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The year is 1802.A brief and fragile peace has been reached in Europe, but Britain is at war against the Maratha in India. In its Leicestershire barracks, the 110th infantry welcomes a new officer. Paul van Daan is far from being a typical raw young subaltern. Ambitious, talented and a charismatic leader of men, Paul has the means to buy his way up the ladder of promotion. He also has an unconventional past, a fierce temper and a passion for justice which bring him into conflict with other officers. Paul needs to find a way to adjust to the realities of life in the officers' mess while remaining true to himself. Along the way he makes enduring friendships, forged on the battlefields of India and Europe, and builds an unexpected bond with the unemotional commander of the Peninsular army, Sir Arthur Wellesley. As the 110th joins Wellesley in Portugal, Paul has established a reputation as a respected officer, a courageous fighter and a shameless womaniser. His marriage to the shy, gentle Rowena brings him companionship and stability. But it is Anne Howard, the extraordinary daughter of a wealthy manufacturer, who bursts into his life like a shooting star, leaving him dazzled. Beautiful, intelligent and courageous, Anne refuses to conform to the expectations of the men around her, and changes forever everything Paul thought he knew about women. From the slaughter of Assaye to the bloody battlefields of Portugal and Spain, this is the first book in the Peninsular War Saga which follows Paul through war, danger, loss, triumph and an unforgettable love story."For 40 years I've been fascinated by this period of history and have read everything I could get my hands on, history, biography, memoirs and fiction. This series is the best fiction I've ever read - fantastically well-researched and historically accurate, with wonderfully drawn characters and relationships." (Amazon UK review)
This fascinating look at the life of a modern-day professional soldier gives the reader an inside view of the deadly global war on terror. Herd argues that conflicting political objectives have muddied the way forward for the on-the-ground commanders and thus threaten the prospect of any real victory in Afghanistan. He uses everyday stories to make his points: "One of the local leaders pointed to his wrist and said to my interpreter, 'the Americans have all the watches but we have all the time.' That made a lasting impression on me." Colonel Herd was one of the highest ranking officers on the ground with a command of some 4,000 elite soldiers from all branches of the U.S. military and five other coalition nations. It was a mission he had trained for all of his life. A sixth-generation soldier, Herd became a master parachutist, a combat scuba diver, a Green Beret and an Army Ranger. He conducted combat missions against the Taliban by using the Special Forces mandate to work by, with and through the local population.
A Naval Postgraduate School professor and former career Special Forces officer looks at why the U.S. military cannot conduct unconventional warfare despite a significant effort to create and maintain such a capability. In his examination of Operation Enduring Freedom, Hy Rothstein maintains that although the operation in Afghanistan appeared to have been a masterpiece of military creativity, the United States executed its impressive display of power in a totally conventional manner--despite repeated public statements by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld that terrorists must be fought with unconventional capabilities. Arguing that the initial phase of the war was appropriately conventional given the conventional disposition of the enemy, the author suggests that once the Taliban fell the war became increasingly unconventional, yet the U.S. response became more conventional. This book presents an authoritative overview of the current American way of war and addresses the specific causes of the "conventionalization" of U.S. Special Forces, using the war in Afghanistan as a case study. Drawing a distinction between special operations and unconventional warfare (the use of Special Forces does not automatically make the fighting unconventional), Rothstein questions the ability of U.S. forces to effectively defeat irregular threats and suggests ways to regain lost unconventional warfare capacity.
Rogue regimes have extracted an inordinate amount of energy, blood, and treasure from the world's militaries in the past century. Overthrowing these regimes is a major policy decision - fraught with peril and unknown downstream implications. The United States painfully re-learned these lessons following the invasion in Iraq and after deposing the Taliban in Afghanistan. Unconventional warfare (UW) is the flip side of counter-insurgency, in which external military elements enable surrogate guerrilla forces against an incumbent government. An updated concept for UW campaigns may offer a more palatable option for regime change in certain situations. Global instantaneous communications, social media, and the application of precision munitions from conventional forces have radically altered this age old method of warfare. Recent UW campaigns in Libya and Syria demonstrated the pros and cons of jump-starting a revolution and how non-state actors have made these already chaotic conflicts even more so. Unconventional Warfare 2.0 describes how demographic trends, rapid technological changes, and an adaptive enemy will drive new and innovative UW approaches.
