This book presents a new interpretation of the development of the French army during the "personal rule" of Louis XIV. Based on massive archival research, it examines the army not only as a military institution but also as a political, social and economic organism. Guy Rowlands asserts that the key to the development of Louis XIV's armed forces was the king's determination to acknowledge and satisfy the military, political, social and cultural aspirations of his officers, and maintain the solid standing of the Bourbon dynasty.

Once considered a bastion of learning, leadership, and disciplined lifestyle, todayas private military academies are often regarded as expensive holding facilities for unwanted, incorrigible boys who have nowhere else to go. Their depiction in popular media has reinforced the impression that they are boot camps disguised as educational institutions. The reality is far more complex and far more encouraging. Using a decade of participant observation research, including serving as an instructor at some of these schools, anthropologist William Trousdale explores the contemporary experience of military school life. From the admissions office to the daily life in barracks, classrooms, playing fields, and social events, he describes how these schools endeavor to realize their mission of creating educated, mature young men from largely at-risk youth and the challengesaboth met and unmetain doing so. This volume will be of interest to anyone interested in the fields of secondary and alternative education, at-risk youth, and the military and society.

This volume publishes records 66 diplomas or fragments which provide vital evidence for the Roman military and legal world. It is the third volume of a set of four created by Roxan.

In 1964/1965, Colonel Mike Hoare led 300 ‘Wild Geese’ across the Congo to crush a communist rebellion, rescue 2000 nuns and priests from barbarity, beat Che Guevara … and become a legend.

Of Irish blood, Mike was schooled in England and, during World War 2, was the ‘best bloody soldier in the British Army’. He demobbed as major, qualified in London as a chartered accountant and emigrated to South Africa. Going rogue, he started living dangerously to get more out of life, including trans-Africa motorbike trips, bluewater sailing, exploring remote areas, and leading safaris in the Kalahari Desert. Here Mike got to know the CIA agent who was to change his life … and Nelson Mandela’s. Later Mike was technical advisor to the film The Wild Geese, which starred Richard Burton playing the Mike Hoare character.

In 1981 Mike led 50 ‘Frothblowers’ in a bid to depose the socialist government of the Seychelles. Things went wrong and soon Mike was to spend three years in jail for hijacking a Boeing 707.

Here for the first time, in this story behind the story, Chris Hoare separates the man from the myth in a way only a son can, and concludes his ‘mad dad’ was an officer and a gentleman with a bit of pirate thrown in.

Foreword by Lance-Sergeant Johnson Beharry VCTHE VICTORIA CROSS is Britain and the Commonwealth's most prestigious gallantry medal for courage in the face of the enemy. It has been bestowed upon 1,355 heroic individuals from all walks of life since its creation during the Crimean War.Lord Ashcroft, who has been fascinated with bravery since he was a young boy, now owns 200 VCs, by far the largest collection of its kind in the world. Following on from the bestselling Victoria Cross Heroes, first published in 2006 to mark the 150th anniversary of the award, Victoria Cross Heroes: Volume II gives extraordinary accounts of the bravery behind the newest additions to Lord Ashcroft's VC collection - those decorations purchased in the last decade.With sixty action-packed stories of courageous soldiers, sailors and airmen from a range of global conflicts including the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 and the First and Second World Wars, this book is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit and a worthy tribute to the servicemen who earned the Victoria Cross. Their inspirational deeds of valour and self-sacrifice should be championed and never forgotten.

Building on constructivist approaches to international relations this book develops a narrative theory of identity, action and foreign policy, which is then applied to account for the evolution of Finnish foreign policy. The book adopts an innovative approach by showing how foreign policy orientations need to be seen as grounded in overlapping and competing sets of identity narratives that reappear in different forms through history. By emphasising the dynamism implicit within identity narratives the book not only challenges traditional rationalist materialist approaches to foreign policy analysis, but also the current tendency to depict the story of Finnish foreign policy, identity and history as one of a gradual move towards a Western location. Rather the book emphasises elements of multiplicity and contingency, whilst re-establishing foreign policy as a highly political process concerned with power and the right to define reality and national subjectivity.

This remarkable book is the first ever sociological study of an operational army unit. The author, himself a former regular soldier, observed a group of raw recruits to the British Army during their basic training, accompanied a unit on an exercise in Canda and also went with it to the dangerous 'bandit country' of South Armagh.

John Hockey paints a memorable picture of the subsculture of private soldiers in today's regular infantry, and he shows vividly how this conforms and conflicts with the formal demands of the military organisation.

