Military books were on full display at this year’s AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition, held October 13-15 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

Authors, editors, publishers, and a record number of registrants were part of AUSA Book Program events throughout the show.

An Authors’ Forum on Monday, October 13, provided an opportunity to highlight six new titles in the program. Authors and editors gave brief overviews of their works and then fielded questions from the audience.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. W. Douglas Gibbons, an AUSA Senior Fellow, moderated the forum. C-SPAN was on hand to record the proceedings, which will be broadcast later this year as part of their BookTV programming.

The first panel of the Authors’ Forum focused on “Preparing for the Next Fight.” Dr. Arthur T. Coumbe started the discussion with an overview of his new book, Soldiers in the Schoolhouse: A Military History of the Junior ROTC. Coumbe is a retired Army colonel and military historian who previously published two histories of the U.S. Army Cadet Command.

Next to the podium was another AUSA Senior Fellow, retired Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel K. Elder, operating in his dual-hatted role as author of NCO School: How the Vietnam-Era NCO Candidate Course Shaped the Modern Army. His book details the untold story of the Noncommissioned Officer Candidate Course, a transformative yet overlooked chapter in U.S. Army history

Col. Bryan N. Groves, who was able to attend the conference in his personal capacity, rounded out the panel with a presentation on When Presidents Fight the Last War: The Oval Office, Sunk Costs, and Wartime Decision-making since Vietnam. His book examines how commanders-in-chief from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama have chosen to escalate or de-escalate conflicts.

Moderator Gibbons then called for the second panel of the forum, which centered on “Special Forces and Urban Operations.”

This section had an unusual start, with retired Col. David G. Jesmer, Jr. presenting on behalf of author Col. Joseph D. Celeski, who passed away before the publication of Green Berets, Clan Militia, and Blue Helmets: The Illustrated History of Army Special Forces in Somalia. Jesmer, who deployed to Somalia in March 1993 as part of the 5th Special Forces Group, spoke about his friend and former SF colleague in addition to detailing the contents of the book.

Dr. John P. Sullivan then discussed Urban Operations: War, Crime, and Conflict. This edited anthology features contributions from the world’s leading experts in urban security, military strategy, and counter-terrorism. Sullivan, a retired career police officer who has specialized in emergency operations, terrorism, and intelligence, brought a new perspective to a field that increasingly blurs the border between law enforcement and traditional military operations.

The forum concluded with Dr. Russell W. Glenn, a former Corps of Engineers officer and director of plans and policy at TRADOC. His book Brutal Catalyst: What Ukraine’s Cities Tell Us About Recovery from War examines the challenges that Kharkiv, Kherson, and Mariupol will face in their post-war recovery.

After the forum, the authors continued the conversation with attendees in the Book Program area of the Education Zone, where they also signed copies of their books and posed for pictures.

Please visit www.ausa.org/books to order copies of these and all other titles in the AUSA Book Program. Use the promo code F25AUSA for select member discounts when purchasing titles directly through the publisher links.