Quote:
After the Greater East Asia War, many countries in Asia and Africa were released from the control of white nations. A world of racial equality arrived and problems between nations were to be decided through discussion. That was a result of Japan’s strength in fighting the Russo- Japanese War and Greater East Asia War. If Japan had not fought the Greater East War at that time, it may have taken another one hundred or two hundred years before we could have experienced the world of racial equality that we have today. In that sense, we must be grateful to our ancestors who fought for Japan and to the spirits of those who gave their precious lives for their country. It is thanks to them that we are able to enjoy the peaceful and plentiful lifestyle we have today.
...
Even now, there are many people who think that our country’s aggression caused unbearable suffering to the countries of Asia during the Greater East Asia War. But we need to realize that many Asian countries take a positive view of the Greater East Asia War. In Thailand, Burma, India, Singapore, and Indonesia, the Japan that fought the Greater East Asia War is held in high esteem. We also have to realize that while many of the people who had direct contact with the Japanese army viewed them positively, it is often those who never directly saw the Japanese military who are spreading rumors about the army’s acts of brutality. Many foreigners have testified to the strict military discipline of the Japanese troops as compared to those of other countries. It is certainly a false accusation to say that our country was an aggressor nation.
Japan is a wonderful country that has a long history and exceptional traditions. We, as Japanese people, must take pride in our country’s history. Unless they are influenced by some particular ideology, people will naturally love the hometown and the country where they were born. But in Japan’s case, if you look assiduously at the historical facts, you will understand that what this country has done is wonderful. There is absolutely no need for lies and fabrications. If you look at individual events, there were probably some that would be called misdeeds. That is the same as saying that there is violence and murder occurring today even in advanced nations.
We must take back the glorious history of Japan. A nation that denies its own history is destined to pursue a path of decline.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...y_Was_Here.jpg
Before a Saturday morning spat ensues, I'm figuring Backwards Observer was being sarcastic about that article.
Never mind, Carl, 'ol buddy; I looked it up.
http://s2.thisnext.com/media/largest...n/70716FC0.jpg
In conclusion, here's a lovely song:
Kojo No Tsuki - Scorps, Live '79
Yellow Peril: An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear by John Kuo Wei Tchen, Dylan Yeats.
review - the atlantic
Se muore il Sud. No translation available for now, but I would be eager to see how certain phrases and specific wordplays get expressed in English.
The authors, two journalists form the Corriere della Sera really hammer home the decline of the South with many stark examples over the last decades. Some of were known to me, as well as the basic economic numbers, but it is very impressive to see those in-depth looks at some projects and how the puzzle fits. Some of the them are incredible, unless you know something about how certain things work or get 'worked'.
An hour-long presentation by the authors, in Italian obviously.
P.S: In the European economy thread I wrote something which would cause a wild reaction, even hatred in Italy itself: the increasing internal emigration from the Sud to the Centro Nord is IMHO in the long run actually a lot better for our state and our economy. This book as strenghtened my view, even if the authors don't come to that conclusion. We tried to move the work for so long desperatly to the South, with huge projects which are mostly white elephants to be milked endlessy by the various criminals and after the baseless boom thirty years ago many citziens of the Meridione are now worse off. Those who left the South forty, fifty years ago and their children have on the other hand become overall strong threads in the economic fabric of the rest of Italy. Of course it is now more difficult with lower vacancies but always better then to throw away precious human capital and labour in the disaster down there.
I just finished Fukuyamas "The end of history ...".
Amazing book ... and especially amazing, how times can change.:wry:
Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia by Yegor Gaidar, a very prominent insider which died in 2009 at 53. His obituary in The Economist.
I really enjoyed his book, one feels his drive to understand and to explain. A far-sighted man indeed.Quote:
Still, Mr Gaidar knew his country, its history and its perils better than most Russian politicians. After leaving office, he continued to advise the government. In his book “Collapse of an Empire”, he warned against the dangers of post-imperial nostalgia and attempts to exploit it. He drew powerful and disturbing parallels between the Nazis in Germany and similar voices in Russia. Many of his fears were borne out by Russia's war in Georgia in August 2008. “The situation is extremely dangerous. The post-imperial syndrome is in full blossom. We have to get through the next five to ten years and not start doing something stupid,” he said.