Anyone who wants to know more about the working of the army at grass-roots level will find this book essential reading.

This is the story, in words and pictures, of Blind Veterans UK, an organization that was founded 100 years ago by Sir Arthur Pearson, who was himself blind, during the First World War, in order to bring hope and practical help to British and Allied servicemen blinded in the service of their country. It also tells of how light from the torch which Pearson lit in 1915 spread to all corners of the earth, to which his beloved St Dunstaners returned, having 'graduated' from the mother organization in Regent's Park - for example, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa. Herewith are accounts of the lives of many St Dunstaner's/Blind Veterans, who each in his or her unique way, triumphed over blindness, together with a unique collection of photographs, including those provided by Blind Veteran's UK, by the Pearson family, and by the families of St Dunstaners throughout the world. And this includes the story of my own grandfather, Thomas Waldin, who was himself a St Dunstaner.

This book provides an in-depth look at the complex clinical, individual, and organizational challenges that our clinicians face in treating our returning soldiers struggling with the aftermath of more than a decade of war. The author explores the confluence of factors that make this time in history a perfect storm for military mental health providers. The signature wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars weave a tapestry of emotional turmoil with diffuse brain injury difficulties that challenge the very best clinicians under the best conditions. The author targets different pieces of the puzzle including the prevalence of secondary trauma and burnout, the organizational factors that promote negative clinician well-being, the creation and evaluation of an online social media based intervention for burnout, and a critical review of peer coaching.

Black Tommies is the first book entirely dedicated to the part played by soldiers of African descent in the British regular army during the First World War. If African colonial troops have been ignored by historians, the existence of any substantial narrative around Black British soldiers enlisting in the United Kingdom during the First World War is equally unknown, even in military circles. Much more material is now coming to light, such as the oral testimony of veterans, and the author has researched widely to gather fresh and original material for this fascinating book from primary documentary sources in archives to private material kept in the metaphorical (and actual) shoe boxes of descendants of black Tommies. Reflecting the global nature of the conflict, Black Tommies takes us on a journey from Africa to the Caribbean and North America to the streets of British port cities such as Cardiff, Liverpool and those of North Eastern England. This exciting book also explodes the myth of Second Lieutenant Walter Tull being the first, or only, black officer in the British Army and endeavours to give the narrative of black soldiers a firm basis for future scholars to build upon by tackling an area of British history previously ignored.

Based upon a wide range of historical and literary sources, Swordsmen is a scholarly study of the military experiences of peers and gentlemen from the British Isles who volunteered to fight in the religious and dynastic wars of mainland Europe from the English intervention in the Dutch war of independence in 1585 to the death of the soldier-king William III in 1702. This apprenticeship in arms exposed these aristocrats to the chivalric revival, the military revolution and the values of neostoicism, and revived the martial ethos of the English aristocracy and reinvigorated the martial traditions of the Irish and Scots. This remilitarization of aristocratic culture and society was completed by 1640, and provided numerous experienced military officers for the various armies of the civil wars and, subsequently, for the embryonic British army after William III committed the Three Kingdoms to the armed struggle against Louis XIV during the Nine Years War. Service in mainland European armies also exposed swordsmen from the British Isles to a fully developed cult of duelling which hampered official efforts to divert aristocratic aggression from feuding and private war to the more rational military and political objectives of the modern state, subverted military discipline and delayed the process of professionalization of the officer corps of the British army.

This publication contains case studies on human and minority rights in the South Asian countries, including a special focus on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and articles on different forms of National Human Rights Commission and Immigration to the UK and "new minorities". It is further complemented by an in-depth study on Autonomy, Kashmir and International Law. Assembling articles authored by leading scholars from both South Asia and Europe, the book will contribute to a mutual exchange of views on human and minority rights issues in South Asia. In particular, the book is aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of current developments in South Asia and, on this basis, at enhancing a constructive dialogue between representatives of the scientific community, policy-makers and civil society in Europe and their counterparts in South Asia.

