A Swift, Elusive Sword

A Swift, Elusive Sword
Author: Chester W. Richards
Publisher:
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2001
Genre: Military art and science
ISBN: 9781932019018

Study of national security and military strategy suggests that ancient strategic wisdom may help solve the dilemma confronting the U.S. Military: spending on defense exceeds that of any combination of potential adversaries, but the services still face cancellation of weapons systems and lack of funds for training, spares and care and feeding of the troops. Richards suggests U.S. Military leaders can break out of the "dollars equal defense" mindset, and create more effective forces.

Key to the Sinai

Key to the Sinai
Author: George Walter Gawrych
Publisher:
Total Pages: 160
Release: 1990
Genre: Abu Ageila, Battle of, Abu 'Ujaylah, Egypt, 1956
ISBN:

In both the 1956 and 1967 wars, Abu Ageila was the main gateway to the Sinai for the Israel Defense Forces. Yet there were marked differences between Egyptian and Israeli war plans, preparations, operations, and results in the two battles for the area. In 1956, Israel carried the burden of a constricting alliance with Britain and France and faced other extensive military problems. The result was that Israel fought a difficult and costly battle for Abu Ageila. In contrast, in 1967, the Israel Defense Forces developed a brilliant operational plan and achieved effective unit command and control and attained a decisive victory.

Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey
Author: Wilbur Smith
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 676
Release: 2013-11-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466857722

It is 1667 and the Dutch and the English are at war. Sir Francis Courtney and his son Henry 'Hal' Courtney, in their fighting caravel Lady Edwina, are on patrol off the Agulhas Cape of Southern Africa: lying in wait for one of the galleons of the Dutch East India Company returning from the Orient laden with treasure to fall into their net. It is the beginning of the quest that will sweep them from the new settlement of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa to the Great Horn of Ethiopia far to the north. The bloody capture of the Dutch merchantman, and three valuable hostages, launches Hal into a perilous adventure which only the bravest will survive... Along the way Hal will encounter many enemies. A dangerous mutineer, sworn to extract to revenge. A fellow Knight Templar, now his father's betrayer. And the most dangerous adversary on the African continent, the Dutch swordsman Schreuder. His spirit will also be tested by love. For the rich and pampered Dutch heiress, Katinka. For the beautiful slave girl, Sukeena. And for a woman whose unstinting courage will outshine them all... From the dungeons of Good Hope to the uncharted wilderness of the Dark Continent and then to the fatal narrows of the Red Sea, Hal's faith will lead him to his destiny. To the defense of the final Christian stronghold in Africa. The kingdom of Prester John, historic guardian of the priceless Holy Grail... Birds of Prey is a Courtney Family Adventure from bestselling author Wilbur Smith.

A Swift, Elusive Sword

A Swift, Elusive Sword
Author: Chester W. Richards
Publisher:
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2003
Genre: Maneuver warfare
ISBN: 9781932019018

Study of national security and military strategy suggests that ancient strategic wisdom may help solve the dilemma confronting the U.S. Military: spending on defense exceeds that of any combination of potential adversaries, but the services still face cancellation of weapons systems and lack of funds for training, spares and care and feeding of the troops. Richards suggests U.S. Military leaders can break out of the "dollars equal defense" mindset, and create more effective forces.

Boyd

Boyd
Author: Robert Coram
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2002-11-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0759527776

John Boyd may be the most remarkable unsung hero in all of American military history. Some remember him as the greatest U.S. fighter pilot ever -- the man who, in simulated air-to-air combat, defeated every challenger in less than forty seconds. Some recall him as the father of our country's most legendary fighter aircraft -- the F-15 and F-16. Still others think of Boyd as the most influential military theorist since Sun Tzu. They know only half the story. Boyd, more than any other person, saved fighter aviation from the predations of the Strategic Air Command. His manual of fighter tactics changed the way every air force in the world flies and fights. He discovered a physical theory that forever altered the way fighter planes were designed. Later in life, he developed a theory of military strategy that has been adopted throughout the world and even applied to business models for maximizing efficiency. And in one of the most startling and unknown stories of modern military history, the Air Force fighter pilot taught the U.S. Marine Corps how to fight war on the ground. His ideas led to America's swift and decisive victory in the Gulf War and foretold the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. On a personal level, Boyd rarely met a general he couldn't offend. He was loud, abrasive, and profane. A man of daring, ferocious passion and intractable stubbornness, he was that most American of heroes -- a rebel who cared not for his reputation or fortune but for his country. He was a true patriot, a man who made a career of challenging the shortsighted and self-serving Pentagon bureaucracy. America owes Boyd and his disciples -- the six men known as the "Acolytes" -- a great debt. Robert Coram finally brings to light the remarkable story of a man who polarized all who knew him, but who left a legacy that will influence the military -- and all of America -- for decades to come . . .

Special Operations and Strategy

Special Operations and Strategy
Author: James D. Kiras
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2006-07-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135989893

This book argues that the root of effective special operations lies in understanding the relationship between moral and material attrition - this is achieved by examining both strategic theory and real-life case studies.

Swords Against Death

Swords Against Death
Author: Fritz Leiber
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1497616794

Join the renowned barbarian and thief in this sword-and-sorcery adventure from a Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy. While The Lord of the Rings took the world by storm, Fritz Leiber’s fantastic but thoroughly flawed antiheroes, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, adventured and stumbled deep within the caves of Inner Earth as well. They wondered and wandered to the edges of the Outer Sea, across the Land of Nehwon, and throughout every nook and cranny of gothic Lankhmar, Nehwon’s grandest and most mystically corrupt city. Lankhmar, is Leiber’s fully realized, vivid incarnation of urban decay and civilization’s corroding effect on the human psyche. Fafhrd and Mouse are not innocents; their world is no land of honor and righteousness. It is a world of human complexities and violent action, of discovery and mystery, of swords and sorcery. Swords Against Death, the second volume in the Lankhmar series, finds Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser beginning their real journey. Their hearts altered by the loss of first true love, they embark on a long and winding path of drunken debauchery and womanizing until crossing paths with two cross wizards, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Ningauble of the Seven Eyes. A most violent of clashes ensues. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser descend into Thieves House to discover the exacting skill of the united backstabbing Thieves of Lankhmar and their rival guild, the Slayer’s Brotherhood, the city’s unionized killers. They would wander along the Bleak Shore to a howling tower to show how fear is not the product of murder but the cause. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser must resume their plundering and drunken debauchery until once again darkness had taken the balance for its favor and then a change would come. These are just a few of the encounters our swindling swordsmen will willingly endure in ridding their hearts of their first true loves. But did they know it would make them indentured swordsman servants to their former foes, the formidable Sheelba and Ningauble?