He was honest, both intellectually and personally. Unlike many of the current Kremlin-dwellers, he did not enrich himself in the 1990s. His office was spartan and stacked with papers; good food (and drink) were his main indulgence. And as an academic, he never compromised his analysis for the sake of political expediency.
One of Russia's biggest problems, as he saw it, was the growing accumulation of wealth and power by bureaucrats and their friends in the name of a “strong state”. People who argued for such a state, he wrote, “have only one purpose—to preserve the status quo…A self-serving state destroys society, oppresses it and in the end destroys itself. Will we be able to break away from this vicious circle?”
Mr Gaidar argued that modernisation was impossible without political liberalisation. Yet just before he died, he agreed to apply his economics institute to the Kremlin's proclaimed task of modernising the Russian economy without touching its political system. Perhaps he sensed it was a vicious circle he could not square.
P.S: The Kindle version on my Android tablet has very small tables, a bit of bummer if you are actually interested in the raw data.
NPR ran a story yesterday about the Palm Springs Desert Sun’s investigation into the off-duty vehicular deaths on the roads surrounding Twentynine Palms (Marine Corps) Base.
I was interested in the story because I have been passed more than once on the Interstate by a Marine weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed. (Each instance was a demonstration of skilled as well as reckless driving at the same time.) So I did an Internet search for the online version of the original story, which may be found at the link here. It is a fairly long read, but it is structured nicely for reading on a tablet.
I have copied and pasted the “Investigation findings” section of the report below.
-------The Desert Sun has spent the last year investigating the lives, and untimely deaths, of Marines at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. Here are some of our key findings:
- Since 2007, the base in Twentynine Palms has suffered more non-hostile deaths, like car crashes and suicides, than war fatalities. Sixty service members from the base have died in war zones in the Middle East, but at least 64 have died on American soil, mostly in the High Desert, while stationed or training at the base.
- Marines at the Twentynine Palms base have been significantly more likely to be killed in an off-duty vehicle accident than their counterparts at other Marine bases. As of 2002, Marines at Twentynine Palms were three times more likely to die in a traffic crash than the average Marine. Safety measures have made crashes less frequent in recent years, but the base maintains one of the highest fatal crash rates in the Marine Corps.
- Marines who commit suicide while at the Twentynine Palms base are nearly twice as likely to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of their death. Of the 15 Marines who committed suicide at the base between 2007 and 2012, seven had alcohol in their system at the time of death. This is nearly double the percentage reported by the Marine Corps as a whole. The base suffers an annual suicide rate of about two deaths per year, matching the Marine Corps average of 19 deaths per 100,000 troops. The civilian rate is 12 deaths per 100,000.
- In one particularly troubling case, a Marine at Twentynine Palms died after military doctors prescribed him six separate medications for post traumatic stress disorder. The Marine died of “multiple drug toxicity,” and his death was ruled an accident.
The Imperial Security State: British Colonial Knowledge and Empire-Building in Asia (Critical Perspectives on Empire) by James Hevia.
review - h-net discussion networks
google books link
Training for the New Alpinism by Steve House and Scott Johnston.
From high school onwards I did a fair bit of minor mountaineering and climbing which grew a bit more ambitious during university. A bit of low-skill guiding (no official mountain guide!) helped to support my personal finances. Swimming remind my main sport. Work and social life cut deeply into my free time and I did work out. As a lazy slug with little discipline I need a well-structured, scientific system I can rationally agree with before I invest precious free time.
Your are you own gym helped me greatly to get back into that training mental state, bulking up and increasing some aspects of my fitness. I'm now quite close to do flat one-armed push-ups and have greatly increased my pull-up count, so I very thankfull to YAYOG. However it's goal is obviously different from a proper training for mountain sports which is more holistic in some aspects and tailored in others.
