A timely look at the epidemic of military suicide-and an assessment of what can be done to prevent it. Nearly every day an active-duty soldier in the United States military resorts to suicide, and nearly every hour a veteran does the same. In recent years the problem of military suicides has reached epidemic proportions, but it's all too easy for most of us to gloss over the headlines or tune out the details. In The Last and Greatest Battle-the first book devoted exclusively to the problem of military suicides-John Bateson brings this neglected crisis into the spotlight. Bateson, the former executive director of a nationally certified suicide prevention center, surveys the history of suicide in the United States military from the Civil War to the present day and outlines a plan to save lives-and ultimately end the tragedy of military suicides. He uses the stories of individual soldiers to illuminate the unique challenges faced by American troops today. Transitioning from the front lines to the home front is difficult for many service members, and many need help both during and after their deployments. But even though the military is spending millions of dollars on suicide prevention programs, record numbers of soldiers continue to take their lives. To that end, Bateson outlines a plan of action. If the military works to remove stigma, to make treatment more effective and more accessible, and to limit risk factors for suicide in the first place by taking measures like reducing the number and length of deployments and adjusting pre-deployment training to take into account the way that wars are waged today, an end to the problem of military suicide is as possible as it is essential.

Military recruitment will become more difficult in times of demographic aging. The question arises whether demographic change will constrain the capacity of aging states like Germany to conduct foreign policy and pursue their national security interests. Since contemporary military operations still display a strong human element, particular scrutiny is given to the empirical analysis of the determinants of military propensity and military service among youth.

An additional human capital projection until 2030 illustrates how the decline in the youth population will interact with trends in educational attainment and adolescent health to further complicate military recruitment in the future. A concluding review of recruiting practices in other NATO countries provides insight in best-practice policy options to reduce the military's sensitivity to demographic change.

Following this approach, the book gives prominence to a topic that has thus far been under-represented in the greater discussion of demographic change today, namely the demographic impact on international affairs and strategic calculations.

The United States government invests billions each year on equipping armed forces with the most advanced military equipment. The root of the American defense acquisition system is driven by a combination of national interests and domestic political requirements. While fundamentally the defense acquisition system has produced results for the United States military, improvements are needed in order to continue to move forward in advancing military tactics and technology. Exploring both the systemic and political levels of the system, Sorenson argues that the United States will fall behind if the current defense acquisition system is not reformed. This book brings together elements of this complicated system, such as national security requirements, and the changes that are needed in both the structural and political pillars. A combination of political interests and the needs of the military, serviced by an ever-shrinking defense industry, make a genuine acquisition reform even more difficult, resulting in reform that is more symbolic than genuine. The United States military spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year on defense weapons and other items to equip the growing military. These weapons come from a system that is deeply imbedded in complicated and extensively regulated procedures, controlled by a few political actors, along with international arms customers. Since the Cold War, the defense industry has shrunk significantly in production, while increasing a few powerful giant firms that now dominate the defense business. Economic structure of the system and political forces are significant tin reform efforts, creating an inefficient system. No other book explores both theprocess and political dynamics of the defense acquisition system. Sorenson brings together the primary elements of the defense acquisition process, including the evolution and current structure, along with the political system and actors that influence it. Through analyzing the defense contractors that help supply the industry and the growing international arms markets that now play a significant role, he explains the role that both national interest and domestic political requirements play. Consequences of the system range from criminal activity to much more common problems of inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Sorenson argues that efforts to improve the defense acquisition system are necessary in determining the future outcome of the system.

This newly updated guide to the best cycling in Florida is jam-packed with information. Ride up to the highest point in Florida (345 feet), along the Suwannee River, through central Florida's horse farms, and out to Key Biscayne along the Rickenbacker Causeway.

This book includes complete directions, maps, and important information for over 70 such rides, so you can be well-informed and safe on your journeys. In addition to detailed information on each ride, this book also gives important information on cycling laws and safety issues, and tells you where to stop to see the best scenery. Also given are the names and addresses of area bike associations.

Command responsibility, or executive accountability, assumes that leaders are responsible for the actions of their subordinates. If subordinates misbehave, violate basic moral laws, transgress international law, or thwart international standards of behavior, their leader may be called before to justice. Standards that set the boundaries of human action have been evolving for many millennia, with some degree of precision arriving after the post-World War II international war crimes prosecutions. The United Nations and other organizations have helped codify the international law under which commanders may be held responsible. This book explores the factor that have moved civilization closer to a standard approach to rule of law and the accountability of leaders for the actions of those they command.

