After the feverish mobilization of secession had faded, why did Southern men join the Confederate army? Kenneth Noe examines the motives and subsequent performance of ""later enlisters."" He offers a nuanced view of men who have often been cast as less patriotic and less committed to the cause, rekindling the debate over who these later enlistees were, why they joined, and why they stayed and fought. Noe refutes the claim that later enlisters were more likely to desert or perform poorly in battle and reassesses the argument that they were less ideologically savvy than their counterparts who enlisted early in the conflict. He argues that kinship and neighborhood, not conscription, compelled these men to fight: they were determined to protect their families and property and were fueled by resentment over emancipation and pillaging and destruction by Union forces. But their age often combined with their duties to wear them down more quickly than younger men, making them less effective soldiers for a Confederate nation that desperately needed every able-bodied man it could muster. Reluctant Rebels places the stories of individual soldiers in the larger context of the Confederate war effort and follows them from the initial optimism of enlistment through the weariness of battle and defeat.

The books title has an apparent misnomer-boots were not used in early armies, at least as apparent from temple sculptures which depict bare-bodied and barefooted soldiers. But is it likely to have been true? Or social reasons led to suppression of footgear on temple walls? The book explores these and myriad other questions on the military experience of South Asia, hoping to construct a picture of how men, animals, and equipment were used on South Asian battlefields from the end of the Paleolithic till the dawn of our era. Further, as all that happens on battlefields is no more than the tip of the proverbial iceberg whose submarine mass conceals many cause-effect relationships in a wide variety of fields, the author, adopting a wide fronted approach, examines the evidence of anthropology, literature, mythology, folklore, technology, archaeology, and architecture, to reconstructs the military atmosphere of South Asia beyond the battlefield, which is the aim of this book.

In 1965, the first incidents of armed resistance occurred in South West Africa. The military wing of SWAPO, called the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), established a base at Ongulumbashe, in northern South West Africa, from where they intended to launch their armed struggle. However, the South African Police were quick to attack the base successfully.

This set the stage for a war that would continue over the next thirty years. The Army was involved soon, and when the Portuguese left Angola in 1975, it created a vacuum which saw an entirely different situation arising. The Cubans rushed to Angola in aid of the newly established MPLA Government, while the South African Defence Force, at the request of the United States, invaded southern Angola to counter the Cuban threat, as well as establish Jonas Savimbi's Unita Party.

Over the next months and years the war escalated to new heights. There was a sudden demand for more and better arms and an even bigger demand for specialist groups within the existing military. This was quickly changed from a conventional to a counter-insurgency force. In 1968, a Special Forces group was born with the first "unconventional warfare" course. In 1969, Captain Jan Breytenbach and General Fritz Loots were the first commanders of this group. These two gentlemen are considered the fathers of the South African Special Forces.

The first group was 1 Reconnaissance Commando, followed by 4 Reconnaissance Commando. Later it was changed to Reconnaissance Regiments, and referred to as the Recces, with 1 Recce in Durban, 4 Recce in Langebaan, 5 Recce in Phalaborwa. 2 Recce were members of the civilian force, and 3 Recce was disbanded. The brave and daring exploits of the Recces became legendary, and was rated at the time on the same operational levels as the SAS, SBS, the Marines, the Seals and the Green Berets. As the war on the border between South West Africa and Angola developed, it became known as the Bush War, or Border War, a war mainly fought between South Africa and the Russian backed Cuban forces.

And here is my story. The story that was my life. The story which I have written to the best of my recollection and experience. This book was not written to discuss the technical and/or tactical aspects of Operation Argon, but to give the reader an inside glimpse into a part of my life that determined the remaining part of it. The psychological effects of these two and a half years have been huge, and I am still experiencing the effects today, thirty years later. And it will probably continue to do so for the rest of my life.

With the production and release of the documentary Plot for Peace, I realised that the time has come to write this book, to take the reader on an intriguing journey behind the scenes that few people knew about. This is where the quote from Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade: "Yours is not to reason why, Yours is but to do or die..." is so superbly depicted in a true life story. My own, in Judas Goat. My life and the lives of Corporal Rowland Liebenberg and Corporal Louis van Breda. I acknowledge the role that my fellow operators played.

This story is not about your selfless service, it's not about your respective heroics, that is why I did not elaborate your roles in Operation Argon, but rather concentrated on my own emotions, how I experienced it, and where my weaknesses and strengths were highlighted. A large part of my story cannot give documentary proof. It is based on my experience and the information conveyed to me by many sources, with whom I physically came into contact over the course of many years.

Everything in this book reflects my perception of the truth, and what had actually happened. In the end it is for the reader to decide what is truth and what is not.

Death Is The Ultimte Sacrafice. For those of us who live guilt can dominate our life. This book gives hope to veterans, helping free them from guilts curse.

