Abstract In 2008, the Australian Army launched its Adaptive Army initiative, an ambitious program that seeks not only to pursue a systemic approach to adaptation, but also to inculcate a culture of adaptation across all levels of the Army. Much of the success of this initiative will be contingent on the Army’s ability to monitor the progress of implementation and adjust— adapt — where necessary. That process of monitoring and adjusting requires clear measures of success and failure. This article analyses …

Abstract The Australian Army’s success in force generation and preparation and the conduct of contemporary and future operations will be determined largely by its capacity to learn and adapt. Only through a continual cycle of reviewing and adapting in response to a changing environment will the Army retain its ability to fulfil its operational charter while also creating a culture that is capable of encouraging innovation and creativity. The ‘Adaptive Army’ initiative is more than a simple reorganisation. …

Abstract This articles examines the provenance and utility of two metaphors commonly used to help describe the dynamics of contemporary combat. It argues that, although it shares the weaknesses of all metaphors in being partially inappropriate and incomplete, the ASDA cycle has greater contemporary relevance than the earlier Boyd or OODA cycle. In 2006, the first edition of the Australian Army’s concept Adaptive Campaigning,  capturing the lessons of nearly a decade of Army experimentation, introduced the …

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 …