Exactly how did the Israelites cross the desert? How did Moses cross the Red Sea? How did Joshua take Jericho, and how did the sun appear to stand still at the Ayjllon Valley? No one has ever analyzed the Bible as a military history Gabriel provides the first attempt at a continuous historical narrative of the military history of ancient Israel. He begins with a military analysis of Exodus, an unprecedented and hugely significant contribution to Exodus Studies. This book includes collaborative findings from archaelogy, demography, ethnography, and other relevant disciplines. As a seasoned infantry officer and military historian, Gabriel brings a soldier's eye to the infantry combat described in the Bible. Seeking to make military sense of the Biblical narrative as preserved in Hebrew, he renders comprehensible some of the "mysterious" explanations for famous events.

Childhood Deployed examines the reintegration of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Based on eighteen months of participant-observer ethnographic fieldwork and ten years of follow-up research, the book argues that there is a fundamental disconnect between the Western idea of the child soldier and the individual lived experiences of the child soldiers of Sierra Leone. Susan Shepler contends that the reintegration of former child soldiers is a political process having to do with changing notions of childhood as one of the central structures of society. For most Westerners the tragedy of the idea of "child soldier" centers around perceptions of lost and violated innocence. In contrast, Shepler finds that for most Sierra Leoneans, the problem is not lost innocence but the horror of being separated from one's family and the resulting generational break in youth education. Further, Shepler argues that Sierra Leonean former child soldiers find themselves forced to strategically perform (or refuse to perform) as the"child soldier" Western human rights initiatives expect in order to most effectively gain access to the resources available for their social reintegration. The strategies don't always work-in some cases, Shepler finds, Western human rights initiatives do more harm than good. While this volume focuses on the well-known case of child soldiers in Sierra Leone, it speaks to the larger concerns of childhood studies with a detailed ethnography of people struggling over the situated meaning of the categories of childhood.It offers an example of the cultural politics of childhood in action, in which the very definition of childhood is at stake and an important site of political contestation.

In "Call Signs," former naval aviator Rich Dinkel shares memories and personal stories of several of the brave men and women who shared the profession. These flyers must be able to execute their orders in any circumstance, time, or climate. They are sharply skilled professionals who train and retrain constantly. Each naval aviator has their own call sign-their personal pseudonym, to be used during their service and most likely for many years after their service has ended. Dinkel uses the call signs of his former colleagues as he tells their stories.

Tactical aviation is often described as a very risky business in the eyes of everyday people. Today's fighter and attack aircraft can take-off and land on a runway and shoot off the bow (front) of an aircraft carrier, and be recovered in the cross-deck pendants at the stern (rear) of the ship. In order to perform this sort of flying, a pilot must have steely eyes with perfect vision; quick, cat-like refl exes; and exceptional common sense-something that can occasionally be problematic. He or she must also have a deep and wide knowledge of every system in the aircraft, an equally in depth knowledge of the enemy, and the proper way to use his or her deadly weapons in combat.

"Call Signs" offers personal stories and a unique insider's view of tactical aviation and the challenges that each pilot must meet to succeed.

Exploring the representations of the war dead in early Greek mythology, particularly the Homeric poems and the Epic Cycle, alongside iconographic images on black-figure pottery and the evidence of funerary monuments adorning the graves of early Athenian elites, this book provides much-needed insight into the customs associated with the war dead in Archaic Athens. It is demonstrated that this period had remarkably little in common with the much-celebrated institutions of the Classical era, standing in fact much closer to the hierarchical ideals enshrined in the epics of Homer and early mythology. While the public burial of the war dead in Classical Athens has traditionally been a subject of much scholarly interest, and the origins of the procedures described by Thucydides as patrios nomos are still a matter of some debate, far less attention has been devoted to the Athenian war dead of the preceding era. This book aims to redress the imbalance in modern scholarship and put the spotlight on the Athenian war dead of the Archaic period. In addition, the book deepens our understanding of the processes which led to the establishment of first public burials and the Classical customs of patrios nomos, shedding significant light on the military, cultural and social history of Archaic Athens. Challenging previous assumptions and bringing new material to the table, the book proposes a number of new ways to investigate a period where many 'ancestral customs' were thought to have their roots.

Every time Mark W. Merritt puts on the uniform of a US Naval Officer, he is reminded of how thankful he is to be an American. He began compiling his memories in 2008 while serving in Iraq, just after celebrating his fiftieth birthday in a combat zone. In his memoir, he offers a collection of lessons learned from his years in intelligence-through twenty-nine countries, frost bite, two hip replacements, cancer, three wars, five combat zones, eight marathons, multiple parachute jumps, three college degrees, and two black belts. He has been an author, high school hall-of-famer and collegiate NCAA athlete, mountain climber and kayaker, husband, son, brother, warrior, scholar, and gentleman. As a special operations intelligence officer, Merritt has always pushed to do more, but now he can step back and take in what he has accomplished. He has failed many times, but he has succeeded often, as well. Happiness no longer seems like an unobtainable goal. They Rest Not at Night offers both Merritt's personal life history with all its variety and an exploration of his intelligence experience, sharing his own commentary on the wisdom he has gained the hard way.