Pondering the Changing Face of Conflict
War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict. Mick Ryan. Naval Institute Press. 312 pages. $39.95
By Lt. Gen. David Barno, U.S. Army retired
For those who study the shifting shapes of conflict, the 21st century has already proven an intriguing enigma. Wars during its first two-plus decades have spanned the gamut from insurgencies waged by nonstate actors, to lesser powers battling for regional supremacy, to the ongoing major conventional war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
These disparate conflicts remind us that wars insist upon presenting belligerents and scholars with ever-changing and ever-creative patterns.
War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict focuses on 21st century challenges between great powers, including competition and outright conflict. The book’s distinguished author is retired Australian Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, a former commander of the Australian Defence College and one of today’s most incisive thinkers about modern war.
Ryan casts a wide net in framing the holistic nature of the emerging wars of this century, with a clear eye on the part of the world where China and its military ambitions cast a long shadow. The book is a comprehensive survey of the changing character of war, chronicling factors from the shifting strategic environment, to multifarious drivers of disruptions, to the breadth of potentially lethal competitions around the world.
He succeeds in making us think in more far-reaching ways about just what it means to compete, and in helping us begin to see how the West’s time-honored constructs of war may now be largely obsolete. Ryan shows that the emerging character of war defies more conventional long-standing notions of any real divide separating war and peace.
War Transformed is organized into four major sections, beginning with a discussion of military change and military revolutions. It then explores future war and its expanding scope reaching far beyond kinetic clashes, before turning to an examination of institutions, ideas and future military effectiveness. It closes with a compelling section about the central importance of people in determining the shape and outcomes of future competitions and conflicts.
Ryan paints a clear picture of the changes in the shape of societies and militaries, which together are upending traditional assumptions about how wars are waged. His assessment of the litany of disruptors that have already reshaped conflict in this century deserves careful study.
The author makes some of his most important points when he highlights the challenges to future military leadership, along with the institutions of professional military education that will shape it. He makes the case for major reforms in order to future-proof today’s institutions for new forms of conflict.
Ryan raises provocative questions about how military educational establishments should best provide function and value in a century marked by increasingly disruptive changes. He explores two approaches: as a broad brush that touches nearly every rising member of the military’s leadership, such as in large command and staff courses, or as a narrowly focused effort aimed at only the brightest officers with strong potential to ascend to high rank.
These issues will only grow in importance given the rapidly changing characteristics of major-power competition and conflict, which will encompass not just the five warfighting domains but also every aspect of the economic, informational and social realms.
Thought-provoking, wide-ranging, cogently written and full of important insights about the looming conflicts of this century, War Transformed lends itself to professional development discussions at all levels. It is a book that belongs on every national security leader’s bookshelf, and its ideas should spark some serious soul-searching in the U.S. military, as well as among allies and partners, as to whether the U.S. military and its partners around the world are adapting and changing quickly enough to meet the challenges that all will face in future conflicts.
Lt. Gen. David Barno, U.S. Army retired, is a visiting professor of strategic studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, D.C., and a contributing editor and columnist at War on the Rocks. A former infantry officer and 30-year Army veteran, he served as the overall commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.
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A Patriot Becomes the Enemy in Iraq
Black Hearts and Painted Guns: A Battalion’s Journey into Iraq’s Triangle of Death. Kelly Eads and Col. Daniel Morgan, USA Ret. Casemate (An AUSA Title). 216 pages. $34.95
By Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmie Spencer, U.S. Army retired
The Sept. 11, 2001, attack on America is where this story begins. It was the day that changed everything. The U.S. was at war. Thousands of men and women volunteered to serve in the military. Black Hearts and Painted Guns: A Battalion’s Journey into Iraq’s Triangle of Death is the story about answering the nation’s call during the global war on terror, as seen through the eyes of a combat soldier.
