Freelance journalist Kitfield relies heavily on personal accounts in this story of the officers who reshaped the U.S. Army and Air Force after the experience of Vietnam and then led our troops in Operation Desert Storm. In the 1970s the U.S. began to adjust to a professional military after depending on the Selective Service system. In the 1980s, increased defense budgets enabled the modernization of arsenals and the stockpiling of supplies and equipment, while cumbersome higher command systems were simplified. By the time of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, America’s military leaders were eager to demonstrate what 20 years of reform had wrought. This is a highly favorable account of that effort.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars FANTASTIC and IMPORTANT!
Excellent modern history of the US military from the Vietnam War up until 1995 or so. The history is told through semi-biographies of officers who began their careers around the time of the Vietnam War and chose to stay in the military, despite all of the problems that were evident in Vietnam. The draft, which brought in sub-standard service members, was a disastrous way to build a military. Thankfully, a number of dedicated people stuck around to see the military made stronger. From the all-volunteer military, to the GI Bill, to the Reagan defense build=up, to the Goldwater-Nichols Act, to the Gulf War, highly motivated and intelligent men helped improve the military so that it could overwhelm the Iraqi forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
One of the officers who was featured quite prominently was Barry McCaffrey. I have come to appreciate his interesting analysis on television, but I never knew his life story. Though it didn’t surprise me as I knew he retired as a general, but what an impressively courageous man he has been throughout his military career! What he went through in Vietnam is enough to amaze even the gutsiest American.
Another interesting aspect of the book was the coverage of contentious social issues that the military has had to deal with: race, women, and gays and lesbians. Kitfield pointed out the increasingly important role that blacks and women have played in the US Armed Forces.
Regrettably we are left to wonder what happened since then when our powerful military get sucked into a war in Iraq, starting in 2003 with no end in sight, without a plan to finish it. It’s easy enough to point to Tommy Franks, Richard Myers, and others, but maybe there’s a larger institutional story to tell about the debacle that is now Iraq. Hopefully Kitfield will tell that story too. He has a book out about Iraq, but since it was written a year or two ago, it can’t possibly accommodate for all that has occurred since publication.
5 Stars Required Reading for Every Officer
James Kitfield has studied one of the most turbulent times in American military history and distilled its lessons into one tightly written narrative that is both engaging and full of tremendous insight. The passage through the ranks of the Vietnam generation officer corps molded our 1980’s military into a truly revolutionary force. Their experiences in the muddle of Vietnam and the lessons they extracted colored every decision and every reform they sought in their service. In the end, while not perfect, these able officers forged a doctrine based around rapid, audacious movement, technology and local authority–all things lacking in Vietnam. The payoff came with the tremendous victory in the 1991 Gulf War.
This book needs to be read by every officer in every service. Study this, extract the lessons. Many of the mistakes made during the Vietnam-Era have now repeated themsleves in the War on Terror. Many of the lessons Colin Powell and others taught us during Desert Storm have already been forgotten.
If you are an officer, buy this book. Let it guide you through the many critical decisions you will have to face during the years ahead as you work your way through your own career. And never forget the most important lesson of all: never chose your career and its future over doing the right thing. Prodigal Soldiers pointedly demonstrates that when senior officers do that, men die needlessly.
John Bruning
Author of “The Devil’s Sandbox: At War with the 2-162 Infantry in Iraq”
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5 Stars Things can get better!
When you read a book like this and have seen the Army at its best and worst. That and have seen the gradual improvement to where the Army is today, i.e. one of the most trusted institutions and one of the greatest killing machines since the Roman Legions under the early Caesars. I just feel better and safer. That and I want to thank all those who did not turn tail and run away from the wreck of the post Vietnam War Military but stayed and fixed it. God Bless you all!
5 Stars Written in 1995 – Relevant in 2002
I first read James Kitfield’s book in 2000 and have just finished rereading it. I am recommending it to my sons, an Air Force pilot working on his master’s in military science and an Army combat engineer, as one of the four most influential books on the development of the United States military since WW II. The author traces in a very readable style the coming of age of the officers of all branches of service during the Viet Nam and post-Viet Nam eras and how those experiences shaped our ability to win a decisive victory in the 1990 Gulf War. The book also reveals the back room political wheeling and dealing that goes into watershed legislation such as the sweeping reforms of the Goldwater-Nichols Act. It’s a “must read” for every professional military leader and student of the art of war.
5 Stars a book that has “a message” – for everyone who reads it
From the prologue to the epilogue, and everything in between, this book is fantastic reading. Anyone who has ever been associated with the U.S. military will have a much clearer picture of the totality of resurection within all the services after Vietnam. “Duty, Honor, and Country” does not always mean the same thing to different people, to some it means a career that spans over thirty years, to others the words are just something on a recruiting poster. To anyone who reads the book these three words will take on a much clearer meaning. Some chapters will cause tears in even the toughest of old veterans, and even the young generation of future service members will begin to understand some of the major events which have transpired in the military in the decades since Vietnam. James Kitfield tells a story that is not just a chronicle, or a documentary, but a story worthy of telling, and he does it with style.
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