Christian Samito writes in his introduction: "In reading Guiney's words, one can have a fuller appreciation of what motivated civilians to volunteer to fight a war and of the privations they suffered in service to their country." These are the collected Civil War letters of Patrick Robert Guiney, an Irish immigrant from Country Tipperary who relocated to Boston, Massachusetts. When the Civil War broke out, Guiney volunteered to defend the Union and, quickly rose from First Lieutenant to Colonel, to command the ninth Massachusetts regiment. A fervent supporter of Lincoln and passionately opposed to slavery, Guiney felt that, in his service to his new country, he was doing his part to gain freedom for the slaves. Being politically outspoken, Guiney was often criticized for his views by other Irish-Americans. His letters reveal not only the experiences and thoughts of an Irish Catholic soldier, but also the hidden tensions within his immigrant community. His views and observations not only illuminate his personal independence of thought, but also the political landscape which he tried to improve.

This is an innovative account of how the concept of comradeship shaped the actions, emotions and ideas of ordinary German soldiers across the two world wars and during the Holocaust. Using individual soldiers' diaries, personal letters and memoirs, Kuhne reveals the ways in which soldiers' longing for community, and the practice of male bonding and togetherness, sustained the Third Reich's pursuit of war and genocide. Comradeship fuelled the soldiers' fighting morale. It also propelled these soldiers forward into war crimes and acts of mass murders. Yet, by practising comradeship, the soldiers could maintain the myth that they were morally sacrosanct. Post-1945, the notion of kameradschaft as the epitome of humane and egalitarian solidarity allowed Hitler's soldiers to join the euphoria for peace and democracy in the Federal Republic, finally shaping popular memories of the war through the end of the twentieth century.

Epitaphs of the Great War Passchendaele is an edited collection of headstone inscriptions from the graves of those killed during the Third Battle of Ypres - Passchendaele. Limited by the Imperial War Graves Commission to sixty-six characters - far more restrictive than Twitter's 140-character rule - these inscriptions are masterpieces of compact emotion. But, as Sarah Wearne says, their enforced brevity means that many inscriptions rely on the reader being able to pick up on the references and allusions, or recognise the quotations - and many twenty-first-century readers don't. Consequently she has selected one hundred inscriptions from the battlefield cemeteries and by expanding the context - religious, literary or personal - she has been able to give full voice to the bereaved. This collection, the second in a short series, will be published to coincide with the centenary of the opening of the Passchendaele offensive on 31 July 1917. Together with Epitaphs of the Great War The Somme, published on 1 July 2016, these books cover the epitaphs of the ordinary and the famous, the privileged and the poor, the generals and the privates and, after a hundred years, give us an insight into what contemporaries believed they had been fighting for and how they viewed the loss of the men they had loved.

Ground-breaking, thrilling and revealing, The Reaper is the astonishing memoir of Special Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving, the 3rd Ranger Battalion's deadliest sniper with 33 confirmed kills, though his remarkable career total, including probable, is unknown. In the bestselling tradition of American Sniper and Shooter, Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, when he set another record, this time for enemy kills on a single deployment. His teammates and chain of command labelled him "The Reaper," and his actions on the battlefield became the stuff of legend, culminating in an extraordinary face-off against an enemy sniper known simply as The Chechnian. Irving's astonishing first-person account of his development into an expert assassin offers a fascinating and extremely rare View of special operations combat missions through the eyes of a Ranger sniper during the Global War on Terrorism. From the brotherhood and sacrifice of teammates in battle to the cold reality of taking a life to protect another, no other book dives so deep inside the life of a sniper on point.

How does the military really work? What issues are constants for military families, and what special stresses do they face? Counseling Military Families provides the best available overview of military life, including demographic information and examples of military family issues. Chapters focus on vital issues such as the unique circumstances of reservists, career service personnel, spouses, and children, and present treatment models and targeted interventions tailored for use with military families. Counseling Military Families provides clinicians with the tools they need to make a difference in the lives of families in transition, including those who may have an ingrained resistance to asking for help and who may be available for counseling for a relatively short period of time.

