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Airpower is credited with success in Afghanistan, Desert Storm, and
Serbia, but in Vietnam all of America's aerial might could not
defeat a vastly outnumbered Third World force on bicycles. With a
panoramic sweep and shocking frankness unrivaled in the current
literature, Ken Werrell, one of today's most experienced airpower
historians, reveals the true extent of the technological evolution
that fueled this transformation. Chasing the Silver Bullet traces
in unprecedented detail the evolution of the Air Force's entire
inventory since the Korean War, from the ill-fated F-105
fighter-bomber to the F-117 stealth fighter, but one of its chief
contributions is its analysis of the strategies and doctrine that
fashioned the hardware.
Werrell's exhaustive research and sage analysis challenge the Air
Force's mantra that precision-guided munitions delivered from
long-range, stealthy aircraft are America's true war heroes. Desert
Storm gave us the wrong impression about airpower technology and
Werrell corrects that mistake with this landmark study, rendering
superficial all other books about Desert Storm and current
capabilities.
Objective, even-handed, and unimpressed with the bells and whistles
of new technology, Werrell understands how airpower works.
The penchant of the American military to be on the leading edge of
technology could destroy our perspective of new weapon systems and
distort our perceptions of their most effective use in modern
warfare. So it is with cruise missiles, one of technology's newest
and most sophisticated developments. Dr. Werrell's book provides
the perspective and insight we would otherwise lack.
"Crook's Regulars: The 36th Ohio (Veteran) Volunteer Infantry in
the War of Rebellion" "Crook's Regulars "tells the story of the
36th Ohio Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. It not only reveals
the lot of the soldier and unit, but puts their story into the
larger context of the war. It also explores a number of elements
that thus far have been neglected, such as desertion, discipline,
problems with officers, shooting of prisoners, and wanton
destruction, resulting in a study unlike no other unit history.
While the 36th's experience in many ways is similar to that of the
other 2,100 Union infantry regiments raised during the Civil War,
it is unusual in others. It served throughout the war, in both the
eastern and western theaters, with a majority of the men
reenlisting after their three year term expired, earning the unit
the title, "Veteran" Volunteer Infantry. It sustained considerable
casualties, as only 12 of the 126 Ohio infantry regiments suffered
more combat deaths. It was closely associated with one of the
better known Federal generals, George Crook, its original
commander, as well as with two officers who later became president,
Rutherford Hayes and William McKinley. It engaged in both
conventional and guerrilla warfare. The 36th fought in a number of
notable battles, some small (Lewisburg and Cloyd's Mountain) and
some major (South Mountain, Antietam, Chickamauga, Missionary
Ridge, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign). The 36th was also
involved in some controversial actions including the burning of
VMI, the destruction in the Shenandoah Valley, anti-guerrilla
warfare, and the shooting of prisoners. Crook's Regulars is based
on materials from a number of archives along with considerable work
in secondary sources. Unlike many of the accounts of the Civil War,
and most regimental histories, this study is documented and
includes an annotated bibliography.
Dr. Kenneth Werrell's history of ground-based air defense performs
an important service both to scholarship and, more importantly, to
the defense of our nation's freedom. It is perhaps human nature
that we tend over time to lose sight of the lessons of the past,
especially when they do not conform to certain cherished
preconceptions of ours. That such myopia can be dangerous, if not
downright disastrous, Dr. Werrell's study richly illustrates.
Without sentimentalism, he chronicles a pattern of lessons learned
and too quickly forgotten as the marvel of air power was reminded
again and again of its limitations and vulnerability. In Korea and
in Vietnam, the American people were stripped of their illusions of
national and technical omnipotence. The unhappy outcome of those
two conflicts was doubly lamentable because the lessons of World
War II were-or should have been-fresh in our minds. In that world
war, as Dr. Werrell shows, relatively cheap ground-based air
defense did make a difference: at Ploesti, at Antwerp, and at the
Rhine bridges. And it will make a difference tomorrow. The greatest
value of Dr. Werrell's work is that it provides guideposts and
guidance for us as professional soldiers and aviators charged with
upholding American security. We have taken history's lessons to
heart as we plan and program our ground-based air defenses into the
next decade and beyond. In both the forward and the rear areas, we
have emphasized the time-honored principles of mass, mix, and
mobility. No one weapon, not even today's modern aircraft, can do
the job alone. The truism applies with particular force to
antiaircraft defense. And at least one other truism emerges from
Dr. Werrell's and our own studies: effective air defense requires a
joint and combined effort. Our planning has been predicated on the
assumption that counterair will play a central role in safeguarding
our ground forces from air attack. On the ground, the air defense
artillery will count on the cooperation and assistance of our
colleagues in the infantry, armor, and field artillery. On our
success or failure in working together to meet the challenges of
tomorrow will rest our nation's future.
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