BOOK REVIEW

ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO

BOOK REVIEW ON ‘THE FUTURE OF THE CITIZEN -SOLDIER FORCE BY JEFFEREY A . JACOBS , THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY .

1.   Readers watching global events  consequent to end of the cold war and familiar with changing trends in US security issues  will find this book very interesting , informative and valuable .  Jefferey Jacobs  raises a strong debate and gives well balanced arguments pertaining to active and reserve component force mix and future configurations .

2.   The author has been extremely successful in bringing out salient issues pertaining to the contemporary  debate that is possibly one of the uppermost issues pending serious consideration in the Pentagon  to-day . In so doing , the author has very diligently discussed the historical roots and origins of the militia . A vivid survey of National Guard and Army Reserve with a detailed description of their command and control structures gives an excellent insight into a system that has come to stay over a period of time and has been battle tested over and again . Of special interests are chapters devoted to the functioning of adjutants general and the relationship between the active and reserve components and recommendations for the future .

3.  Jefferey Jacobs has been successful in advocating his viewpoint in so far as direct control of training and mission ready assessment by the active components are   concerned. This aspect is all the more important at the present scenario when the US defence budgets are shrinking and US Armed Forces yet ascertaining their respective roles in the global uncertainties created as a result of an abrupt end of cold war. 

4.   The Book is organised in seven chapters . In all these chapters lie very useful inputs pertaining to context and references having a bearing on the larger issues confronting the reserve components . Here-in lies the objectivity of this book which in some respects tends to provoke and quite rightly so . A case in point refers to the ‘pull and push’ between the US Army active components and National Guard concerning recommended reduction in the latter’s force structure by a large number .

5.   Of special interests are chapters on ‘ Lessons Learned from' Desert Storm ’ and    ‘Through The Political Minefield  ’. Here the author has been able to amply illustrate the point that the most important military problem lies in devising means for preparing great armies of citizen soldiers to meet the emergencies and challenges of the modern war . In the former , the author has been candid by saying that if US Army can be guaranteed an opponent like Iraq in all future conflicts , then the successes of the reserve components can be accepted in whatever form they were achieved , their shortcomings rationalized away , and any reforms are , therefore , unnecessary . This is a hard statement and the US Military Pandits will have to do a lot of reading in between these lines . In the latter chapter , the author goes on to say that the emphasis lies in looking into the future , that is , 21 Century and not in 18 Century . The politics of reserves cannot overwhelm the national defence of the United States and that of the Western World , Jefferey Jacobs argues .

6.   This book must be read by all US Armed Forces Officers. Jefferey Jacobs has indeed done a marvelous job by writing this excellent piece of work which stimulates and is provocative of contemporary issues confronting the US Military .

1. 7.   The substantial amount of research undertaken by the author makes the book extremely educative . Though a serious reading , it is well worth the commitment . It  shall be a great resource to all those who are dealing with similar matters at   Headquarters., Staff and Ground levels .