Reviews Moving Tribute and a Primer on Leadership We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey wounded. Public reaction to the twin departed, convinced that all who had Back to the Battlefields of Viet- battles in the Ia Drang Valley literally died there were finally at peace. nam. Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, USA altered the course of the War. What makes We Are Soldiers Still Ret., and Joseph L. Galloway. Harper- Why return to the scene of such such intriguing reading is Moore’s Collins Publishers. 272 pages; maps; devastation and death? According to ability to touch the heart of the Ameri- photographs; index; $24.95. Moore, the reason was simply to “mute can soldier. Then, as now, the NCO [the] cries, even if [the survivors] were Corps remains the backbone of the By Col. Cole C. Kingseed Army, and Moore pays tribute to his U.S. Army retired own sergeant major, Basil Plumley, a true “lion in winter” who “marched iterary sequels seldom live up to steadfastly through life adhering to … Ltheir advance billing and reader the rules and discipline of the Old expectation, but We Are Soldiers Still by Army and his own sense of duty.” Lt. Gen. Harold (Hal) Moore, U.S. Moore describes Plumley as the most Army retired, and Joe Galloway is a remarkable and memorable sergeant notable exception. In writing a sequel of a lifetime, the essence of an air- to their New York Times best seller, We borne trooper. Were Soldiers Once … and Young, the au- Moore’s reflections on leadership thors address a new generation of war- alone make this book worth its pur- riors because “there is no such thing as chase price. In Moore’s opinion, good closure for soldiers who have survived leadership revolves around the twin a war.” For Moore and Galloway, the pillars of solid character and sound survivors have “an obligation, a sacred judgment. Moore opines that leader- duty, to remember those who fell in ship is an art, while management is a battle beside them and to bear witness science. In his final lecture at the U.S. to the insanity that is war.” Military Academy in 2005, 60 years af- As with their previous work, Moore ter his own graduation, one of the narrates this current volume, in which Army’s most distinguished warriors he shares the principles and the max- emphasized that leadership requires ims that shaped his life. The result is a the only ones who could still hear them that leaders care deeply about those primer on leadership that ought to be after so many years.” On their third trip entrusted to their care. Without love on every mandatory reading list of the back to Vietnam and in the company of of soldiers, leadership is doomed to American soldier. Bookstores are an ABC television news team and failure. According to Moore, of all the filled with rows of books on leader- Moore’s Vietnamese adversaries, for- tenets of leadership, the greatest is ship and management, but We Are Sol- mer enemies found a common ground love. Hate war, but love the warrior. diers Still stands above the rest. Words of understanding known only to sol- Nor is leadership restricted to the like riveting and compelling hardly do diers who experienced combat. battlefield. Perhaps the most moving the book justice. After walking Landing Zone X-Ray chapter in We Are Soldiers Still revolves Dating back to 1990, Moore and Gal- one last time, Moore and his party around the lives of two American he- loway visited Vietnam a half-dozen were stranded for an additional night roes: former Lt. Cyril (Rick) Rescorla times, the last being Galloway’s visit by a freak storm. For Moore it was the and Julia (Julie) Compton Moore. in 2005. Following the commercial suc- fulfillment of a lifelong dream, an op- Rescorla’s photograph graced the cover cess of their first book, they were per- portunity to pay his final respects to of Moore and Galloway’s best seller. mitted to return to the Ia Drang Valley his fallen soldiers and comrades “for- Decades later, Rescorla served as chief in the fall of 1993, where a total of 305 ever young as we grow old.” Thus of security for during Americans had died and more than Moore maintained a silent vigil over the tragedy of , 2001. Af- 400 others were wounded in a series of the place the Vietnamese called the ter safely evacuating the vast majority bitter battles in November 1965. North Forest of Screaming Souls. Recalling of Morgan Stanley’s personnel from the Vietnamese casualties were estimated the sacrifice of so many fine young South Tower of the World Trade Center, between 3,000 and 5,000 killed and men, Moore and his party eventually Rescorla returned to assist others be-

