A few months out of college, followed by a sixteen-week course on how to be a naval officer, author Thomas F. Jaras found himself standing bridge watches on the USS Vance in the middle of nowhere, providing navigational aid for aircraft flying to the polar ice. Now, almost fifty years later, Jaras recalls the three years he spent aboard the Vance in the 1960s, on the ramparts of the Cold War.

In his memoir, "In the Trough," Jaras attempts to understand his love-hate relationship with the USS Vance, an insignificant radar picket ship that supported Operation Deep Freeze in the Antarctic Ocean for a year and then spent two years on the Pacific Distant Early Warning Line. He describes life on an endurance ship afloat in midocean, battling eighty-foot walls of water crashing over the bridge.

"In the Trough" chronicles Jaras's transition from a boy to man as he dreamed of life ashore during long weeks at sea that were punctuated by short, intense visits to terra firma. Young, inexperienced, and naive, he feared the best years of his life were being wasted at sea. He searched desperately for women, love, and a normal existence while ashore for precious short stints in Tahiti, New Zealand, Tasmania, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii. Despite three stressful, unhappy, and difficult years at sea, Jaras acknowledges a tearful departure but promised himself to never go to sea again.

A hopeless mission in a hostile land
This is an essential book for anyone interested in warfare in Afghanistan. The author, Henry Brooke was given a brigade to command in the field, but soon found himself cooped up behind the walls of Kandahar surrounded by hostile tribesmen within an equally hostile environment. In his writings Brooke makes it clear that he has little faith in his mission from the outset. Inevitably his misgivings are well founded as his force became beset by threats of fanatical attacks from within the city as well as from enemies without. True to the pattern of the British experience of the region a disaster threw a defeated army back to Kandahar and soon the noose was tightened so that the villages under its very walls became 'no go zones.' This is an account of the Second Afghan War that resonates with chilling parallels to the modern conflict.

This book follows an approach that combines the viewpoints of both the realists and the idealists in dealing with the issues of conflict and peace. The ideas, models, and peace processes it proposes take into consideration the imperatives of real life without abandoning the dreams of a more peaceful and just world. The shared homeland model, as developed here, provides hope that ethnic conflict can be resolved in a manner that satisfies a group's need for recognition and cultural particularism, as well as its need for economic development, security, and regional activity. The book also defines and integrates steps of political conflict resolution into one theory that produces one of the first textbooks on the subject.

It is often said that a woman must do a job twice as well as a man in order to get half the credit. This is particularly true of women in law enforcement. Women have been involved in various forms of policing for the last 100 years, but it wasn't until the Equal Employment Act of 1970 that women could move from the job of meter maids to patrol and detective work. Yet less than 1% of all top-level cops are women, and there remain significant obstacles in the career paths of women in the force. This book looks at the history of women police officers and provides first-hand accounts of women at every level, including those who drop out. It addresses discrimination, competition, lack of mentoring, differential treatment and sexual harrassment, examining what issues play into the decision to stick it out or leave that many policewomen face. It also considers the family issues these women return home to at the end of the day. It is often said that a woman must do a job twice as well as a man in order to get half the credit. This is particularly true of women in law enforcement. Women have been involved in various forms of policing for the last 100 years, but it wasn't until the Equal Employment Act of 1970 that women could move from the job of meter maids to patrol and detective work. Yet less than 1% of all top-level cops are women, and there remain significant obstacles in the career paths of women in the force. This book looks at the history of women police officers and provides first-hand accounts of women at every level, including those who drop out. It addresses discrimination, competition, lack of mentoring, differential treatment, and sexual harrassment. It looks at what plays into the decision to stick it out or leave that many policewomen face. It also considers the family issues these women return home to at the end of the day. Unlike other treatments of the subject, Alt and Wells show how women have changed police work into a more community-oriented model of policing, reduced police violence, served as a strong force to promote a more effective response to domestic violence within police departments, and helped with community-police relations. With a combination of first-hand accounts, careful research, and lively analysis, the authors are able to convey the actual experiences of women who have made their careers behind the shield.

