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.

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.