The decision to not deploy reoriented, trained Iraqi divisions and other allied forces in numbers significant enough to adequately stabilize the situation in Iraq in 2003–04 resulted in significant shortages of manpower and equipment that eventually led to a less-than-satisfactory ending to the campaign, and significantly challenged the entire Coalition effort in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The roles and missions assumed by allies were vitally important in the under-resourced effort to bring order to the chaos of Iraq but would remain relatively unheralded throughout most of the campaign.Colonel Tiso’s account of this time offers unique insights into the challenges of planning the Iraqi campaign and the intricacies and challenges of multinational service through the lens of his assignments as a war planner at U.S. Central Command, Senior Military Adviser of the Arab Peninsula Shield Force and the Polish-led Multinational Division (Central-South), and Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (C-3) of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team tasked to develop the New Iraqi Army. His observations cast significant light on the missions these units undertook and the challenges they confronted.His firsthand account of operational planning for war in Iraq captures the concerns of the military planners and senior commanders to liberate and stabilize the country, enabling the reader to better understand the challenges of operational war planning, coalition warfare, the difficulty of stabilizing Iraq after the fall of Baghdad, the development of the New Iraqi Army, and ultimately a deeper understanding of America’s “long war” in Iraq.

Ten years after the end of the American involvement in the Vietnam War, a career Foreign Service officer, Thomas J. Corcoran, set down in writing his thoughts on the history of U.S. State Department policy during America's involvement with South Vietnam. Like many Americans of his generation, he was perplexed by the failure of America to achieve its goals in South Vietnam. As an ambassador and with over 30 years of diplomatic experience – beginning in 1948 when he was assigned to Hanoi and involving other postings in Southeast Asia – he brought to his analysis a long and rich personal experience with events in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.   The result is a thoughtful, objective and well-researched study that chronicles the key policy decisions made by the US State Department throughout the entire period from 1945 to 1975; decisions that ultimately led to the first war lost by the United States. In his extensive study, Corcoran does an excellent job of exposing many of the myths and falsehoods found in orthodox histories of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

In the past decade, heroes and villains spawned from the pages of comic books have upended popular culture and revolutionised the entertainment industry. The narratives weave together a multitude of complementary and sometimes competing storylines, spun across decades, generations, and mediums, forming a complex tapestry that simultaneously captures the imagination and captivates the mind. These stories reveal our own vulnerabilities while casting an ideal to which we aspire. They pull at our deepest emotions and push us to the cusp of reality, and bring us back to Earth with a renewed hope of a better tomorrow. They are an endless source of powerful metaphors to help us learn and develop, then be the best versions of ourselves possible.   Through the lens of the superhero genre, each chapter explores contemporary challenges in leadership, team building, and conflict, while emphasising the role of humanity and human nature in our own world.   Contributors: Ian Boley; Jo Brick; Mitch Brian; Max Brooks; Mike Burke; Kelsey Cipolla; Amelia Cohen-Levy; Mick Cook; Jeff Drake; Clara Engle; Candice Frost; Ronald Granieri, PhD; Heather S. Gregg, PhD; James Groves; Geoff Harkness, PhD; Theresa Hitchens; Kayla Hodges; Cory Hollon, PhD; Joshua Huminski; Erica Iverson; Alyssa Jones; Mathew Klickstein; Jonathan Klug; Matt Lancaster; Steve Leonard; Karolyn McEwen; Eric Muirhead; Jon Niccum; Kera Rolsen; Mick Ryan; Julie Still; Patrick Sullivan; Aaron Rahsaan Thomas; Dan Ward; and Janeen Webb, PhD.

The nature of war is constant change. We live in an era of exponential technological acceleration which is transforming how wars are waged. Today, the battlespace is transparent; multi-domain sensors can see anything, and long-range precision fire can target everything that is observed. Autonomous weapons can be unleashed into the battlespace and attack any target from above, hitting the weakest point of tanks and armoured vehicles. War now develops at hyper-speed, risking operational, informational, and organisational paralysis induced by the rapid convergence of key disrupters in the battlespace. Hit with too many attacks in multiple domains, all occurring simultaneously, the force is paralysed. Imagine a peer fight against Communist China, a new war in Europe against a resurgent Russia, or a conflict against Iran in the Middle East. How can our forces survive an enemy-first strike in these circumstances? Can we adapt to the ever-accelerating tempo of war? Will our forces be able to mask from enemy sensors? How will leaders execute command and control in a degraded communications environment? Will our command posts survive, and will our commanders see and understand what is happening in order to plan, decide, and act in real time? Written by military strategy and leadership expert, John Antal, this book addresses these tough questions and more.

