Download Volume 6, No. 1
We are bringing back Small Wars Journal in proper multi-article journal style
in a formatted-to-print PDF, just like we
will continue to put out good articles as quickly as we can online, and we will
regularly assemble select content into issues.
Small Wars Journal Volume 6, No. 1 includes the winners of Question #2 from our
Look for Question #1 winners in the next issue very soon. Congratulations
to:
- $3,000 Grand Prize winner, CORDS and the Whole of Government Approach:
Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Beyond, by Richard Weitz, Ph.D.
- $500 Honorable Mention, Getting Past the First Cup of Tea, by
J. Andrew Person
- $500 Honorable Mention, Examining the Armed Forces of the Philippines'
Civil Military Operations: A Small Power Securing Military Relevancy in
Nontraditional Military Roles, by Delilah Russell
We are also pleased to present:
- Clio in Combat, The Transformation of Military History Operations,
by LTC John A Boyd, Ph.D., US Army
- Task Force Stryker, Network Revolution, by CPT Jonathan Pan,
US Army
- Book Review of Ben S. Malcolm's
White Tigers, My Secret War in North Korea. Reviewed by MAJ Bradford
Burris
- Haiti: Boots on the Ground Perspective, by Col Buck Elton,
USAF (previously
published as a single article)
Download Volume 6, No. 1
About the Author(s)
Comments
I was deeply moved by Mr. Person's analysis and felt deep gut pain and frustration at how "command," as command does, failed to apply his advice. I found myself sobbing for the patriotic volunteer mom&dad soldiers who for the most pure of motives serve in Afghanistan. It is also disappointing that such an able analysis, radiating that "I was there feeling" that makes vets such invaluable teachers, ended up merely with honorable mention while a most superficial report on CORDS got top prize (one that intimated but totally failed to realize that "the Good War" came only when the Vietnamese fought their own war, free of us telling them what to do [~1970] to protect their homeland from the enemy invading from the North, independent of know-it-all American advisers, some of whom did not yet shave). Since post-WWII childhood I realized that Americans carry their cultural cocoons wherever they go and just let in a few local realities in order to give themselves a flavor of authenticity. As Mr. Person said it so well, US military bureaucracies like the situation neat and substitute firepower for complexity. In all my years of global crossings I have never met a people who so little grasped the local situations in which they found themselves. They seemed blinded by hubris that comes from big ordnance or travelers' checks. On the other hand, I have never met anyone who so imbibed the local character, came to be so deeply loved, and were so able to "go native" as Americans. Alas, not only is the latter category-- to which Mr. Person definitely belongs-- rather sparse now-a-days, but it is not appreciated, as neither his command nor the essay judges seemed to fully appreciate the wisdom in his essay. I could feel the discouragement he expressed in both his repeated comments and in his departure from military service. Yet, I repeat, NO PEOPLE ON EARTH CAN "GO NATIVE" AS WELL AS AMERICAN, so no people on earth can revolutionize and modernize the world as well by the third cup of chai (a universal term for tea). If Mr. Person were to write a book, I would guarantee to buy 101 copies, one for me and the rest for friends who are still wondering "why do they hate us?" a la GW Bush. These 100 people really, really care for their country and the world as much as Mr. Person and went on military mission throughout it, not to shoot people, but to do good.