Abstract This article contends that the experience of the early twenty-first century has highlighted a long-term systemic weakness in the formulation and execution of Western military strategy. The need for strategists to focus on people, culture and society is not just a counterinsurgency requirement; rather it should be an indispensible and enduring strand in all strategic calculations. There is a need to immigrate the thinking, methods, products and approach of anthropology into the formulation and …

Abstract The Victorian bush fires of February 2009 swiftly destroyed nearly two thousand homes and took over 170 lives. Yet, equally as swift, and in spite of the extensive damage, the ADF responded quickly and efficiently to this disaster with Operation VICTORIAN FIRES ASSIST. While the success of this operation was obvious for all to see, the author identifies several lessons that can be drawn from this unique experience, examining what worked as well as what did not—and how matters could be improved. To …

Listed below is a selection from the review copies that have arrived at the Australian Army Journal . Reviews for many of these books can be found online in the relevant edition of the Australian Army Journal at: http://www.defence.gov.au/army/lwsc/Australian_Army_Journal.asp No Clear Flight Plan: Counterinsurgency and Aerospace Power , James Fergusson and William March (eds), Centre for Defence and Security Studies, ISBN 9780978086848, 238 pp. North Korea on the Brink , Glyn Ford with Soyoung Kwon, Pluto …

Listed below is a selection from the review copies that have arrived at the Australian Army Journal . Reviews for many of these books can be found online in the relevant edition of the Australian Army Journal at: https://researchcentre.army.gov.au/library/australian-army-journal   Military Ethics ,  C A J Coady and Igor Primoratz, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 9780754624875, 546 pp. More than an Ally? Contemporary Australia–US Relations , Maryanne Kelton, Ashgate, ISBN 9780754673675, 226 pp. Mr Double Seven: A …

  … Chauvel Prize 2009 - Colonel Roger Noble …

The Good Soldiers   Written by: David Finkel,  Scribe Publications, Melbourne, 2009, ISBN: 9780374165734, 287pp. Reviewed by: Major Andrew Shum David Finkel’s The Good Soldiers  is raw, confronting and more than a timely reminder of the lessons learnt, hardships faced and indelible physical and emotional scars that are left on those engaged in close counterinsurgency fighting in the modern era. As the current focus of the Coalition and its political masters remains firmly entrenched in the ongoing …

The Human Face of War   Written by: Jim Storr,  Continuum International Publishing, London, 2009, ISBN: 9781441187505, 256pp.   Reviewed by: Justin Kelly Many readers will be aware of Jim Storr through his contributions to various British journals over the last twenty years. A retired Infantry officer, he is a forensic thinker with a strong empiricist bent—one who works from the observed facts towards a theory rather than the other way round. In the latter stages of his military career he was deeply …

Light Horse: A History of Australia’s Mounted Arm   Written by: Jean Bou,  Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2009, ISBN: 9780521197083, 360pp. Reviewed by: John Donovan Jean Bou has written a useful institutional history, which focuses on the roles, development and eventual decline of the Australian mounted arm from colonial times until the last horsed regiment was disbanded. Descriptions of battles are used to illustrate points in the discussion, not as the principal focus of the narrative. Dr Bou …

Captain Bullen’s War: The Vietnam War Diary of Captain John Bullen    Written by: Paul Ham (ed),  Harper Collins, Pymble, 2009. ISBN: 9780732288433, 474pp. Reviewed by: Bob Hall Captain John Bullen was posted to Vietnam as the OC of the 1st Topographical Survey Troop, part of the 1st Australian Task Force at Nui Dat. To brief his successor on developments, and to inform his family of his activities there, he kept a diary. The diaries were edited by Paul Ham into a lively account of Bullen’s Vietnam tour. …

The Strategy of Terrorism – How it Works and Why it Fails   Written by: Peter R Neumann and Michael LR Smith,  Routledge, London, 2008, ISBN: 9780415545266, 140pp. Reviewed by: Major Jason Harley This book is a valuable contribution to military studies. Terrorism is a most misunderstood term in both society and academia, and for military practitioners equally so. While the book explores the strategic aspects of terrorism in first principles, it is written in a simple clear manner. It unearths a number of …