108 ARMY I September 2008 fore the building collapsed. His re- husbands and fathers in combat. Upon single book for leaders at all levels to mains were never identified. receiving the news that so many read and reflect upon, it would be We American soldiers had fallen in the Ia Are Soldiers Still. Coupled with We Were he daughter of an Army Drang Valley in the fall of 1965, she Soldiers Once … and Young, Moore and Tand wife of , Julie followed Yellow Cabs around a small Galloway’s latest volume is a moving Moore’s life began and ended with the Southern Army town in western Geor- tribute to the American soldier. U.S. Army. Long before family support gia to deliver the news in person. In groups became the norm in the Army, the process, Julie Moore inspired us all COL. COLE C. KINGSEED, USA Ret., Julie Moore shouldered the difficult and bequeathed a legacy of quiet hero- Ph.D., a former professor of history at burden of comforting grieving wives ism to future generations. the U.S. Military Academy, is a writer and children who recently lost their If this reviewer could recommend a and consultant. Plainspoken Pundits

Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. sense answers. Why are we in trou- the case for military preparedness. In Land Power. Thomas Donnelly and ble? Why do we need a better mili- the most convincing section of the Frederick W. Kagan. AEI Press. 164 tary? What kind of future wars will book, the authors point out the folly pages; index; $20. we fight? What kind of military do we of trying to predict the precise nature need? How much will it cost? The an- of the next conflict and use fortune- By James Jay Carafano swers are revealing. America took a telling as an excuse to scrimp on force post-Cold War peace dividend that structure. Not surprisingly, they opt hen T.R. Fehrenbach famously left the Army and Marine Corps too for a capabilities-based force that can Wpenned, “You may fly over a small for the terrors of the post-Cold effectively conduct a range of mis- land forever; you may bomb it, atom- War world. Donnelly and Kagan pro- sions, from rooting out insurgents ize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of vide a fair and sober assessment of the to battling conventional battalions. life—but if you desire to defend it, pro- current state of play—the state and Ground Truth concludes it will take 10 tect it and keep it for civilization, you nonstate threats that more than make years to build a ground force of about must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men into the mud,” he was writing about another time, an- other war and another part of the world, Korea. As far as Thomas Don- nelly and Frederick Kagan, two vet- eran Washington defense analysts at the American Enterprise Institute, are concerned, the line still sticks today. The truth in Ground Truth: The Fu- ture of U.S. Land Power is that America must have ground forces second to none; without an immediate change in policy, however, that is not going to happen. The pressures of the Long War and a long record of post-Cold War neglect are turning the U.S. mili- tary into a hollow force. The answer the authors offer is a bigger budget. The costs are high, about $240 billion. The consequences of failing to invest, they argue, are even costlier. They are probably right. Gr ound Truth makes the case for pay- ing more attention to ground forces. In concise, jargon-free and fast-paced chapters Donnelly and Kagan ask sen- sible questions and offer common-