The most eye-opening, and terrifying, story in Chip Reid's career as a journalist was the six weeks he spent with 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, as a correspondent for NBC News. Traveling shoulder-to-shoulder with the young Marines, he had unparalleled access, witnessing them in combat, and interviewing as many as he could persuade his bosses to put on air, allowing them to tell their war stories in their own words.   It took only 22 days for the Marines of 3/5 to fight their way to Baghdad, but the effects on those who fought have lasted a lifetime. They lost a number of their own in battle, and others suffered life-threatening injuries. Of those who returned - even if they avoided physical scars - many have had to find their own way through survivor's guilt and the nightmare of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, with all its attendant miseries.   Twenty years on, Chip sat down with the Marines of 3/5 once more. They told Chip inspiring stories of heroism in battle, of camaraderie and comrades lost, of patriotism and belief in mission, of recovery and success in both military and civilian life, and of the new appreciation for life that results from Post-Traumatic Growth. Visceral and searingly honest, this book is a tribute to the Marines for their service, and for the many sacrifices they made then, and that many still make today.

In this ground-breaking book, Niall Downey – a cardio-thoracic surgeon who retrained to become a commercial airline pilot – uses his expertise in medicine and aviation to explore the critical issue of managing human error. With further examples from business, politics, sport, technology, the civil service and other fields, Downey makes a powerful case that by following some clear guidelines any organisation can greatly reduce the incidence and impact of human error.   While acknowledging that in our fast-paced world getting things wrong is impossible to avoid completely, Downey offers a strategy based on current best practice that can make a massive difference. He concludes with an easy to use, aviation-style Safety Management System that can be hugely helpful in avoiding preventable catastrophes in organizations of all kinds.   An acknowledged expert in error management, Niall Downey advises governments, major corporations and the health industry on how to develop a systemic approach to controlling for human imperfection. Arguing that prevention is far preferable to denying responsibility after the fact, he gave an influential TEDx talk outlining how healthcare could use aviation's experience to reduce tragic outcomes and improve patient safety.   Oops! Why Things Go Wrong seeks to understand and navigate error. It shows how we have become particularly vulnerable to blunders due to new technologies and today’s pressurised work environments. But it also shows how we can fight back against our own inherent fallibility to live in a safer and less error-strewn world.  

In March 2004, the unprovoked ambush, killing and desecration of the bodies of American civilian security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, caused the National Command Authorities in Washington, DC. to demand that the newly arrived Marine Expeditionary Force there take action against the perpetrators and other insurgent forces. Planned Stability and Support Operations were cast aside as insurgent fighters dared the Marines to enter Fallujah. Marine infantrymen, tankers, helicopter crews, and amphibious vehicle drivers all pitched into high-intensity battles and firefights during the first fights of Fallujah in April 2004. Across the board cooperation and innovation marked these fighting Marines in combined arms fights that no one expected. Marines fought in the streets, conducted house-to-house searches, cleared buildings of enemy, and used tank main guns in direct support of urban environment operations. Helicopter crews supported operations on the ground with rockets and machine-gun fire, and Amtrac Marines transported forces to face enemy RPG and machine-gun fire. Marines from infantry squad members to a battalion commander were interviewed by Marine Corps field historians within days or weeks of the events at nearby combat outposts and camps. This book combines these interview notes and the words of the men themselves to create a unique narrative of Marines in this combat.

The High Ground draws on the author’s personal experiences as a combat leader to illustrate examples of successful and inspiring leadership in military organisations at all levels. Many of the essays contained in this volume focus on specific military personalities that portray effective leader behaviours in both peacetime and combat settings from the tactical to the strategic. Others describe key leadership characteristics and attributes of successful leaders, from small-unit level to the Pentagon.   Throughout the author provides specific and compelling leadership advice and suggestions to new soldiers, new lieutenants, staff officers and commanders. The author served over thirty years in the post-Vietnam Army, rising from private to colonel and serving in the invasion of Grenada and in Somalia, the US response to the Rwandan genocide, in Bosnia and Kosovo, in peace-keeping operations in the Sinai, and in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. He commanded a paratrooper company, battalion and brigade and served in the continental US, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Southwest Asia.   The High Ground describes his observations and interactions with military leaders at all levels, in battle and in garrison, to describe and portray military leader development and leader excellence in all its many and varied dimensions. Gripping and fast-paced, these leadership vignettes will carry the reader from peacetime into battle with an American Soldier.