From World War I until today, the United States has failed to provide adequate transition support to millions of veterans leaving military service. Instead of providing meaningful jobs, access to quality health care and education, and fair and equitable housing, veterans learn that when their military service is done, they are now fighting a new battle – a failed bureaucracy which has let them and other veterans down for the past 100 years. It’s not as if we as a nation haven’t tried. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has seen the largest increase in funding in its history and has been given several free passes when the budget axe arrives. Federal funding and grants for education have also enjoyed similar financial favor; and housing opportunities have been increased. Yet on a rudimentary level, we as a nation cannot stop believing that GI Joe and Jane can’t wait to come back home and pick up right where they left off before their military service began. The truth is, that person is gone and is not coming back. After months or years in a highly structured organizational environment, often times with deployments and horrific battlefield experiences, the military veteran has undergone a paradigm shift in their thinking, their character, and in the way they view themselves and others. Advances in medical triage and transport have saved thousands of men and women who in previous wars who would have died on the battlefield; and new prosthetics and treatment strategies for those with “invisible wounds� have helped many. But an overburdened VHA isn’t prepared to provide for the sheer volumes of veterans that return home. And with veteran unemployment rates traditionally running percentage points higher than their civilian counterparts, America still wonders why. Many veterans, particularly those with PTSD are lost when returning home. Moving Past PTSD: Consciousness, Understanding, and Appreciation for Military Veterans and Their Families hopes to break this cycle. In their own words, veterans, caregivers, and the family members that love them are given the opportunity to tell us what is truly broken in the military to civilian transition. Advances in clinical treatments, the presentation of a new fast track job training program and new awareness for the challenges facing all military veterans, changes our way of understanding of who the 21st century veteran is. Through this understanding, we can change their lives and they can change ours.

"A book about the complexities of combat that's just as applicable for dealing with the complexities of business and our personal lives."-Kevin Sharer, chairman and CEO, Amgen As a commander of Delta Force-the most elite counter-terrorist organization in the world-Pete Blaber took part in some of the most dangerous, controversial, and significant military and political events of our time. Now he takes his intimate knowledge of warfare-and the heart, mind, and spirit it takes to win-and moves his focus from the combat zone to civilian life. In this book, you will learn the same lessons he learned, while experiencing what the life of a Delta Force Operator is like-from the extreme physical and psychological training to the darkest of shadow ops all around the world. From each mission, Pete Blaber has taken a life lesson back with him. You will learn these enlightening lessons as you gain insights into never-before-revealed missions executed around the globe. And when the smoke clears, you will emerge wiser, more capable, and better prepared to succeed in life than you ever thought possible.

Since September 11 2001, or "9/11", approximately 2.7 US million service members have served in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many thousands have been wounded, with injuries ranging from mild to severe. PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and TBI (traumatic brain injury) have been called the "signature wounds" of war. The psychological injuries of war, PTSD and related co-morbid conditions, lead to feeling isolated from others, which directly affects intimate relationships. TBI (traumatic brain injury) is also a very common injury from these past decades of war. The treatment of PTSD and TBI involves medications that often have sexual side-effects, such as erectile dysfunction and loss of libido, weight gain, ejaculatory delay, and sedation. The bomb blast has been the "signature weapon" of these conflicts. Service members wear helmets and body armor, which covers their torsos. Thus blasts primarily effect the lower exposed areas of the body, including the extremities and pelvic region. Numerous service members have lost one or both legs, and in some cases arms. Because of the blast, many have lost part or all of their genitalia, their penis or testes. This loss directly impacts sexual functioning and fertility. The bomb blast or other weapons may also burn and scar faces and hands. Pain from these injuries and subsequent surgeries is a constant theme. Sexual difficulties contribute to relationship difficulties, domestic violence, and suicide. Less well recognized is the impact of toxic exposures on sexual health. All wars are environmentally dirty. Agent Orange is the best known toxic agent from Vietnam. Anti-malarial agents, used in Iraq and Afghanistan, cause a host of neuropsychiatric effects. Sexual assault is another type of toxic exposure. Thus there are a host of ways that exposure to combat can affect intimacy, sexual functioning and fertility. Fortunately there are many strategies to mitigate these negative effects, which are covered in detail in this book.

In 1998 Teresa Fazio signed up for the Marine Corps' ROTC program to pay her way through MIT. After the U.S was attacked on September 11, 2001, leading to the War on Terror, she graduated with a physics degree into a very different world, owing the Marines four years of active duty. At twenty-three years old and five-foot-one, Fazio was the youngest and smallest officer in her battalion; the combined effect of her short hair, glasses, and baggy camo was less Hurt Locker than Harry Potter Goes to War. She cut an incongruous figure commanding more experienced troops in an active war zone, where vulnerability was not only taboo, but potentially lethal. In this coming-of-age story set in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Fazio struggles with her past, her sense of authority, and her womanhood. Anger stifles her fear and uncertainty. A forbidden affair placates her need for love and security. But emptiness, guilt, and nightmares plague Fazio through her deployment - and follow her back home.