This book explores the evolution of the current U.S. research and development enterprise, asks whether this organization remains appropriate to the challenges we face today, and proposes strategies for better preparing for the global technology race shaping our future. Across the globe, nation states and societies, as well as corporations, technology developers, and even individuals, find themselves on the front lines of a global technology race. As we approach the third decade of this century, the outlines of the contest have become clear. Spending on research and development, such new methods as innovation centers, and inclusion of powerful technologies into governments and society are occurring at a rapid pace. Technology winners and losers are emerging. How did we arrive at this global technology fight? How and where will it be waged? What can we do to prepare for the future? In 10 chapters, Tech Wars addresses these questions and more, examining the conditions that have led us to this point and introducing new strategies, organizational changes, and resource allocations that will help the United States respond to the challenges that are on the horizon. Focuses on how technology affects society and individuals, recognizing that a discussion of technology must also include such topics as economics, trade, military activities, and other human endeavors Demonstrates through historical precedents and examination of potential alternative futures that changes in the global research and development ecosystem are needed Highlights the importance of technology to the economic and national security of the United States Explains how and why our science and technology, research and development, and innovation capabilities should be adapted

A soldier of revolution
The wars of the French Revolution are justifiably dominated by the masterful figure of Napoleon. His rapid rise to power, initially as general, then as First Consul and ultimately as Emperor has created the popular perception of the epoch. But by the time Napoleon began his meteoric rise to power the revolution itself was well established. The author of this book Moreau de Jonnes was a true child of the revolutionary period. Taken from his studies as a future lawyer in 1791 he never again returned to his intended profession. He was drafted into the National Guard during the doomed attempt at constitutional monarchy and thereafter into the Marine Artillery where he began an experience of continual war for the next 15 years. We follow de Jonnes to the siege of Toulon, to engagements against the Royal Navy at sea, to Quiberon Bay, the Irish Rebellion and finally to service in the Caribbean. This is an unusual and rare first hand account of the early years that formed the First Empire and is not to be missed by any student of the period.

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say I am strong.-Joel 3:10

Beating Plowshares into Swords inaugurates an extraordinarily ambitious effort by Paul Koistinen to compose a comprehensive and wide-ranging study on the economics of American warfare from the colonial period to the present. When completed, this multi-volume project will stand as the definitive work on a complex subject that until now has been superficially treated or completely ignored.

Koistinen focuses not upon battlefields and battles but upon the means used to make and sustain the armies and navies that have fought in such horrific arenas. Drawing upon a vast array of sources in a number of diverse fields, he analyzes how America has mobilized itself for the conduct of war. He argues that to fully understand that process we must closely examine the complex interrelations among economic, political, and military institutions within the context of relentless modernization and technological innovation.

In this first volume, Koistinen describes how an undeveloped "preindustrial" economy forced Americans to fight defensive wars of attrition like the Revolution and the War of 1812. By the time of the Mexican War, however, a gradually maturing economy allowed the U.S. to use a much more offensive-minded strategy to achieve its goals. The book concludes with an exhaustive examination of the Civil War, a conflict that both anticipated and differed from the total wars of the industrialized era. Koistinen demonstrates that the North relied upon its enormous economic might to overwhelm the Confederacy through a strategy of annihilation, while the South bungled its own strategy of attrition by failing to mobilize effectively a much less-developed economy.

With this and subsequent volumes, Koistinen's sweeping synthesis provides a panoramic view that enlarges and in significant ways alters our vision of the turbulent relationship between war and society in America.

When author Frank Strobel returned from Vietnam, he felt as if he had used up a great deal of his personal "life force" during that year. He worked very hard that year-physically, mentally, and emotionally-and experienced almost every feeling known to man at a very high intensity. "The Devil's Disciple: Different Sides of War" presents a compilation of his experiences in Vietnam, exploring this intensity and recalling the speed with which events moved during his time there. Strobel's missions during wartime were not for the faint of heart

His experiences helped him to understand that war has an impact beyond just the fighting involved. There are people, young and old, affected by war. They lived in the villages that he visited as part of his tour of duty. In some of his experiences, he talks about the children he met in the villages of Vietnam and their love for American bubble gum. Using hand signals and an occasional interpreter, he was able to communicate with some of the children and older people in the villages, learning about them and about their lives.

In "The Devil's Disciple," Strobel shares his personal experiences during one of the most challenging wars the United States has fought.