The highly-voted reviews in Amazon spell out my thoughts better then I could about the quality as a book. In couple of months I will try to update it, as it is still early times to assess properly the success of my program. I plan some minor alpine climbs this season and perhaps some more interesting stuff next year.
P.S: The short pieces of many highly experiences and successfull members of the international climbing community are great, as well as the respect given to the giants of past and present. Still everybody has to find his own goals and way to climb while respecting the basic ethos of mountaineering.
Imperialism: A Study (1902) by John A. Hobson.
Imperialism: A Study - Wikipedia
"A Prince of Our Disorder" by Harvard psychiatry professor John Mack.
I'm only a quarter through it and I really should put it down to finish the U-Boat book I was reading during travels, but it is hard.
The Pulitzer prize-winning book explores T.E. Lawrence's mental makeup and motivations behind his participation in the Arab Revolt, and awkward life afterwards. I half-expected it to go into a of detail about his efforts, but the book is 180 degrees out from that, and I think this is why I find the writing and material fascination.
Plus, it is refreshing to absorb a ot of the "Kings good English" from the multitude of letters cited within.
What happend in the past 80 years that we do not write or speak that well anymore? :wry:
Must read on Pakistan Military Politics: Based on rare archival sources, and internal military documents to explain the army's traditions of tutelage and its consequences for Pakistan, and the wider world.
Aqil Shah, The Army and Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan (Harvard University Press, 2014).
The author is a Pakistani? (I think!) political scientist based at Princeton University. Although after reading this book, I am pretty sure he will be persona non grata in that country.
Great book on Nixon-Kissinger's complicity in the Pakistani Army's genocide of Bengalis in East Pakistan. Based on Arhcer Blood's dispatches from the U.S. consulate in Dhaka.
Garry Bass, Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide
Bass is a historian who teaches at Princeton University.
PAMWE CHETE, LtCol R.F. Reid-Daly (Pub. 1999)
Link:http://books.google.co.uk/books/abou...d=h_MvAQAAIAAJ
On a recent holiday I settled won to read five books, three e-books and one hardback - the later is David Kilcullen's 'Out of the Mountains', which is reviewed elsewhere:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...=12934&page=19
In 2011 'Dead Men Risen:The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan' by Toby Harnden was published, winning plaudits and prizes. The author is an accomplished journalist and writer. His book 'Bandit Country': The IRA and South Armagh (Hodder, 1999), was excellent and so I sat down expecting a similar read.
'Dead Men Risen' was far better, harsh at times in portraying the campaigning, including the loss to an IED of the Welsh Guards CO. It combines interviews of a large number who served, with a good, balanced measure of criticism tactically and beyond.
Link:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Men-Ris...1712629&sr=1-3
In 2012 Margaret Evison, the mother of Lt. Mark Evison, of the Welsh Guards, wrote 'Death of a Soldier: A Mother's Story', after his death, in 2009 in Afghanistan, in what became for many evidence that something was very badly wrong - in Helmand Province and at home, with the coroner's inquest. It is I think unique as a mother's account and in places is very hard to read. Well worth reading and hopefully officialdom will have learnt some lessons by now.
Link:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Soldie...argaret+evison
The third e-book was 'The Last Great Cavalryman: The Life of General Sir Richard McCreery' by Richard Mead, had been well reviewed in The Spectator, but frankly was a disappointment. Yes this general is virtually unknown and played a key part in the Italian campaign. The chapters on his inter-war service was simply a too jolly account of riding, it gave little insight into his education, rather that he was lucky to be spotted by sponsors.
Link:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Great-C...eat+Cavalryman
The fifth book deserves a longer review as it is rather different and has an Indian author.
The Sun should do a companion piece on the number of deaths that have occurred just up the road on the stretch of leading from I-15 to Ft. Irwin (the National Training Center). I've road-marched up there from 29 Palms (I was stationed there from 2002 to 2005) on a number of occasions and always took note of the high number of crosses staked into the shoulders of the road no doubt memorializing the deaths of Soldiers headed to the base from homes in Barstow and elsewhere or back from clubbing.