Based on an exhaustive search of various sources, this book provides a comprehensive roster of all known Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines from Rockbridge County, Virginia, or those who served in units raised in the County. Washington College and Virginia Military Institute alumni who were from Rockbridge, enlisted in local companies or lived in the County before or after the war are included. Complete service records are given, along with photos where possible.

From the stresses of repeated deployments to the difficulties of re-entry into civilian life, we are just beginning to understand how protracted conflicts, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, are affecting service members. Issues such as risky health behaviors and chemical dependence raise productivity concerns as they do with all organizations, but they also have a profound impact on the safety and readiness of troops--and by extension, the military as a whole--in life-or-death situations. Understanding Military Workforce Productivity cuts through the myths and misconceptions about the health and resilience of today's active-duty armed forces. This first-of-its-kind volume presents up-to-date findings across service branches in core health areas including illness and injury, alcohol and drug abuse, tobacco use, obesity, and mental health. The short- and long-term implications discussed relate to the quality of the lives of service members and their families, the quality and preparedness of the military as a workforce, and prevention and intervention efforts. The book: Presents data from ten large-scale health behavior surveys sponsored by the Department of Defense. Offers background context for understanding health and behavioral health and productivity among service members. Introduces a health and behavioral health model of productivity loss in the armed forces. Compares key indicators of substance abuse, health, and mental health in military and civilian populations. Reviews approaches for improving military productivity. Identifies areas for further study. Understanding Military Workforce Productivity offers a rare close-up of health issues in the services, making it an invaluable source of information for practitioners and researchers in mental health, substance abuse, health behaviors, and military behavioral health.

With compelling insight, Canada 1919 examines the concerns of Canadians in the year following the Great War: the treatment of veterans, including nurses and Indigenous soldiers; the rising farm lobby; the role of labour; the place of children; the influenza pandemic; the country's international standing; and commemoration of the fallen. Even as the military stumbled through massive demobilization and the government struggled to hang on to power, a new Canadian nationalism was forged. This fresh perspective on the concerns of the time exposes the ways in which war shaped Canada - and the ways it did not.

When the Tuskegee Veteran's Hospital opened in 1923, many in the Veteran's Bureau believed black physicians and nurses were not competent to staff the facility. With the exception of nurses' aides, orderlies, attendants and laborers, hospital personnel would be white. Recruiting and training black medical professionals was difficult given the obstacles facing blacks in obtaining education in medicine and gaining acceptance in the field. The history of the TVH reflects the struggle for racial equality in the United States. This book describes the effort to integrate the hospital and follows the careers of the small group of well trained, dedicated physicians who played significant roles in the hospital's development as a treatment center for black veterans. The hospital's contributions to research and medicine are documented, along with its involvement in one of the biggest scandals in medical research-the Tuskegee syphilis study.

This new edition of the volume is presented on the wave of the success which had its first edition (2003). It is entirely updated to the current situation of the disciplines covered, and expanded with particular regard to the new missions, that have become the main challenge for the armed forces in these first decades of the new millennium, with new insights to technological development toward so-called cyborg warriors, new forms of leadership and changes in soldier's identity and organisational culture. It is compiled of documents coming from various researchers at universities around the world as well as military officers devoted to the sector of study. Covered in this volume is a historical excursus of studies prior to contemporary research, interpretive models and theoretical approaches developed specifically for this topic, civic-military relations including issues surrounding democratic control of the armed forces, military culture, professional training, conditions and problems of minorities in the armed forces, an examination of the structural change within the military over the years including new duties and functions following the Cold War.

First Published in 1996. From 1980 to 1990 nearly 17,000 service members were discharged from the military because of their homosexuality. This book places the debate of homosexual military service in its historical, theoretical, and political context. Timely and compelling, with all the court options in the highly published cases of Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, Gay Rights, Military Wrongs, reports on the state of prejudice and discrimination facing today's homosexual military personnel and their prospects for future equality.

Normandy, Flanders Field and other cemeteries for American war dead buried outside the United States are well known. However, lesser-known burial sites exist all over the world - in Australia and across the Pacific Rim, in Canada and Mexico, Libya and Spain, even as far north as the Russian Arctic. The story of who these soldiers were and how they ended up in foreign cemeteries traces the evolution of American attitudes toward its war dead and simultaneously offers a new perspective on the nation for which they died. The text provides the names of the war dead and the location of individual burial sites.