I am reading Imperial Grunts by mr. robert D. Kaplan and I recommend this great book to those who wish to know more about the true stories out of the US armed forces. It's a must read!

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Imperial Grunts

I have the book, read parts and pieces of it. The author seemed really impressed by the SF in central america area but couldn't quite figure out why all the other military organizations in the US didnt act, operate and measure up to the same "cool" stick that the SF did.

I lost all interest when he started drifting toward the need for a new "Larence of Arabia" type to play the tribal game with the tribals folk around the horn of africa AO.

That's a rather short sighted, romantic view from my perspective. You'll never get rid of the problems endemic to tribal areas for so long as the tribal system is allowed to remain as the baseline governance system.

Banditry, piracy, intra village raids, slavery, the whole nine yards. Tribalism is just about as solid a definition of "failed state" as you can find.

I think it was a refreshing positive view on the US military....

Yes, it did have that aspect to it, and like I said, I only read parts and pieces of it so I might have an improper impression of the book as a whole.

I'm the first to admit to being very easily annoyed by folk who either get stuck on petty detail or who advocate simply repeating the romantic nonsense of the past.

Originally Posted by Grimmy

Yes, it did have that aspect to it, and like I said, I only read parts and pieces of it so I might have an improper impression of the book as a whole.

I'm the first to admit to being very easily annoyed by folk who either get stuck on petty detail or who advocate simply repeating the romantic nonsense of the past.

Agreed, but don't forget that Robert Kaplan is a liberal author with same "LIBERAL" views on the military as well...