Clyde intentionally avoided technical terms instead using his photography and words to convey his personal understanding to the disturbing and sometime difficult discussion of veteran Guilt. This is a topic that has been avoided by professionals and veterans of previous wars due to the difficulty of addressing the traumatic impact it has had upon the generations of soldiers. His hope is that this book will be a beginning conversation that will lead to healing.

About the author:

Clyde R. Horn is a combat soldier who was wounded in action, December 6, 1967, in the Vietnam War. He served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, Company E. He is a 100% disabled veteran who has heart disease, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as well as other health related issues related to his experience and exposure to Agent Orange (a toxin used in Vietnam).

He has personally experienced guilt feelings due to his combat experience. He has done a significant amount of work for his recovery including writing, photography as well as art therapy to help bring healing back into his life.

Food is critical to military performance, but it is also central to social interaction and fundamental to our sense of identity. The soldiers of the Great War did not shed their eating preferences with their civilian clothes, and the army rations, heavily reliant on bully beef and hardtack biscuit, were frequently found wanting. Nutritional science of the day had only a limited understanding of the role of vitamins and minerals, and the men were often presented with a diet that, shortages and logistics permitting, was high in calories but low in flavour and variety. Just as now, soldiers on active service were linked with home through the lovingly packed food parcels they received; a taste of home in the trenches. This book uses the personal accounts of the men themselves to explore a subject that was central not only to their physical health, but also to their emotional survival. -- .

In Mei 1985 land 'n nege-man-span van die Suid-Afrikaanse Spesiale Magte op 'n strand in die olieryke Cabinda-provinsie van Angola. Hul uitsluitlike doel is die vernietiging van ses massiewe olie-opgaartenks. Die daaropvolgende skietgeveg lei tot die dood van twee soldate en die gevangeneming van kaptein Wynand du Toit. Dit alles dui op een ding: Verraad!

Lees hier in sy eie woorde die gebeure van daardie nag en die diepgaande nagmerrie van sy gevangeneskap, die sameswerings en die uiteindelike afleiding dat die hele operasie slegs 'n openingskuif was wat uiteindelik die Suid-Afrikaanse volk moes mislei tot oorgawe in Angola en die onafhanklikheid van Namibie¨"

Over 100 Australians who served in Afghanistan have committed suicide since returning to civilian life. Partners and family members also suffer, in their shared lives with emotionally scarred war veterans. Ex-service personnel and affected relatives provided author Ian Ferguson with fascinating first-hand information for the esearch of Wars That Never End. Their confronting recollections surfaced in personal interviews, and sometimes in Diggers' letters and diary entries from front line battle fields, dating back to the Boer War. Few publications candidly tackle the contentious issue of mental health among combat veterans, so this book is a must read for all discerning lovers of Australian war history.

The Civil War in New Mexico began in 1861 with the Confederate invasion and occupation of the Mesilla Valley. At the same time, small villages and towns in New Mexico Territory faced raids from Navajos and Apaches. In response the commander of the Department of New Mexico Colonel Edward Canby and Governor Henry Connelly recruited what became the First and Second New Mexico Volunteer Infantry. In this book leading Civil War historian Jerry Thompson tells their story for the first time, along with the history of a third regiment of Mounted Infantry and several companies in a fourth regiment. Thompson's focus is on the Confederate invasion of 1861-1862 and its effects, especially the bloody Battle of Valverde. The emphasis is on how the volunteer companies were raised; who led them; how they were organized, armed, and equipped; what they endured off the battlefield; how they adapted to military life; and their interactions with New Mexico citizens and various hostile Indian groups, including raiding by deserters and outlaws. Thompson draws on service records and numerous other archival sources that few earlier scholars have seen. His thorough accounting will be a gold mine for historians and genealogists, especially the appendix, which lists the names of all volunteers and militia men.

Managing Combat Stress and tools to help the Warrior.

Raised as an army brat, Angie Ricketts though she knew what she was in for when she eloped with Darrin - then an Infantry Lieutenant - on the eve of his deployment to Somalia. Since then, Darrin, now a Colonel, has been deployed eight times, serving four of those tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Ricketts has lived every one of those deployments intimately - distant enough to survive the years apart from her husband, but close enough to share a common purpose and a lifestyle they both love.With humor, candor, and a brazen attitude, Ricketts pulls back the curtain on a subculture many readers know, but few ill ever experience Counter to the dramatized snapshot seen on Lifetime's Army Wives, Ricketts digs into the personalities and posturing that officers' wives must survive daily - whether navigating a social event at the base, suffering through a husband's prolonged deployment, or reacting to a close friend's death in combat.At its core, No Man's War is a story of sisterhood and survival. As Ricketts states: "We tread those treacherous waters together. Do we sometimes shove each other's heads underwater for a few seconds? Maybe even on purpose? Of course. Are we sometimes dragged underwater ourselves by the undertow created by all of us struggling together too closely? Without a doubt. But we never let each other drown. Our buoyancy is our survival."