Co-author Kelly Eads enlisted in the Army shortly after graduating from high school in the summer of 2003. Despite the fact that he qualified for virtually every job the Army had to offer, he chose infantry, the most dangerous job in the armed service. He made it clear to recruiters that he wanted to fight for his country on the front lines.
After completing Initial Entry Training, Eads was assigned to the storied 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the “Screaming Eagles,” at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He joined the 2nd Battalion of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, the “Black Hearts,” as an infantryman. His scout platoon, which the enemy would call the “Painted Guns” due to its camouflaged weapons, prepared to deploy to Iraq. Eads was about to get what he asked for: a chance to serve his country in time of war.
His unit was deployed southwest of Baghdad in northern Babil Province, an area that would become known as the “Triangle of Death.” Eads was surprised at the reception the soldiers received upon their arrival. He remembers: “Many of us newbies were shocked at the way these people viewed Americans. Iraq hatred penetrated your soul and burned through you.”
Eads ultimately would serve two combat tours with the Screaming Eagles. This personal account, written with the help of his former operations officer, retired Col. Daniel Morgan, holds nothing back. The hours of the mundane punctuated by moments of sheer terror are described in detail, from the feeling that Eads and his teammates had bull’s-eyes painted on their backs, to the satisfaction of knowing they’d made a positive difference. The book also covers post-military service struggles to deal with the invisible wounds of combat.
Black Hearts and Painted Guns is a page-turner that reads like a novel, made better by the fact that it is true. This is a story about faithful and selfless service to the nation, the valor of America’s 21st century warriors and the sacrifices of the families at home.
Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmie Spencer, U.S. Army retired, held assignments with infantry, Special Forces and Ranger units during his 32 years of active military service. He is the former director of the Association of the U.S. Army’s NCO and Soldier Programs and is an AUSA senior fellow.
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An Airborne Unit’s Vietnam Experience
Sign Here for Sacrifice: The Untold Story of the Third Battalion, 506th Airborne, Vietnam 1968. Ian Gardner. Osprey Publishing. 304 pages. $30
By Col. Karen Lloyd, U.S. Army retired
Sign Here for Sacrifice: The Untold Story of the Third Battalion, 506th Airborne, Vietnam 1968 is a fast-paced account of the reactivation and operations of an infantry battalion in Vietnam. It also represents the continuation of Ian Gardner’s scholarship of the famed soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division, whose World War II exploits he captured in the trilogy Tonight We Die as Men: The Untold Story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to D-Day; Deliver Us from Darkness: The Untold Story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment During Market Garden; and No Victory in Valhalla: The Untold Story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Bastogne to Berchtesgaden.
This book starts with a lively narrative covering the men involved with the reactivation of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in April 1967 through its deployment to Vietnam in October 1967. It then transitions into a detailed unit history of the battalion’s time in Vietnam in late 1967 and 1968.
In ensuing chapters, Gardner details specific operational actions that capture the variety of the battalion’s assigned missions. These ranged from medical missions designed to aid the civilian populace (and win hearts and minds), to the typical infantry mission of search-and-destroy patrols, to providing security for engineering projects in its area of operations.
A great example occurs with the battalion’s first airmobile operation, Operation Rose. By setting the stage with all the necessary components—artillery, infantry and aviation assets—along with a sense of what key individuals are experiencing, readers feel as if they are viewing the operation firsthand.
The book ends with a narrative about the variety of outcomes experienced by the men who played key roles during the unit’s time in Vietnam.
By providing first-person perspectives, this book clearly shows the importance of human dynamics across the breadth of a soldier’s life, from the mundane to the action-packed moments. Life, like an Army unit, comes in all shapes and sizes. This book ensures that the reader is provided with examples of both good and bad performance, along with situational awareness to provide meaningful context.
Sign Here for Sacrifice does not shy away from uncomfortable stories that need to be told to better understand military life’s absurdities and oddball humor. Any good soldier will chuckle at the supply sergeant who finessed the logistical supply catalog to his unit’s benefit and marvel at the ingenuity of the American soldier, especially the combat medic.