Culture has an enormous influence on military organizations and their success or failure in war. Cultural biases often result in unstated assumptions that have a deep impact on the making of strategy, operational planning, doctrinal creation, and the organization and training of armed forces. Except in unique circumstances culture grows slowly, embedding so deeply that members often act unconsciously according to its dictates. Of all the factors that are involved in military effectiveness, culture is perhaps the most important. Yet, it also remains the most difficult to describe and understand, because it entails so many external factors that impinge, warp, and distort its formation and continuities. The sixteen case studies in this volume examine the culture of armies, navies, and air forces from the Civil War to the Iraq War and how and why culture affected their performance in the ultimate arbitration of war.

As the military draws down its forces, many veterans will enter the civilian workforce and may seek educational and training opportunities to further their transition into civilian jobs. Because pursuing a higher education degree may not be the best path for some veterans, the Post-9/11 GI Bill on-the-job training (OJT) and apprenticeship programs provide alternative opportunities. This book examines how selected veterans and employers used the programs and how widely they have been used; to what extent the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and states have taken steps to inform veterans and employers about these programs; what challenges, if any, veterans and employers have faced in using them; and to what extent VA has assessed the performance of its programs.

The Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) play key roles in offering post-combat support to servicemembers and veterans through various programs and activities. This book identifies the number of programs, including the types of services offered that address the effects of combat on post-9/11 active-duty servicemembers and their families; help post-9/11 servicemembers and veterans transition to civilian life; and help raise public awareness and understanding of servicemembers' and veterans' combat and transition experiences.

The English Civil War of 1642-6 was one of the most formative periods of British history. This book, originally published in 1974, was one of the first to explore in depth the situation of the common soldier - how he was trained, clothed, equipped , fed and paid; how he amused himself, was disciplined and cared for medically. As well as discussing aspects such as uniforms, pensions and the drill & establishment for artillery, cavalry, pike and musketeers, a typical Civil War battle is dissected into 7 phases, exploring the part played by both officers and men.

Military health care professionals serve in a variety of settings, more diverse than is typically found in the civilian environment. The Military Health System (MHS) is a global, comprehensive, integrated system that includes combat medical services, peacetime health care delivery to Service members and eligible beneficiaries, public health services, medical education and training, and medical research and development. MHS personnel provide a continuum of health services from austere operational environments through remote, fixed military treatment facilities (MTFs), to major tertiary care medical centers distributed across the United States. Military health care professionals are also expected to care for detainees, enemy combatants, nonstate actors, local nationals, and coalition forces. In addition, U.S. military personnel are often deployed to assist in humanitarian missions, such as natural disasters or to provide care to local citizens in combat zones. Directly applying ethical principles from civilian medical ethics may not be appropriate in military medicine. The basic discrepancy between the two settings involves their goals and how these goals can be achieved. This book examines the ethical guidelines, practices, and issues for U.S. military medical professionals.

'Extraordinary. This book will inspire you to reach your full potential' Jason Fox Are you stuck in a rut? Do you have more to give? Do you dream of leading a different life? Ben Williams was struggling with drug addiction and battling suicidal thoughts when he saw an advert for the Royal Marines Commandos that changed his life forever. Serving ten years in the Commandos, he learnt important lessons about purpose, integrity, motivation and teamwork. Leaving the Commandos because of injury, Ben set up a coaching business that has helped high-performance companies and professional sports teams like the England Football Squad, coaching them in the build-up to their outstanding performance at the 2018 World Cup. Now Ben is sharing his principles for success. In Commando Mindset, Ben reveals his process for achieving goals of any size to help you take your life to the next level. Inside you'll learn how to: - identify your personal inspirations and values - overcome your fears - set and achieve realistic goals - keep yourself motivated Whether you want to set up a business, run a marathon for the first time or learn a new skill, the Commando Mindset will help you reach your full potential and achieve anything you set your mind to.

The laws and regulations regarding the preferences in hiring that can or must be given to veterans and certain family members are extremely complex. The preferences vary by the specific circumstances of the veterans and the hiring authorities being used. Some veterans can be non-competitively appointed, while other veterans may not be eligible for that same hiring authority, and the availability of an authority may depend on the grade of the position being filled. The right of a veteran to have his or her application considered for a position may depend on whether an agency is considering applicants who are internal to Government but outside the agency's own workforce. The degree of preference owed can vary by agency or position being filled. Under certain circumstances, the mother of a veteran may be eligible for preference, whereas the father would not be eligible. There are many other examples of how veterans may be treated differently under the law, but to put the message more simply: the laws relating to veterans' preference invite misunderstandings, confusion, perceptions of wrongdoing, and possibly actual wrongdoing -- whether intentional or inadvertent. This book discusses hiring authorities pertaining to veterans, the hiring of veterans under those authorities, and employee perceptions about veteran hiring. It also describes the statutes and pertinent case decisions for two laws designed to protect the employment rights of veterans in the civil service.

