Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars   Written by: Daniel P. Bolger, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014, ISBN 9780544370487, 544pp,   Reviewed by: Brigadier Simon Stuart Recently retired US Lieutenant General Dan Bolger’s provocatively titled book Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars ultimately fails to prove its thesis. But, it does not matter. Counterintuitively, the value of Bolger’s book does not rely upon congruence between its title …

Rebalancing U.S. Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia–Pacific   Written by: Carnes Lord and Andrew S. Erickson (eds),  Naval Institute Press, 2014  ISBN 9781612514642, 226pp, Reviewed by: Andrew Carr There’s an old joke military officials like to tell: amateurs do strategy; professionals do logistics. For most of us self-proclaimed ‘amateurs’, how the United States positions itself in the Asia–Pacific is one of the key strategic questions of our time. As Carnes Lord and Andrew S. Erickson’s new …

Defence Planning and Uncertainty: Preparing for the Next Asia–Pacific War   Written by: Stephan Frühling,  Routledge, 2014  ISBN 9780415605731, 240pp,   Reviewed by: Lori Lucietto As the Indo–Pacific region continues to grow, both economically and militarily, a growing number of countries in the region and beyond are facing challenges in their strategic planning. Stephan Frühling asks, ‘How can countries determine what kind of military force is needed if threats are uncertain and history is full of …

The Chauvel Prize is an annual award presented to an eligible recipient whose published Australian Army Journal article best contributes to the debate on future land warfare. The prize is named after Sir Henry George Chauvel (1865–1945), more usually known as Sir Harry Chauvel, who was the first Australian to reach the rank of Lieutenant General and later General. He was also the first to lead a corps and, as commander of the Desert Mounted Corps, was responsible for one of the most decisive victories and …

The Next Great War?: The Roots of World War I and the Risk of U.S.–China Conflict Edited by Richard N. Rosencrance and Steven Miller, The MIT Press, 2015 ISBN 9780262028998, 313pp, US$27.00 A century ago, Europe’s diplomats mismanaged the crisis triggered by the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, plunging the world into the First World War, which killed millions, toppled dynasties, and destroyed empires. Today, as the hundredth anniversary of the Great War prompts renewed debate about war’s …

Abstract Handguns are increasingly being recognised as a vital piece of equipment for the protection of deployed soldiers. With the correct holster, a handgun can be brought into action faster than the F88 and M4 rifles can be reloaded. Handguns thus play a critical back-up role in the event of catastrophic failure of the primary weapon. Indeed, in some circumstances, it makes sense for the handgun to supersede the rifle as the primary weapon. This article provides a detailed analysis of the current …

Abstract This article sets out a bold training investment opportunity for the Australian Army — a multinational, large-scale urban warfare training centre. Australia’s current training facilities fall significantly short of what is required to prepare force elements the size of battle groups and larger formations for either short-duration or sustained operations in the urban littoral. Urban warfare is an Army-wide skill set, not a specialisation restricted to members of Special Operations Command. …

Abstract The first version of the Australian Defence Force Gap Year—Army (ADFGY-A) program, which ran between 2007 and 2012, aimed to develop a pool of willing applicants who would extend their commitment to the Army. 1 Although it has often been cited as a success, when the quantitative outcomes are reviewed more closely the extent of its success becomes somewhat ambiguous and largely dependent on views on the ADFGY-A program’s purpose. Despite the possibility that some intangible and immeasurable …

Abstract The Australian Army is investing a high proportion of its capability in operations, turning to the deployment of reservists to supplement the number of full-time soldiers available to deploy. While demand for Army reservists has increased, total force numbers have been decreasing. Defence-sponsored surveys of serving reservists are designed to analyse their motivation for serving from a quantitative standpoint. This paper presents the findings of doctoral research using a qualitative approach to …

Abstract Army’s military history is not some curio simply to be admired. Events that took place many decades ago, many thousands of kilometres away and against very different adversaries to those faced today still provide valuable lessons for modern commanders. This article examines the little-known capture of Rommel’s signals intelligence unit by an Australian battalion in North Africa in July 1942 as a case in point. It identifies how risks taken by German commanders compromised not just Rommel’s …