Codenamed Operation Telic, the British component of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the largest gathering of British troops since the Second World War. Whilst the British public prepared for the worst as its soldiers were facing weapons of mass destruction, most servicemen and women were under no illusion that they were invading Iraq to rid the people of Saddam Hussein. While much has been said about WMD and Tony Blair’s government, not nearly enough has been heard from those men and women that took part in Operation Telic. Based upon dozens of veteran interviews, personal diaries and archival material, this book tells their stories, in their own words. From controlling the vast Allied Air Forces at 34,000 feet in an AWACS plane down to submariners beneath the warm waves of the Persian Gulf firing Tomahawk Cruise missiles, from the steaming hot turret of a Challenger Tank as it is peppered with RPGs, to being on your belly in a sandstorm disarming unexploded bombs – these veteran accounts cover the whole spectrum of experiences. Polarised public opinion and the post-war media portrayal of the war has detracted from what was achieved by these forces, when tasked to do so, often with insufficient or inadequate resources. These are their stories of courage, fortitude, pride, and brotherhood amidst the harsh realities of modern asymmetric warfare.

Not even old enough to drink, Corporal Savannah Cannon is a young enlisted United States Marine deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2010. As a tactical data networking specialist, she is sent away from everyone she knows and attached to a Regimental Combat Team where women are not allowed to repair communications. Her experiences over the next few months shed light on the unique and difficult positions women are placed in when supporting combat roles, while offering a raw look at the painful choices women must sometimes make.   Cannon finds herself in a combat zone, ostracised from family, friends, and even her fellow Marines as the men are told to avoid her. The connections she makes are born from trauma and desperation and the choices she makes will echo throughout many lives.   Corporal Cannon is not the story of a heroine; it is the hard-hitting account of just one of the flawed individuals who make up the United States' fighting forces. Mistakes in the battlefield can have dire consequences, personally and professionally. Reflecting on her time in service, the author weaves a story of past and present, and the healing that can come with admitting our mistakes and moving past them.

Robert Foley had only been in Vietnam for six months when he was promoted to captain and given command of a rifle company. In November 1966, Foley led his men on a mission to rescue another company that had been pinned down by Viet Cong forces. His leadership that day inspired his men and led to a successful operation – and the Medal of Honor. His actions in Vietnam were only a small portion of a long and varied career of service in the US Army, but Foley did not always seem marked for success. Coming from a blue-collar suburb of Boston, his years in West Point were marked by poor grades, injuries, and sickness. With a determination to lead by example and inspire trust among others, Foley served across the globe and rose through the ranks. He even returned to West Point as Commandant of Cadets, later retiring as a 3-star general and commander of Fifth Army.   "Standing Tall is a terrific book following a true American hero's journey during a stellar career in the U.S. Army. Lieutenant General (Retired) Bob Foley has written a must read for anyone interested in learning leadership lessons during the toughest situations imaginable." General Robert B. Brown, US Army Retired, former Commanding General, US Army Pacific, President & Chief Executive Officer, Association of the US Army

The 2022 edition of the Italian defence yearbook, Coccarde Tricolori. It is the only illustrated aeronautical yearbook dedicated to Italian military and government aviation. Each edition contains colour photos, articles and topical interviews on the air forces of: Air Force, Army, Navy, Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, Police, Fire Brigade, Forestry Corps, Civil Protection and Coast Guard. In addition, there is a 'Panorama' section dedicated to the main aeronautical events of the previous year, as well as a Fact Sheet section that lists and describes all the aircraft, departments and organizations of the Italian air forces, complete with data on budgets, personnel and flight hours, and an English summary. Coccarde Tricolori is an indispensable publication for professionals operating in this sector, as well as military history enthusiasts.   Topics covered within this edition include: the Russia-Ukraine war and the Italian role; 20 years of missions in Afghanistan; an exclusive interview with General Frigerio, Commander of the Italian AF Schools Command; the 16° Stormo Protezione delle Forze, a department of the Air Force which deals with the land defense of military aeronautical infrastructures and military airports; the NATO AGS Force at Sigonella; the Brigata corazzata 'Pinerolo; the 2° Rgt. Genio Pontieri, a military engineer regiment of the Italian Army; the 'Andrea Doria' destroyers class; the Gruppo Operativo Subacquei of COMSUBIN; the 2nd Mobile Carabinieri Brigade; the situation of the police Divisione Aerea, and much, much more!   Coccarde Tricolori provides a complete, illustrated almanac on the world of Italian defense and related indistries.