The military claims to be an honourable profession, yet military torture is widespread. Why is the military violating its own values? Jessica Wolfendale argues that the prevalence of military torture is linked to military training methods that cultivate the psychological dispositions connected to crimes of obedience. While these methods are used, the military has no credible claim to professional status. Combating torture requires that we radically rethink the nature of the military profession and military training.

Both harrowing and redeeming, this is the history of a unique 'adoption' system. The book tells how, for generations, local families, grateful for the sacrifice of their liberators from Nazi occupation, have cared for the graves of over 10,000 US soldiers in the cemetery of Margraten in the Netherlands, keeping their memory alive.

Three hundred and fifty-one men were executed by British Army firing-squads between September 1914 and November 1920. By far the greatest number were shot for desertion in the face of the enemy. Controversial even at the time, these executions of soldiers amid the horrors of the Western Front continue to haunt the history of war. This book provides a critical analysis of military law in the British army and other major armies during the First World War, with particular reference to the use of the death penalty. This study establishes a full cultural and legal framework for military discipline and compares British military law with French and German military law. It includes case studies of British troops on the Frontline.

This newly revised edition contains complete information on military bases in the U.S. and around the world. It features in-depth profiles of over 1,000 bases and installations including the number of active duty and civilian personnel, payroll and contract expenditures, units, housing, services, and history of the installation. New to this edition are e-mail addresses and Web sites for military bases worldwide. Information is also provided about bases that have closed or that are scheduled to be closed.

One of the major issues surrounding the last Inter-governmental Conference (IGC) of the European Union (EU), the Amsterdam Treaty and the whole future of the EU in the period 1997 to 2005-7 has been that of enlargement. Enlargement is not a new phenomenon for the EEC/EU, but the next enlargements are generally regarded as qualitatively different because of the number of states and the challenge that their entry poses to both of them, the states and the Union. The book is framed within the research approach of the English School of International Relations on the enlargement of international society. It connects theoretical aspects with empirical facts and thereby illustrates the Mediterranean enlargement fro9m the view of the entry candidates, the EU and the US. Conten: Eu-Enlargement--English School of International Relations--Case studies: Cyprus, Malta, Turkey--Mediterranean enlargement--US-perspective--EU-prespective.

When a Turkish minister of culture declares that "the Turkish military is synonymous with Turkish national identity," the embedded assumptions cry out for investigation. Altinay examines how the myth that the military is central to Turkey's national identity was created, perpetuated, and acts to shape politics. This historical and anthropological investigation probes the genesis of the myth that the Turkish nation is a military nation, traces how the ideology of militarism has been actualized through education and conscription, and reveals the implications for ethnic and gender relations. Altinay sheds light both on the process of how national identities are constructed and on the deep roots of the challenges facing Turkey as it potentially moves from being a plural to a pluralistic society.

Horace 'Jim' Greasley was twenty years of age in the spring of 1939 when Adolf Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and latterly Poland. There had been whispers and murmurs of discontent from certain quarters and the British government began to prepare for the inevitable war. After seven weeks training with the 2nd/5th Battalion Leicester, he found himself facing the might of the German army in a muddy field south of Cherbourg, in Northern France, with just thirty rounds of ammunition in his weapon pouch. Horace's war didn't last long. He was taken prisoner on 25th May 1940 and forced to endure a ten week march across France and Belgium en-route to Holland.

Horace survived...barely...food was scarce; he took nourishment from dandelion leaves, small insects and occasionally a secret food package from a sympathetic villager, and drank rain water from ditches. Many of his fellow comrades were not so fortunate. Falling by the side of the road through sheer exhaustion and malnourishment meant a bullet through the back of the head and the corpse left to rot. After a three day train journey without food and water, Horace found himself incarcerated in a prison camp in Poland. It was there he embarked on an incredible love affair with a German girl interpreting for his captors.

He experienced the sweet taste of freedom each time he escaped to see her, yet incredibly he made his way back into the camp each time, sometimes two, three times every week. Horace broke out of the camp then crept back in again under the cover of darkness after his natural urges were fulfilled. He brought food back to his fellow prisoners to supplement their meagre rations. He broke out of the camp over two hundred times and towards the end of the war even managed to bring radio parts back in. The BBC news would be delivered daily to over 3,000 prisoners. This is an incredible tale of one man's adversity and defiance of the German nation.

