Abstract In an era of fiscal constraint and competing priorities across and external to the Defence portfolio, Army modernisation efforts are challenged by a number of financial and capability pressures. Ranging from the increased cost of technological sophistication in our equipment to the exclusion of capability replacements under the Defence Integrated Investment Program (IIP), these challenges have a dual and compounding impact on Army’s modernisation. Future equipment may consequently be inadequately …

Abstract In May 2017, Islamist insurgents laid siege to the city of Marawi in the Mindanao region of southern Philippines. This siege led to a five-month campaign by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to retake Marawi and restore order to the region. The experiences of the AFP have broad relevance to the Australian Army across a number of corps and disciplines, including close combat, offensive support, mobility and survivability, urban sniping and counter-sniping, and logistics. The aim of this …

Abstract This article invites readers to contribute to a professional debate about the capability required for urban operations: does Australia have it—and does Australia need it? In exploring what that might mean, it starts from an accepted position that urban operations are increasingly likely. It examines in some detail the nature of the limitations imposed on military operations by urban terrain, which is particularly important in understanding the dependence on the use of firepower to conduct …

Fighting the People’s War: The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War     Written by: Jonathan Fennell Cambridge University Press, 2019, ISBN 9781139380881, 966pp   Reviewed by: Dr William Westerman There is an unfortunate tendency with some writers of popular-level military history to produce big books that say very little—at least, very little that is original or insightful. Jonathan Fennell’s Fighting the People’s War is a towering example of what can and should be done with a …

How to Defend Australia     Written by: Hugh White La Trobe University Press, 2019, ISBN 9781760640996, 336pp   Reviewed by: Dr Albert Palazzo There are occasions when the sum of a book’s parts is more profound than its individual thoughts. Hugh White, an emeritus professor at the Australian National University and one of Australia’s premier strategic thinkers, has done the nation a service in writing this book. If anyone can move the Australian Government and people to seriously rethink the fundamentals …

Criminologies of the Military: Militarism, National Security and Justice     Edited by Ben Wadham and Andrew Goldsmith Onati International Series in Law and Society, Hart Publishing, UK, 2018, ISBN 1509904867, 224pp   Reviewed by: Dr David Mount In Criminologies of the Military , Wadham and Goldsmith have set themselves a formidable task: to encapsulate the concept of crime committed by, within and against military (and military-like) entities in order to better understand the sources and natures of those …

Blood and Concrete: 21st Century Conflict in Urban Centers and Megacities     Edited by Dave Dilegge, Robert J Bunker, John P Sullivan and Alma Keshavarz Small Wars Foundation, 2019, ISBN 9781984573759, 705pp   Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Dayton McCarthy Positioning itself to capture the burgeoning interest in cities and how armies might interact with and within them, Blood and Concrete is a compendium of over 50 short articles on various aspects of urban warfare that have appeared on the Small Wars …

Researching the Military     Edited by Helena Carreiras, Celso Castro and Sabina Frederic Routledge, 2016,  ISBN 1138309249, 221pp   Reviewed by: Major Cate Carter Conducting social research on the military is a complex endeavour. It involves theoretical traditions from a multitude of disciplines and a variety of methodological approaches. There are unique challenges to studying an organisation which has restricted access and often hazardous working conditions, and researchers need to approach their …

Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict   Written by: Anthony Ware and Costas Laoutides Hurst & Company, 2018 ISBN 9781849049047, 276pp   Reviewed by: Chaplain Darren Cronshaw Suggesting simple solutions is not helpful for a crisis as complex as that involving the Rohingya people in Myanmar, which is why Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict by Anthony Ware and Costas Laoutides is a welcome analysis pointing in constructive directions. The conflict and resulting refugee crisis of Myanmar’s Rohingya people has involved …

Abstract On the surface, the ‘zero tolerance’ policy of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) on substance abuse appears to be overbearing and paternalistic—out of step and out of touch in an age when individuals feel that they should be able to make informed decisions about what they do and what substances they put in their bodies. Examination of media releases, official statements, policies and freedom of information documents available through Defence or in open media in relation to drug use in the …