During the April 2004 fights throughout Iraq, most media attention was focused on the city of Fallujah. However, at the same time, out on the border with Syria in and around the city of Husaybah, fighting was equally intense.   This book tells the story of that period through many first-person accounts of intense fighting in the town of Husaybah, Iraq, during. It is based on interviews with Marines at all levels of the fight, from battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lopez, USMC, to infantrymen and squad leaders. When the Lima Company commander Captain Richard Gannon (Call sign Lima 6) was killed on entry to an enemy-held building, the company’s executive officer, Lieutenant Dominique Neal (Lima 5) informed his Marines that he had assumed command with the radio message, “Lima 5 is now Lima 6.” It also details the heroic actions of Corporal Jason Dunham who saved the Marines around him by covering an enemy grenade with his body.

Written by a proven leader and leadership expert, this book is an invaluable guide to anyone wanting to improve their leadership skills. Immersive, interactive, and memorable, it will empower you to raise your leadership awareness and help you on your journey to become a winning leader. Concise, focused chapters and an interactive format mean even the most time-strapped can benefit from John Antal's decades of experience.   If you are an emerging leader, this book will provide you with a mind-map and internal compass to maintain a bearing during your leadership journey. This mind-map will outline the contours of the leadership topography; the compass you create in your heart and your mind will provide direction; and your purpose will generate a destination.   If you are an experienced leader, this book is also for you. You will find in it reinforcement, confirmation, and a series of knowledge points to add to your existing cognitive map and compass and to help you develop other leaders at every level of skill and awareness.  

"The literature of ideas." When author Pamela Sargent used those words to describe science fiction in 1975, the genre had exploded into the literary mainstream. As a literature of ideas, science fiction has proven to be a powerful metaphor for the world around us, offering a rich tapestry of imagination through which to explore how we lead, how we think, and how we interact. To Boldly Go assembles more than thirty writers from around the world - experts in leadership and strategy, senior policy advisors and analysts, professional educators and innovators, experienced storytellers, and ground-level military leaders - to help us better understand ourselves through the lens of science fiction.   Each chapter of To Boldly Go draws out the lessons that we can learn from science fiction, drawing on classic examples of the genre in ways that are equally relatable and entertaining. A chapter on the burdens of leadership by Ghost Fleet author August Cole launches readers into cosmos with Captain Avatar aboard the space battleship Yamato. In another chapter, the climactic Battle of the Mutara Nebula from The Wrath of Khan weighs the advantages of experience over intelligence in the pursuit of strategy. What does inter-species conflict in science fiction tell us about our perspectives on social Darwinism? Whether using Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to explore the nuances of maritime strategy or The Expanse to better understand the threat poses by depleted natural resources, To Boldly Go provides thoughtful essays on relevant subjects that will appeal to business leaders, military professionals, and fans of science fiction alike.

The XIX edition of our Italian defence yearbook Coccarde Tricolori is now available.   Coccarde Tricolori 2021 includes:   -A Review of the most important facts, photos and news of the year 2020 in the air, sea, and land fields.   -22 in-depth illustrated articles on topic subjects. -Fact sheets on the Italian MoD and on all the Armed Forces and State Corps, with organizations, order of battle, data on personnel and balance. -An English Summary   Among the subjects of this edition: exclusive interview to the Italian Air Force Chief of Staff, and reports on the 1^ Brigata Aerea Operazioni Speciali, the development of the Typhoon program, the "Pozzuolo del Friuli" Cavalry Brigade, the program "Soldato Sicuro", the Italian Navy amphibious hub, The F-35 Sea Trials of the Cavour carrier, The Navy AV-8B Plus squadron, the Carabinieri Cacciatori in Sardinia, the new P-72B of the Guardia di Finanza, and much, much more!