Over 80 original letters and diaries have been sourced for this personal story of the 18th Battalion at Gallipoli during World War I. The book follows the men from their Australian camp to Egypt and then Gallipoli. During their first week on Gallipoli, the 18th suffered over 600 casualties. An Honour Roll of those killed in that week is included as well as one hundred brief newspaper obituaries from 1915. With meticulous research, author Maurie Garland reveals the full, untold story of the tragic 18th Battalion.

Enacted on 1 August 2011, the Budget Control Act (BCA) as amended sets limits on defense spending between FY2012 and FY2021 that are playing a significant role in the debate about the appropriate level of defense spending. Each year, if Congress enacts a spending level that exceeds BCA caps for the defense base budget, the President is required to sequester or levy across-the-board cuts to each type of defense spending to meet the BCA caps. These spending levels are sometimes referred to as revised or "sequester" caps. War-designated funding (for "Overseas Contingency Operations") is not subject to BCA caps. To help frame the choices about how to respond to the BCA revised or "sequester" caps on defense spending, this book explains congressional adjustments of the caps and Administration reactions; describes the Administration's position and DOD concerns; analyzes defense spending levels in the FY2016 annual budget resolution; places BCA caps in historical perspective; outlines different types of savings that could help comply with the caps; analyses DOD's current plan for compliance, and describes budget uncertainties faced by DOD in responding to spending limits.

This book provides an overview of the benefits, issues, policies and programs relating to our military service members. Topics discussed in this issue include veterans' exposure to Agent Orange; disability compensation; military sexual trauma; VA benefits; and a program to assist veterans to acquire commercial driver's licenses.

The Department of Defense (DOD) has long relied on contractors to provide the U.S. military with a wide range of goods and services, including weapons, food, uniforms, and operational support. Without contractor support, the United States would be currently unable to arm and field an effective fighting force. Understanding costs and trends associated with contractor support could provide Congress more information upon which to make budget decisions and weigh the relative costs and benefits of different military operations -- including contingency operations and maintaining bases around the world. Obligations occur when agencies enter into contracts, employ personnel, or otherwise commit to spending money. The federal government tracks money obligated on federal contracts through a database called the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS). There is no public database that tracks DOD contract outlays (money spent) as comprehensively as obligations. This book examines how much money DOD obligates on contracts; what DOD is buying; and where that money is being spent. This book also examines the extent to which these data are sufficiently reliable to use as a factor when developing policy or analyzing government operations. In addition, this book provides background information and identifies issues for Congress on the use of contractors to support military operations. DOD's extensive use of contractors poses several potential policy and oversight issues for Congress and has been the focus of numerous hearings. Congress' decisions on these issues could substantially affect the extent to which DOD relies on contractors in and is capable of planning for and overseeing contractors in future operations.

Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Women's Bureau (WB) as one of its many efforts to help women veterans who are experiencing homelessness find jobs and successfully reintegrate back to civilian life. This guide was created to address the psychological and mental health needs of women veterans. The guide is also a compilation of best practices aimed at improving effectiveness in engaging female veterans. Written for service providers, the guide offers observational knowledge, concrete guidelines, and resources for modifying practices aimed at improving reintegration outcomes. Furthermore, it defines the term "homeless veteran", discusses attempts to estimate the number of veterans who are homeless, and presents the results of studies regarding the demographic characteristics of homeless veterans as well as those surveyed as part of HUD's Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. Finally, the book summarises research regarding the overrepresentation of both male and female veterans, who have been found to be present in greater percentages in the homeless population than their percentages in the general population.

Historian Chris Bray (a former soldier) tells the sweeping story of military justice from the institution of the American court martial in the earliest days of the Republic to contemporary arguments over how to use military courts to try foreign terrorists or soldiers accused of sexual assault.

Non-disability mental conditions, such as personality disorders, can render a service member unsuitable for military service and can lead to an administrative separation. This book examines the extent to which the Department of Defense (DOD) and the military services are able to identify the number of enlisted service members separated for non-disability mental conditions, and the military services are complying with DOD requirements when separating enlisted service members for non-disability mental conditions, including personality disorders, and how DOD and the military services oversee such separations.