"One of the best I have ever read...A phenomenal writer."—Night Owl Reviews, Reviewer Top Pick, 5 Stars, on The Officer Says I Do A Marine in search of refuge and a mysterious missionary's daughter are about to face the test of a lifetime... Coming home after a rough deployment, Captain Dwayne Robertson wants some stability in his life, and finds it in the friendship he's forged with Veronica Gibson while he was away. But her past is a well-guarded mystery, and Dwayne doesn't know if he can deal with a woman who has something to hide... Veronica Gibson doesn't want anyone to know about her bizarre upbringing. She's finally escaped her missionary parents and would be enjoying her independence if she didn't feel so insecure about fitting in. She can easily envision a glorious future with Dwayne—but can she build a new life on a web of lies? Praise for The Officer Says "I Do": "One of the best I have ever read...A phenomenal writer."—Night Owl Reviews, Reviewer Top Pick, 5 Stars "I could not put this book down."—My Secret Romance "A genuinely sweet and altogether spicy romance with a military flavor...the characters, the chemistry, and sensual love story will have you begging for more."—The Long and Short of It
Three years before the September 11 bombing of the World Trade Center-a Chinese military manual called Unrestricted Warfare touted such an attack-suggesting it would be difficult for the U.S. military to cope with. The events of September ll were not a random act perpetrated by independent agents. The doctrine of total war outlined in Unrestricted Warfare clearly demonstrates that the People's Republic of China is preparing to confront the United States and our allies by conducting "asymmetrical" or multidimensional attack on almost every aspect of our social, economic and political life.
In the years since the now-classic Pioneering Portfolio Management was first published, the global investment landscape has changed dramatically -- but the results of David Swensen's investment strategy for the Yale University endowment have remained as impressive as ever. Year after year, Yale's portfolio has trumped the marketplace by a wide margin, and, with over $20 billion added to the endowment under his twenty-three-year tenure, Swensen has contributed more to Yale's finances than anyone ever has to any university in the country. What may have seemed like one among many success stories in the era before the Internet bubble burst emerges now as a completely unprecedented institutional investment achievement. In this fully revised and updated edition, Swensen, author of the bestselling personal finance guide Unconventional Success, describes the investment process that underpins Yale's endowment. He provides lucid and penetrating insight into the world of institutional funds management, illuminating topics ranging from asset-allocation structures to active fund management. Swensen employs an array of vivid real-world examples, many drawn from his own formidable experience, to address critical concepts such as handling risk, selecting advisors, and weathering market pitfalls. Swensen offers clear and incisive advice, especially when describing a counterintuitive path. Conventional investing too often leads to buying high and selling low. Trust is more important than flash-in-the-pan success. Expertise, fortitude, and the long view produce positive results where gimmicks and trend following do not. The original Pioneering Portfolio Management outlined a commonsense template for structuring a well-diversified equity-oriented portfolio. This new edition provides fund managers and students of the market an up-to-date guide for actively managed investment portfolios.
A retired lieutenant colonel presents a behind-the-scenes portrait of the legendary North Carolina camps where Special Forces soldiers are trained, outlining the infamous Q Course where leaders endure brutal tests of strength, stamina, and ingenuity.
Armies are invariably accused of preparing to fight the last war. Nagl examines how armies learn during the course of conflicts for which they are initially unprepared in organization, training, and mindset. He compares the development of counterinsurgency doctrine and practice in the Malayan Emergency from 1948-1960 with that developed in the Vietnam Conflict from 1950-1975, through use of archival sources and interviews with participants in both conflicts. In examining these two events, he argues that organizational culture is the key variable in determining the success or failure of attempts to adapt to changing circumstances. Differences in organizational culture is the primary reason why the British Army learned to conduct counterinsurgency in Malaya while the American Army failed to learn in Vietnam. The American Army resisted any true attempt to learn how to fight an insurgency during the course of the Vietnam Conflict, preferring to treat the war as a conventional conflict in the tradition of the Korean War or World War II. The British Army, because of its traditional role as a colonial police force and the organizational characteristics that its history and the national culture created, was better able to quickly learn and apply the lessons of counterinsurgency during the course of the Malayan Emergency. This is the first study to apply organizational learning theory to cases in which armies were engaged in actual combat.
Naval Postgraduate School professor and former career Special Forces officer Hy Rothstein examines why the U.S. Military cannot conduct unconventional warfare despite such a capability. He argues that although the operation in Afghanistan appeared to have been a masterpiece of military creativity, the United States executed its impressive display manner ?despite repeated public statements by Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld that terrorists must by fought with unconventional capabilities. Pointing out that the initial phase of the war was appropriately conventional given the conventional disposition of the enemy, Rothstein maintains that one the Taliban fell and the war became increasingly unconventional, the U.S. response became more conventional. In this book, Rothstein presents an authoritative overview of the current American way of war and addresses the specific causes of the ?conventionalization? of U.s. Special Forces, using the war in Afghanistan as a case study. He draws a distinction between special operations and unconventional warfare, reminding us that the use of Special Forces does not automatically make the fighting unconventional, and he questions the ability of U.S. Forces to effectively defeat irregular threats. In conclusion, the author suggests ways to regain lost unconventional warfare capacity.