A one-stop resource for information about U.S. military commands and their organizations, this book describes the six geographic combat commands and analyzes their contributions to national security. The first book on the topic, Combatant Commands: Origins, Structure, and Engagements is a unique introduction to the geographic commands that are now at the heart of the U.S. military deployment abroad. The book begins with a description of the six commands—Northern Command, Pacific Command, Central Command, Southern Command, European Command, and Africa Command—explaining how they fit into the current national security establishment. Each command is discussed in depth, including areas of responsibility, subcommands, priorities, threats faced, and engagement institutions. The history of joint combatant commands is outlined as well, particularly the impact of the Root Reforms of the early 20th century, the push for the 1947 National Security Act, and the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Military Reform Act. In this way, the evolution of combatant commands becomes a window through which to view changes in the U.S. military. Geographic combatant commands are vital to national security. By understanding how they work, readers will better understand where our military is today and where it may be headed.

The Morality of Terrorism argues that terrorism violates certain human rights, and just war, and consequentialist moral principles, and so is always wrong. In distinguishing freedom fighting from terrorism, this study lays down stringent conditions derived from just war theory, for the moral justifiability of freedom fighting, such as some revolutions, civil wars, and guerilla warfare. This book then evaluates the morality of actual and possible judicial and military responses to terrorism by targeted governments. An appendix provides a case study (the Palestine problem) of root causes of political and moralistic-religious terrorism.

The brand NEW instalment in the bestselling Harpers Emporium series by Rosie Clarke. Can the Harpers Girls look forward to some happy times as a new dawn rises over London?Sally Harper is busy juggling running London's Oxford Street Store Harpers and looking after her beautiful new-born daughter, whilst husband Ben is overseas on another dangerous mission, this time to rescue a friend in need. Young Becky Stockbridge finds herself in a difficult situation which could bring shame to her and her family. Will Becky, with the help of her friends find her happy ever after and keep her secret? Marion Jackson is blessed with a son as she eagerly awaits the return of her husband Reggie. But all is not right when Reggie returns. Is Marion strong enough to save her family from yet another crisis? As the war clouds retreat and the victory bells ring, tears and joy mingle with those of sadness as the world counts the true toll of war and celebrates peace.

This work examines the evolution of military-scientific research and theory as it was taught to student-officers at the Nicholas Academy. It is the only work (in English or Russian) to focus on this intellectual-institutional dialogue in the context of evolving professional responsibilities of the Russian Imperial General Staff during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The book contains five portraits of influential Russian military theorists and educational administrators. Russian Imperial Doctrine features extensive use of original Russian language bibliographic sources and extensive use of French, British and American archival sources. Chapter One examines the introduction of post-Napoleonic strategic theory to Russian military traditions via the establishment of a higher military-educational institution to instruct officers of the Russian Imperial Army in the theory of conducting large-scale warfare. Chapter Two illustrates the interaction of the liberal intellectual community at the Academy with the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in the years before the Crimean War (1853-56). Chapter Three begins with a discussion of the confusion in the Russian military liberal-intellectual community over the wild fluctuations in Imperial policy toward reform in the mid to late 1850's. This is followed by a discussion of the era of institution-wide reform in the Russian Army and the Nicholas Academy under the tutelage of the newly appointed War Minister, D.A. Miliutin. Chapter Four discusses the dismissal of War Minister Miliutin in 1881 and the extent to which political conservatism dismantled the reformed military institutions and effected the curriculum of the Nicholas Academy. Chapter Five discusses the reform of military institutions and theory in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05. This book serves equally well as a text for courses in Russian History, European Military Policy and Strategy, the History of Operational Art, and Military Command and Leadership.

This book examines US recourse to military force in the post-9/11 era. In particular, it evaluates the extent to which the Bush and Obama administrations viewed legitimizing the greater use-of-force as a necessary solution to thwart the security threat presented by global terrorist networks and WMD proliferation.

Today, there are more military family members than there are total uniformed service members. Sixty percent of the military are married, including more than eighty percent of all career-status personnel, and many have small children. They come from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, and they represent a wide variety of family types, including single parents, dual career military couples, and families with eldercare responsibilities. In an effort to cut costs, many of the services utilized by military families are being privatized or outsourced to civilian service providers. This guide is designed to benefit anyone who provides services to these families, particularly those who may have little or no prior knowledge of the unique nature of military families and military family life.

This book contains research-based information about the unique needs of military families across various duty-related conditions, as well as within the context of military career demands. Its multi-service focus addresses the provision of human services in both peace and wartime. Topics include military spouse employment, retirement issues, family support during deployments, the New Parent Support Program, and the experiences of adult children of military parents. The authors encourage an understanding of military community-based programs and services, and they offer the reader numerous resources for collaboration with the military community.