I found the book’s Chronology of Significant Events as they pertained to the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the five maps useful and appropriately placed to assist the reader in understanding the context of the operational locations detailed in the book.
Sign Here for Sacrifice is best suited for individuals interested in day-to-day operations up to battalion level in 1968 in Vietnam, as well as those who follow the exploits of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment; and airmobile and airborne units.
Col. Karen Lloyd, U.S. Army retired, is the former director of the Veterans History Project for the Library of Congress. She served 28 years in the Army and was the first female Medical Service Corps officer to receive aviator wings.
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Officers Earned Their Place in History
The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel. Lloyd Clark. Atlantic Monthly Press. 432 pages. $30.00
By Col. Cole Kingseed, U.S. Army retired
According to British military historian John Keegan, a leader of men in warfare can show himself to his followers only through a mask, a mask he must make for himself, but a mask made in such form as will mark him to men of his time and place as the leader they want and need. In The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel, Keegan countryman Lloyd Clark attempts to look behind the masks of three iconic World War II commanders: Gen. George Patton Jr., British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery and German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Clark is the co-founder of the British Army’s Centre for Army Leadership at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and a professor of modern war studies at the Humanities Research Institute, University of Buckingham. One of the U.K.’s leading military historians, Clark’s previous books include Blitzkrieg: Myth, Reality, and Hitler’s Lightning War: France 1940; The Battle of the Tanks: Kursk, 1943; Crossing the Rhine: Breaking into Nazi Germany 1944 and 1945—The Greatest Airborne Battles in History; and Anzio: Italy and the Battle for Rome—1944.
Patton, Montgomery and Rommel came into the world at the height of the second Industrial Revolution that transformed warfare. Born between 1885 and 1891, these three officers participated in World War I and were greatly affected by their wartime experience. Their approaches to leadership “created three unique personalities—which in turn, determined each man’s leadership style,” Clark writes.
Clark portrays his subjects as incredibly ambitious officers who remained convinced that they were destined for higher station in the next war. All survived the challenges of leading soldiers in their respective peacetime armies. Patton received censure for his views on the creation, and potential, of an independent armored force. Montgomery’s “truculence and small-mindedness” often alienated his fellow officers. For his part, Rommel understood that not being a member of the elite, trained General Staff would be an impediment to his military advancement.
Yet it was in command and leadership in World War II that Patton, Montgomery and Rommel flourished. By the time the U.S. entered World War II, Patton was a major general commanding the 2nd Armored Division. Montgomery also served as a major general, commanding the 3rd Division before it departed for France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939. As commander of the 7th Panzer Division in 1940, Rommel showcased his instinctive, mobile approach to combat.
Clark is at his best highlighting the similarities of the three men’s wartime exploits, particularly during the campaign in northwest Europe. Not until Rommel’s car accident in France on July 17, 1944, due to Allied strafing, did the Western Allies crack the German defenses. Patton and Montgomery later achieved eternal fame during the Battle of the Bulge before Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945.
To what did Patton, Montgomery and Rommel owe their battlefield success? Clark argues persuasively that the three officers understood that effective military leadership demands more than mere reliance on rank and orders. The triumvirate of commanders recognized that a bond of trust had to be established between themselves and their followers.
Accordingly, the remarkable trio worked diligently throughout their careers to acquire the professional knowledge that would provide them credibility and the wisdom to aid their judgments.
Concurrently, Clark views Patton, Montgomery and Rommel as flawed leaders who periodically exhibited behaviors that mirrored personal weaknesses of arrogance, selfishness and irascibility.
However, in the final analysis, Clark opines that their achievements as leaders were undeniably remarkable. By cutting “through the complexity, not shirking from their responsibilities, applying sound judgment, making decisions and providing leadership,” as Clark writes, these warriors earned their place among history’s great battle captains.
Col. Cole Kingseed, U.S. Army retired, a former professor of history at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, is a writer and consultant. He holds a doctorate in history from Ohio State University.