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rapid fire
Live Army History
In May, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, a component of


the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., holds one of its twice-yearly Army Heritage Days living history events (shown above in May 2011). Free and open to the public, the May 19-20 event hosts several hundred historians who will bring to life 13 exhibits along a 1-mile outdoor classroom, the Army Heritage Trail.


“Come on out and experience U.S. Army heritage,” says Army Lt. Col. Mark Viney, director of the center.


This year’s event features an expanded look at the War of 1812. Other exhibits include a walkthrough World War I trench and a replica of Redoubt 10, which American soldiers stormed at the Battle of Yorktown.


Viney notes the spring event has been the center’s most popular living history event for several years, drawing around 11,000 visitors. Vendors also will be open, as will a new visitor and education center featuring Civil War exhibits, a gift shop, and a café. Find out more at www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/event/heritagedays.cfm.
— David F. Crosby


 


In Review
Hesitation Kills: A Female Marine Officer’s Combat Experience in Iraq.
By Maj. Jane Blair, USMC-Ret. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011. $24.95. ISBN 978-1-4422-0876-6.


Allowing women to serve in combat always has been a contentious issue, but retired Marine Corps Maj. Jane Blair reveals what that really means in her perceptive and “unladylike” memoir of her wartime experiences during the Iraq War in 2003.


Blair served in VMU-1, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) squadron, assigned to provide frontline aerial reconnaissance and surveillance for the 1st Marine Division in its assault across Iraq to Baghdad from March to April 2003. Her squadron was not a combat unit, but its forward position, often in front of lead elements, meant it saw its share of ambushes and firefights.


Blair describes the technology, operational uses, and battlefield value of UAVs; the harsh conditions of desert living; gender discrimination; the real threats of enemy attack; the competence and foxhole humor of fellow Marines; and the positive combat leadership of her commander and senior NCOs.


Insurgents, Raiders, and Bandits: How Masters of Irregular Warfare Have Shaped Our World.
By John Arquilla. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-7425-6819-8.


John Arquilla, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, presents a fascinating history of 250 years of irregular warfare from the 18th century to the 20th century. His account features the battlefield accomplishments of 18 masters like Garibaldi, Tito, and T.E. Lawrence.


More than just a battle study, this book shows how these masters of unconventional warfare shared common characteristics, such as an acute appreciation of strategy and policy, adaptive leadership, and tactical innovation.


What these fighters accomplished with small, scattered forces against powerful conventional armies is remarkable. Best are Arquilla’s astute analyses of how conventional forces adapted to combat irregular warfare.
— William D. Bushnell


24 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2012

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