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Anthropologists in the SecurityScape: Ethics, Practice and Professional Identity Written by: Robert Albro, George E. Marcus, Laura A. McNamara, and Monica Schoch-Spana (eds), Left Coast Press, 2011, ISBN 9781611320138, 277pp Reviewed by: Scott Flower, University of Melbourne The importance of understanding the social and cultural dimensions of complex operational environments has become more evident to Western militaries through recent counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2006, …
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden Written by: Matt Bissonnette (alias Mark Owen), Dutton Adult, 2012, ISBN 9780525953722, 316pp Reviewed by: Lieutenant Jacob Choi No Easy Day is one of the many stories told in the aftermath of the manhunt for Osama Bin Laden. Although it seeks to clarify some of the misinformed reporting in the days that followed the ‘raid of the 21st century’, the author makes it clear that he had a defined target audience in mind — a …
Total Destruction of the Tamil Tigers Written by: Paul Moorcraft, Pen and Sword Publishing, 2013, ISBN 9781781591536, 184pp Reviewed by: Major Chris Buckham Dr Moorcraft has written a very enlightening book about a war that received, relatively speaking, little to no coverage in the West; nor has it been the subject of much post-war attention. The conflict between the minority Tamils of northern Sri Lanka and the majority Sinhalese lasted 26 years from 1983 until 2009. A mixture of asymmetric and …
Journey to Peace: A True Story of Forgiveness and Reconcilliation Written by: Adam Joe Lawton, Troubador Publishing, 2012, ISBN 9781780883182, 284pp Reviewed by: Captain Andy Brayshaw In April 1982 when Argentina invaded the British overseas territory of the Falkland Islands, Adam Joe Lawton was a 17-year-old junior seaman serving on HMS Sheffield, a type 42 destroyer. At that time, Sheffield was on her way home following protection duties in the Iran-Iraq war. With the invasion of the Falklands, …
… our leaders … do their troops a disservice by not studying (studying, vice just reading) the [warfighters] who have gone before us. We have been fighting on this planet for 5,000 years and we should take advantage of their experience. ‘Winging’ it and filling body bags as we sort out what works reminds us of the moral dictates and the cost of competence in our profession. - Major General (later General) James N. Mattis, USMC, 2004 1 This review essay argues the case for the reinvigoration of education in …
A Soldier’s Soldier: A Biography of Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Daly Written by: Jeffrey Grey, Cambridge University Press, 2013, ISBN 9781107031272, 264pp Reviewed by: Lieutenant Adam Chirgwin As author Jeffrey Grey observes in his opening to A Soldier’s Soldier: A Biography of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Daly , the Australian Army does not have a tradition of ‘great captains’. As a result, there is often a profound lack of knowledge and awareness of Australia’s leading military figures, both in …
Australia 1943: The Liberation of New Guinea Written by: Peter Dean (ed), Penguin Australia, 2013, ISBN 9781107037991, 337pp, Reviewed by: Matt Miller Australia 1943: The Liberation of New Guin ea is an excellent snapshot of both familiar and unexplored aspects of the war in New Guinea. New Guinea was a complicated battlefield with a vast geography and unfamiliar names which will challenge the uninitiated. The book endeavours to explore the battle for New Guinea from the strategic heights of political …
Fromelles the Final Chapters: How the Buried Diggers were Identified and Their Lives Reclaimed Written by: Tim Lycett and Sandra Playle, Penguin Australia, 2013, ISBN 9780670075362, 288pp Reviewed by: Brian Manns I began reading this book with great interest, keen to know how Tim Lycett and Sandra Playle planned to tell the story of ‘how the buried diggers’ recovered from several mass graves near Fromelles in France were identified. The process of exhumation and identification was so complex that I …
All the King’s Men: The British Redcoat in the Era of Sword and Musket Written by: Saul David, Penguin, 2013, ISBN 9780141027937, 592pp Reviewed by: Major Tim Inglis The centenary of the Gallipoli campaign is not the only military anniversary in 2015. It will also be the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo, which ended the revolutionary era and drew the Napoleonic Wars to a close. It is therefore hardly surprising that military historians are busy revisiting the events that led up to the battle. One …
Book Review - Don’t Mention the War: The Australian Defence Force, the Media and the Afghan Conflict
Don’t Mention the War: The Australian Defence Force, the Media and the Afghan Conflict Written by: Kevin Foster, Monash University Publishing, 2013, ISBN 9781922235183, 168pp Reviewed by: Tom Hill Kevin Foster’s Don’t Mention the War seeks to explain the lack of objective and erudite reporting on the Afghanistan conflict by the Australian media, arguing that the coverage was characterised by an absence of insight and investigation. Instead, the media were forced to perpetuate the ADF’s strategic and …