September 2008 I ARMY 109 two million active and reserve sol- power, Donnelly and Kagan counter will produce about $14 trillion worth diers and marines. fiscal naysayers that while much more of goods and services in 2008.” Even Of all the future plans being touted baseline defense spending seems like a their robust bill for defense spending for the military beyond Iraq and requires only about a single percent- Afghanistan, Donnelly and Kagan un- age point of GDP to conduct the gov- questionably offer one of the most ernment’s most fundamental responsi- ambitious. The precise blueprint they bility—providing for the common de- offer can and should be debated, but fense. their defense of landpower in the 21st Concerning defense spending, Ground century is impossible to ignore. Truth is on solid ground. America is in for a long war—it should be prepared he taproot of Ground Truth is a se- to pay for it. The good news is that Tries of case studies in contempo- compared to the last long war, the rary military history that illustrate why Cold War, the relative burden is more Fehrenbach’s dictum is as true as ever. than bearable. What Ground Truth does These include an engrossing study of not dwell on is all the needs of the the operations of Col. H.R. McMaster’s other services—which are significant Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in as well. This makes the issue of ade- Tal Afar in 2005, which describes how quate defense spending even more well-led conventional forces adapted pressing. The greatest military disaster to unconventional warfare. Other stud- would be insufficient defense budgets ies include an analysis of the invasion that force the services to squabble over of Iraq, post-conflict combat in the scraps. That is a military hardly worth Sunni Triangle, Israel’s recent war with having. Hezbollah and support of antiterror- ism operations against Abu Sayyaf in good deal of money, “in the context of JAMES JAY CARAFANO is a senior fel- the Philippines. the overall U.S. economy, the sticker low at The Heritage Foundation and Having made their case for land- shock diminishes. The the author of GI Ingenuity: Improvi- sation, Technology and Winning A Professional Development Forum World War II. Coming to AUSA’s 2008 Annual Meeting and Exposition? Varied Fare Rangers at Dieppe: The First Combat Save Time and Register Online Action of U.S. Army Rangers in World War II. Jim DeFelice. Berkley Starting June 2, Online Registration Opens Caliber. 300 pages; black-and-white photographs; index; $24.95. Q Go to www.ausa.org Two years before the now famous Q Click on the Annual Meeting link World War II D-Day invasion, a small Q Fill out registration form group of U.S. Army Rangers partici- pated in an amphibious assault on the Q Click“Submit” German-held French port of Dieppe. Q Print your confirmation The raid, a combined Canadian- Q Bring it with your government-issued photo ID British assault, included 50 Rangers to the Registration Desk to pick up your badge who, despite the fact that their combat training was not yet complete, would See you there! be thrust into the crucible of the bat- tle. It was a disaster. Rangers at Dieppe by Jim DeFelice is Association of the the story of this little-known raid and 2425 Wilson Boulevard • Arlington, VA 22201 the courageous men who fought and (703) 907-2656 • (800) 336-4570 ext. 665 died on that hopeless mission, a re- www.ausa.org markable saga of heroism under fire. Any close examination of the history of

110 ARMY I September 2008 U.S. Army Rangers will reveal Dieppe mandos” to the arduous combat train- in Ranger DNA. ing conducted by a cadre of battle- Lord (Admiral) Louis Mountbatten, hardened British Commandos. This is head of combined operations, set the their story, drawn from historical tone as he addressed the assembled records and told by the Rangers who men on the eve of the raid. “Tomor- were there. row we deal the Hun a bloody blow.” DeFelice does a creditable job of an- He went on to say, “We expect over 60 swering the two critical questions: percent casualties. To those of you why and who. Why was the raid con- that will die tomorrow, may God have ducted in the first place and who or mercy on your souls.” His prediction what caused failure at every stage of was about right; his ability to inspire the operation? To the extent that it is the troops, however, left something to possible for someone who was not be desired. there, DeFelice captures the emotion Poor planning, faulty intelligence, that the soldiers must have felt; the and lack of proper air cover and naval physical strain, the mental stress, the support, combined with just plain bad acts of cowardice and the acts of luck, conspired to ensure that the fight courage. for Dieppe became a slaughter. Cana- This is a well-written account of the dian losses were horrific. The casualty exploits of members of the Greatest rate for the Canadian 2nd Division re- Generation that will appeal to both mains its greatest loss in Canadian amateur and professional historians military history. was a baptism by fire for the Rangers and anyone simply looking for a good The raid was the virtual starting and resulted in the first American story. My only complaint is that the point for the history of modern-day blood spilled on European soil. maps are not very helpful; the pho- Rangers and the beginning of a DeFelice takes the reader through tographs, on the other hand, are very legacy of courage, sacrifice and com- the initial call for volunteers for a new good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. mitment that continues to this day. It outfit “modeled after the British Com- —CSM Jimmie W. Spencer, USA Ret.

