The National Training Center and Fort Irwin

The National Training Center and Fort Irwin
Author: Kenneth W. Drylie
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 1467127957

The National Training Center (NTC) and Fort Irwin occupies 1,200 acres in a remote part of the Mojave Desert. Over 35 miles from the nearest town, the NTC is the only training area in the United States with enough land to conduct full brigade-on-brigade armored combat training. The area was designated as the Mojave Anti-Aircraft Range in 1941 and later renamed Camp Irwin in honor of Maj. Gen. George LeRoy Irwin, commander of the 57th Field Artillery Brigade in World War I. Fort Irwin has been pivotal in training the armed forces for every conflict since World War II and played an important role in the exploration of space. Today, the National Training Center at Fort Irwin serves as the premier training area for US forces preparing to deploy to combat areas anywhere in the world.

Breaking the Phalanx

Breaking the Phalanx
Author: Douglas A. Macgregor
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 302
Release: 1997-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0313373590

This work proposes the reorganization of America's ground forces on the strategic, operational and tactical levels. Central to the proposal is the simple thesis that the U.S. Army must take control of its future by exploiting the emerging revolution in military affairs. The analysis argues that a new Army warfighting organization will not only be more deployable and effective in Joint operations; reorganized information age ground forces will be significantly less expensive to operate, maintain, and modernize than the Army's current Cold War division-based organizations. And while ground forces must be equipped with the newest Institute weapons, new technology will not fulfill its promise of shaping the battlefield to American advantage if new devices are merely grafted on to old organizations that are not specifically designed to exploit them. It is not enough to rely on the infusion of new, expensive technology into the American defense establishment to preserve America's strategic dominance in the next century. The work makes it clear that planes, ships, and missiles cannot do the job of defending America's global security issues alone. The United States must opt for reform and reorganization of the nation's ground forces and avoid repeating Britain's historic mistake of always fielding an effective army just in time to avoid defeat, but too late to deter an aggressor.

Enlisting Faith

Enlisting Faith
Author: Ronit Y. Stahl
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2017-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674981316

A century ago, as the United States prepared to enter World War I, the military chaplaincy included only mainline Protestants and Catholics. Today it counts Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Christian Scientists, Buddhists, Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, and evangelicals among its ranks. Enlisting Faith traces the uneven processes through which the military struggled with, encouraged, and regulated religious pluralism over the twentieth century. Moving from the battlefields of Europe to the jungles of Vietnam and between the forests of Civilian Conservation Corps camps and meetings in government offices, Ronit Y. Stahl reveals how the military borrowed from and battled religion. Just as the state relied on religion to sanction war and sanctify death, so too did religious groups seek recognition as American faiths. At times the state used religion to advance imperial goals. But religious citizens pushed back, challenging the state to uphold constitutional promises and moral standards. Despite the constitutional separation of church and state, the federal government authorized and managed religion in the military. The chaplaincy demonstrates how state leaders scrambled to handle the nation’s deep religious, racial, and political complexities. While officials debated which clergy could serve, what insignia they would wear, and what religions appeared on dog tags, chaplains led worship for a range of faiths, navigated questions of conscience, struggled with discrimination, and confronted untimely death. Enlisting Faith is a vivid portrayal of religious encounters, state regulation, and the trials of faith—in God and country—experienced by the millions of Americans who fought in and with the armed forces.

66 Stories of Battle Command

66 Stories of Battle Command
Author: Adela Frame
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2017-04-17
Genre:
ISBN: 9781545394953

Experienced commanders discuss anecdotes and case studies from their past operations.

Sons of Hope

Sons of Hope
Author: Jeffrey Ahern
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2013-04-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1475939132

Author Jeffrey Ahern had longed to serve in the Army since he was thirteen years old. He attained that goal, and in Sons of Hope he narrates the story of his service as an infantry platoon leader during Operation Iraqi Freedom III and IV. Sons of Hope is based on the daily diary entries kept while he was assigned to Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 172 Infantry (Mountain) from January 2005 to May 2006. Aherns story begins with the mobilization training the platoon and company endured at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and then Fort Irwin, California, leaving the United States in May 2005. He provides details on the platoons counterinsurgency operations, daily patrols, nightly raids, the constant fear of IEDs and suicide bombers, and the never ending search for an unseen enemy. A vivid and detailed account, Sons of Hope provides insight into what life was like for a frontline soldier in Iraq conducting offensive operations. It communicates the importance of the sacrifices soldiers and their families have made in the last decade of war.

The Defense of Hill 781

The Defense of Hill 781
Author: James R. McDonough
Publisher: Presidio Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2010-03-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307434850

“Brilliant, hardhitting description of modern war on the U.S. Army’s premier training ground. A must-read tactical primer for today’s warrior.”—John C. “Doc” Bahnsen, Brigadier General, USA (Ret.) At the turn of the century a small, humorous book on tactics was published. The Defense of Duffer’s Drift quickly became a bestseller and today is still widely read. The Defense of Hill 781 is a modem version of this classic—a tactical primer with ample funpoking, but with serious lessons to be learned. Lt. Col. A. Tack Always Finds himself in the California high desert, alone, disheveled, confused. A guide soon appears to inform him of his situation: He has died and is now in Purgatory (his humility in the Army was somewhat lacking) where he must atone for past sins. Purgatory is, aptly, the U.S. Army’s National Training Center (NTC), and Lt. Col. Always may earn his way out by completing a successful mission. Through a series of six missions, the reader plans and fights with Lt. Col. Always, making the split-second decisions that determine victory or defeat, life or death. Through successive difficulties, some important lessons are burned into the commander’s brain—lessons about tactics, about people, about what it takes to fight a winning battle. Like Duffer’s Drift this book is a valuable resource for all military tacticians. For the armchair general, it is a fascinating look at how the members of a military unit work together in combat.

The First Infantry Division and the U.S. Army Transformed

The First Infantry Division and the U.S. Army Transformed
Author: Gregory Fontenot
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Total Pages: 587
Release: 2017-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0826273769

This fast-paced and compelling read closes a significant gap in the historiography of the late Cold War U.S. Army and is crucial for understanding the current situation in the Middle East. From the author's introduction: “My purpose is a narrative history of the 1st Infantry Division from 1970 through the Operation Desert Storm celebration held 4th of July 1991. This story is an account of the revolutionary changes in the late Cold War. The Army that overran Saddam Hussein’s Legions in four days was the product of important changes stimulated both by social changes and institutional reform. The 1st Infantry Division reflected benefits of those changes, despite its low priority for troops and material. The Division was not an elite formation, but rather excelled in the context of the Army as an institution.” This book begins with a preface by Gordon R. Sullivan, General, USA, Retired. In twelve chapters, author Gregory Fontenot explains the history of the 1st infantry Division from 1970 to 1991. In doing so, his fast-paced narrative includes elements to expand the knowledge of non-military readers. These elements include a glossary, a key to abbreviations, maps, nearly two dozen photographs, and thorough bibliography. The First infantry Division and the U.S. Army Transformed: Road to Victory in Desert Storm is published with support from the First Division Museum at Cantigny.

Combat in Hell

Combat in Hell
Author: Russell W. Glenn
Publisher: RAND Corporation
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1996
Genre: United States
ISBN: 9780833024251

A study of urban warfare and its challenges for U.S. armed forces.