This is a unique volume by a collection of authors that have never collaborated to this degree before (and will never again). The publisher, the Center for Defense Information, has made a free download available. It provides advice for the Obama Administration, but (since they will not follow its advice) it will provide insight for many years after President Obama moves out of the White House.
Click here to download your free copy (2.6 MB PDF) purchase your copy (the free offer has expired).
Authors
These are all on the A-team members of the shadow defense establishment.
- Chet Richards (Colonel, USAF, retired), author of several books including (most recently) If We Can Keep It, Editor of DNI.
- Tom Christie, close colleague of John Boyd’s, co-author of the energy maneuverability papers, and my boss at the TACAIR shop in PA&E.
- Bob Dilger, guru of the A-10’s gun, the GAU-8, and who showed how competition could reduce the cost of munitions by 90% while improving quality; long-time advocate for close air support.
- Bruce Gudmundsson, retired Marine and author of seven books, including the classic Stormtroop Tactics(available from the DNI book store).
- Bill Lind, who needs no introduction to DNI’s readers.
- Doug Macgregor, hero of 73 Easting, author of Breaking the Phalanx and Transformation Under Fire.
- John Sayen, also retired Marine, author, and one of the best military analysts writing today (he and Doug Macgregor co-reviewed my chapter).
- Pierre Sprey, another of Boyd’s closest colleagues, driving force behind the A-10 and a major influence on the F-16. Now runs Mapleshade Studios in Maryland.
- Jim Stevenson, long-time author, publisher, and defense analyst; wrote the classic study of defense program mismanagement on the A-12.
- Don Vandergriff, another author who needs no introduction; probably the leading expert on instituting leadership programs for 4GW (see an archive of his work here).
- GI Wilson, another colleague of Boyd’s, member of the team that put together FMFM-1, and co-author of the paper that coined the term “fourth generation warfare.”
- Winslow Wheeler, who also edited the volume, long-time congressional staffer, and author of another classic, The Wastrels of Defense.
Afterword
If you are new to this site, please glance at the archives below. You may find answers to your questions in these.
Please share your comments by posting below. Per the FM site’s Comment Policy, please make them brief (250 words max), civil, and relevant to this post. Or email me at fabmaximus at hotmail dot com (note the spam-protected spelling).
For more information from the FM site
To read other articles about these things, see the FM reference page on the right side menu bar. Of esp relevance to this topic:
- About America – how can we reform it?
- About Military, political, and strategic theory
- About Books about geopolitics
Posts on the FM site discussing Some solutions, ways to reform America:
-
A must-read book for any American interested in geopolitics: Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner.
-
The Constitution: wonderful, if we can keep it: If We Can Keep It by Chet Richards.
-
Valuable new insights about the culture of war… a preview – The Culture of War by Martin Van Creveld (out this Fall, you can pre-order on Amazon).
-
Diagnosing the Eagle, Chapter II — book recommendations for 2008 – Three great books, all telling much about 21st America.
-
Diagnosing the Eagle, Chapter III — reclaiming the Constitution – about Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom.
-
Diagnosing the eagle, chapter IV – Alienation – about The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch.
-
Least we forget: lessons for us from the Battle of Ia Drang – about We Were Soldiers Once… and Young.
- The Changing Face of War: Lessons of Combat, From the Marne to Iraq, by Martin van Creveld — one of the major books about 4GW.
Would you consider using the free Mobi Publisher software to produce a non-DRMed MobiPocket format eBook, so that those of us with Amazon Kindles or other MobiPocket-capable devices could utilize those to read the book?
Thanks much!
Looks like a great book, FM, but at 241 pages … how can do any other blog reading if I’m reading it?
Can’t you tell us why you think some idea is so great with a nice reference, and then I can read it, if necessary, to disagree intelligently? (Or, if I agree, I probably don’t need to read it so much.)
I mean, c’mon, isn’t that what we pay you for? (with our limited budget of eyeball attention)
(And we’ll immediately stop when we think it’s too much — but so far I’m getting a pretty good deal).
to help a fellow kindle owner, you can read this on your kindle like this:
open the pdf in your browser. save it to disk. email your free.kindle mailbox with the file attached.
amazon will send you back the file (or you can use whispernet for $0.10), load it on your kindle and away you go….
Tempted to make a strafing run (read only opening paragraphs, or the last two articles)) and then comment, but at 241 pages I’d be sure to miss the best targets. So, could you keep on open thread somewhere (near the top of the page) so that we could comment in a few days or more when we’ve had time to read it?
Comment moved to the same thread as the first comment Ael posted (for clarity). Go here to see it.
You said:click here for free copy pdf, America’s Meltdown. I clicked and nothing came up but an add for AMAZON and a charge of $9.95. Why lie to people? Do you thiink that we will forget it? Obama thinks that and he will be removed! You think that and YOU create enemies for yourself. I do not like for some asses to play games with me!
.
.
Fabius Maximus replies: Things change. That post went up almost a year ago, and the curse of the web is that posts are seldom updated. However, thanks for the note (however rude). It has been updated.
BTW, If you find a “Uncle Sam wants You!” poster from 1942, don’t enlist. The NAZI’s and Imperial Japan have been defeated.
Fabius Maximus was an avoider of war. He was more of a money-maker as in Marxist-Capitalist Obama supporter. His ideas gave birth to Fabian communism. (e.g the wolf in sheep’s clothing) In this case its reversed. We have a sheep in wolve’s clothing.
.
.
Fabius Maximus replies: Is this intended as humor? It makes no sense otherwise.
* The British Fabians were social democrats, not communists.
* The ideas of the Fabians were not inspired by the Roman F.M. They adopted political tactics loosely based on his actions in the 2nd Punic War — harassment and attrition rather than head-on battles.
* What is a Marxist-Capitalist? The term seems inherently contradictory.