The book so nice JFQ reviewed it twice!

I
only recently saw that the new issue of Joint
Forces Quarterly contains two thoughtful reviews of The Generals.

The
first is by Marine Lt. Col. Robert Bracknell. "Specifically
identifying the Army's modern-era reluctance to effect senior leader reliefs as
a departure from the pattern of history, Ricks paints an image of the ultimate
country club, self-righteously convinced of its own infallibility -- an Army
for the sake of The Army, rather than for the sake of the Nation," he writes. He faults the book, though, for
underestimating "the moral component necessary to
maintain the respect of privates, sergeants, captains, and colonels." His
bottom line is that, "If the military truly is as
reflective and self-critical as it likes to advertise, The Generals should land on the Chairman's and
Service chiefs' reading lists soon." (Tom: Not holding breath.) 

The
second review is by grand old strategist Alan Gropman, who
singles out the Vietnam section of the book: "The
strategic debacle in Vietnam is exceptionally well treated."  I appreciated that because I
thought the Vietnam discussion was one of the most interesting parts of the
book and so I have been surprised that so few reviewers commented on it.

Gropman
disagrees with my sections on counterinsurgency, because he has concluded that
we simply can't do it:

Ricks appears to believe
counterinsurgency combat is a valid combat mission for the U.S. military. It is not.
I do not understand why any political decisionmaker, after costly failures in
Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, would advocate counterinsurgency. We go to war
in places we do not understand -- in order to save nondemocratic and often
corrupt states that are open to attacks by insurgents -- against adversaries
who have greater knowledge than we do of the countries we fight.

Tom again: I would say that the war you can't fight is the
war the enemy is most likely to seek.

Gropman's bottom
line: "read Tom Ricks' The Generals to
appreciate better the awful costs to the United States of failures in strategic
thinking."