Initially, the author intended to write a book entitled "Alleviating Stress of the Soldier". However, after going through the extensive literature and recalling his childhood memories of war times, he decided to write "Alleviating Stress of the Soldier and Civilian". Sufficient historical evidence indicates that both soldiers as well as civilians have faced the war and tolerated its deleterious consequences simultaneously. However, a soldier and his/her family face unexpected and unpredictable stresses requiring: physical and mental fitness, character, dedication, commitment, communication, mutual understanding, adjustment, discipline, tolerance, patience, isolation, resilience, hyper-vigilance, minimum vulnerability, sanitation, nutritional stress, sleep deprivation, patriotism, and sacrifice. This book (i) confers basic knowledge of diversified stresses; (ii) prepares readers to face stresses with patience, endurance, and resilience; (iii) and presents novel strategies of alleviating physical, psychological, and physiological stresses of war-wounded soldiers, prisoners of war (POWs), and veterans. The book guides the soldiers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, SEALS (sea, air, and land), POWs, and civilians to handle their professional and family stresses without having to suffer from Combat Stress Reaction (CSR) or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) before, during, and/or after the war or conflict. It also guides those who experienced early childhood neglect, physical and/or sexual abuse, and other stresses of diversified origin. It is envisaged that this timely released book will be particularly of great interest to the soldier's family members, their spouses, children, parents, relatives, and friends because of its motivational messages, immediate demand, and versatility. The author hopes that this unique manuscript will encourage, motivate, excite, and guide young soldiers, civilians, and their families to tackle stresses with courage, patience, and resilience to successfully accomplish their trainings, adventurous professional career, and married life.

In 1914, the 2nd Line Territorial Force divisions experienced a difficult birth and faced an uncertain future. Deprived of men and equipment, and with the War Office patently biased towards the Kitchener Armies, the 2nd Line lived a Cinderella existence. Regularly the subject of querulous questions in parliament, the government and military authorities appeared to have had little clear idea of what they actually wanted from the 2nd Line. After more than two years on home defence duties, and now filled with Derbyites and conscripts rather than volunteer territorials, seven divisions deployed abroad. The six divisions which remained in the UK were either disbanded or by the transfer of individual units lost what little of their territorial affiliation had survived. When the seven divisions arrived on the Western Front opinion on their potential worth was very much divided. Their deployment had almost as much to do with demonstrating British commitment to the continental war as it did with boosting the Allied armies by the despatch of additional forces. This study examines the 2nd Line's struggles to reach establishment, discover a role, and achieve a degree of efficiency. These difficulties defined the emerging qualities and ethos of the formations and of their component units. Analyses of their performances in different battlefield scenarios affords assessments of the divisions' fighting power. Their acquisition of battlefield skills, their conceptual understanding of the war's evolving character, and their development of organizational and command structures are examined critically through the prism of both contemporary and modern doctrine. In addition to the experiences of general trench warfare, 2nd Line divisions fought at Fromelles, Bullecourt, Third Ypres, Cambrai, and in the German offensive of March 1918. In the same way as for many divisions, some of their engagements were poorly planned, ill-prepared, and badly executed; others demonstrated a developing maturity and willingness to learn from mistakes. While not appearing in recent historians' lists of 'best' divisions, the evidence suggests the sometimes derided 2nd Line formations generally did not warrant their often dubious reputations.

Changing the Rules of Engagement documents the lives of American women who have shattered the glass ceiling and performed extraordinary feats while serving their country in the military. By telling their stories about their remarkable careers in traditionally male-dominated environments, Martha LaGuardia-Kotite demonstrates how tenacious and courageous women can achieve the unimaginable. Among the pioneering women profiled are Vivien Crea, who as vice commandant of the Coast Guard held the highest position of any woman in the history of the U.S. military; Tammy Duckworth, a Purple Heart recipient and triple amputee who was shot down in Iraq while piloting a helicopter; and Heather Wilson, an Air Force Academy graduate, Rhodes scholar, and the country's only female veteran in Congress. Included are the inspirational stories of women Marines, one of the three female Space Shuttle commanders, and the first female members of the military service academies' gender-integrated classes, who recall the highs and lows of their trailblazing experiences. These are only a few of the remarkable women who tell their own inspiring stories. Representative of a widely diverse group of enlisted women and officers from different races and cultures, they have succeeded since the mid-1970s at combating prejudices and aiding change in the military with intelligence, passion, and honor.