112 ARMY I September 2008 A Living Treasure: Seasonal Photo- the volume, providing details and in- tion regarding the origin of the ceme- graphs of Arlington National Cem- sights about the cemetery. The Old tery, but the excellent photographs of etery. Robert C. Knudsen. Potomac Guard and honor guards of the Coast A Living Treasure tell the real story. Books. 200 pages; color photographs; Guard, Navy, Air Force and Marines Knudsen’s images show Arlington $23.96. are touched upon, and certain memori- over the course of a typical year Professional photographer Robert als to battles, units and wars are noted. —A Living Treasure is sectioned into Knudsen has compiled more than 300 Other sidebar topics include veterans seasons, with the ceremonies and color photographs capturing events that fall on Easter, the essence of Arlington Na- Memorial Day, Veterans Day tional Cemetery. The natural and Christmas highlighted. beauty of its grounds, the The spring blossoms, the ver- solemnity of its memorials, dant foliage of summer, the and the honor and tradition reds and golds of autumn, of its ceremonies are all on and the white blankets of display in A Living Treasure. winter snow all provide glo- The final resting place of rious backdrops to tomb- thousands of brave and hon- stones and ceremonies. There orable Americans, Arlington are also photographs of the is afforded the respect and inner workings of the ceme- detail it deserves in Knud- tery, such as grounds mainte- sen’s elegant and thorough nance and the Old Guard volume. The countless hours practicing and preparing for Knudsen spent at the ceme- the ceremonies. The dedica- tery are evident in the quality and va- service organizations, foreign nation- tion of the soldiers who perform cere- riety of images. als, unknown soldiers and the Freed- monial duties at Arlington is captured In addition to a foreword by Gen. man’s Village that used to be located in photographs of the Old Guard’s Richard Myers, U.S. Air Force retired, on the cemetery’s grounds. There are a Caisson Platoon braving ice and snow sidebars are interspersed throughout few typos in Kevin Hymel’s introduc- to give a servicemember a dignified Robert C. Knudsen The Old Guard’s Caisson Platoon participates in funerals for all the military services in Arlington National Cemetery. The soldiers stay in the field all day with their horses regardless of the weather.

September 2008 I ARMY 113 and respectful burial. Some of the more intriguing and unique head- stones and memorials serve as sub- jects, alongside iconic views of row upon row of uniform headstones stretching into the distance. A Living Treasure takes the reader on a fascinating tour of Arlington Na- tional Cemetery. Those who have al- ready been there will see something new—Rolling Thunder paying re- spects on Memorial Day, a rainbow stretching through the mist on a sum- mer morning, the Presidential Salute Battery rendering honors—and those who haven’t been can visit vicariously and get a true sense of the historic and societal importance of Arlington. The text includes some details about the cemetery that many readers may not know—the cemetery truly has a rich and interesting history that the more casual visitor might miss. Knudsen has

compiled a fitting tribute to Arlington, Photographs: Robert C. Knudsen for those who perform duties there and Each Christmas since 1992 wreaths have been placed at thousands of graves those who rest there eternally. throughout Arlington. The tradition was begun by the Worcester Wreath Co. in —Tenley Wadsworth Maine. The company’s owner and employees still make the annual trip.

114 ARMY I September 2008 cards published in the early 20th cen- Briefly Noted... tury; facing each reproduction are a smaller view of the card’s reverse and a brief explanation of the image de- Postcards from the Russian Revolu- These two small volumes may pre- picted and its historical context. tion. Bodleian Library. Distributed in sent a mere sampling of the thousands In Postcards from the Russian Revolu- the U.S. by University of Chicago of postcards in John Fraser’s eclectic tion, the fronts of cards show intrigu- Press. 95 pages; four-color illustrations; collection, recently acquired by the ing photographs, propaganda draw- $20. Postcards from the Trenches: Bodleian Library at Oxford Univer- ings and socialist realist art related to Images from the First World War. sity, but the large impact of these im- the turmoil in Russia during the first Bodleian Library. Distributed in the ages will resonate quite strongly with two decades of the 20th century. Of U.S. by University of Chicago Press. the reader. Each book includes more equal interest are the messages on the 112 pages; four-color illustrations; $20. than 50 actual-size reproductions of backs of the cards, such as that penned by Grand Duchess Olga while she was imprisoned in Tobolsk in 1917 before being sent to Ekaterin- burg, where she would be executed with the rest of the royal family. In Postcards from the Trenches, a fasci- nating tension exists between the “cheerful” wartime propaganda de- picted on many of the cards and the stark realities of World War I. The truth will out, however—the gruesome na- ture of the Great War is only too appar- ent in one card showing a photograph of a trench filled with skulls. With introductions by historian An- drew Roberts, these attractive books will interest the casual reader and bear close inspection by the specialist. Viewed from the angle of their post- cards, the Russian Revolution and World War I become accessible and multifaceted on a human level, allow- ing readers a glimpse into aspects of those turbulent times that most will not have seen before.

The United States drafted four million men and by mid-1918 was sending 10,000 troops to France daily.

September 2008 I ARMY 115