Shaping U.S. Military Forces: Revolution or Relevance in a Post-Cold War World

(Hardback)

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In Shaping U.S. Military Forces, D. Robert Worley assesses military force changes that have been made since the Cold War, explains the many changes that have not been made, and recommends changes that must be madeas well as exploring the ways in which political and military forces line up to resist them. For over forty years there was consensus about maintaining large U.S. military forces. Today, as evidenced by the steady decline in defense spending since 1985, that consensus has evaporated, and a new equilibrium is being sought. Yet evidence of transformation is modest. By outward appearances, today's military is principally a smaller version of our Cold War forces, despite the fact that threat, missions, and strategies have changed. There has been no lack of reform effort at the highest levels of the defense bureaucracy. Under the leadership of General Colin Powell, the Joint Chiefs of Staff reexamined the roles and missions of the services. Recommendations followed. But, according to observers, change occurred only at the margins. Worley argues that the highly institutionalized cultures of the uniformed services offer the best explanation for why the American military is not a different force well over a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Significant historical events, primarily from World War II forward, are used to explain belief systems within the individual services and sometimes within specific branches within a single service. Force planners commonly measure military end strength in terms of divisions, wings, and battle groups. Therefore, Worley examines the most important organizational structuresarmored and infantry divisions, fighter and bomber wings, and carrier battle groupsand does so in the context of conflicts, including Vietnam, the Gulf War, Panama, Kosovo, and Somalia, and of course the unfinished conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. He highlights problems associated with the clash of service conceptions of war and the requirements of real conflict to examine the shape U.S. military forces haveand the shape they should assume.

Reviews

This work is a valuable research tool, for the author skillfully summarizes a variety of efforts to reform and transform the US (and other) militaries. Worley is most useful at sketching the history of those efforts and their relative degrees of success over time, and on focusing attention on the variety of meanings of the term transformation. In a series of chapters on the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Special Forces operations, Worley gives insights into the nature of change, the internal culture of the various services, and their strengths and weaknesses in dealing with systemic change. Calling reform and transformation a journey, not a destination, he enables the careful reader to discern some internal impediments to both. Rightly assuming that great power conflict is not over, Worley is forced to conclude that in terms of meeting the new challenges, there has been precious little accomplished in the post-Cold War era and that our troops deserve better. The present situation in Iraq seems to cogently underscore this observation.Recommended. Researchers, faculty, and practitioners. * Choice *
Writing for students studying defense policy in the context of a graduate program in US government, Worley provides an account of the historical development of force development policy, which refers to the size and shape of military forces necessary to undergird declaratory and employment policy (drawing a distinction between what the government says about military force and what it does). He presents individual descriptions for each of the uniformed services and offers analysis on what is required to achieve unified command and action for future wars. * Reference & Research Book News *
Dr. Robert Worley is a Fellow with John Hopkins and has held many prestigious academic positions, also serving as a defense policy analyst at the National Security and Army research Divisions and Rand and others; so his analysis of U.S. military force strengths and weaknesses provides a past, present and future assessment competing books miss. For over forty years there was consensus about the size and approach of U.S. military forces; since 1985 many changes have been made in the name of reforms. Worley argues the uniformed services as a whole is not a different force ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: historical events explain belief systems, underlying influences, and more. A 'must' for any who would comprehend military makeup, history, and influences on change. * KNLS Bookwatch/California Bookwatch *

Author Bio

D. Robert Worley is a Fellow with the Johns Hopkins University Washington Center for the Study of American Government. He previously held adjunct faculty positions at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs and UCLA's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has served as a defense policy analyst at the National Security and Army Research Divisions of Rand, the Joint Advanced Warfighting Program at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities. Before beginning his professional career, he served in the United States Marine Corps with one tour in Vietnam.