What We Need: Extravagance and Shortages in America's Military - Hardcover

Ask any British soldier to name the best equipped army in the world and it s an odds-on bet every one would plumb for the USA. Not according to the author, who asks why his country spends vast amounts of money on technological marvels that are never, or little, used while its soldiers carry an often unreliable, small-calibre rifle more than 40 years old . Thought-provoking. (Zenith Press, 254pp hardback, £18.99.) --Soldier Magazine

Barrett Tillman is best known as an historian (Clash of the Carriers and LeMay) but in What We Need he proves a keen if acerbic commentator on current events. In analyzing military procurement, Tillman arrives at a fundamental conclusion: the US defense community spends vastly more on politically popular programs rather than what the troops in contact with the enemy actually need. He observes that for the cost of one stealth fighter canopy, we could purchase far more useful items including radios, batteries, and body armor--items often lacking in the front lines. Perhaps the most disappointing revelation is that the armed forces (especially the Army) continue sending poorly trained troops to combat zones. Based on personal observation, Tillman describes soldiers who literally cannot shoot to save their lives. The fact that such lapses ever occurred is bad enough: the fact that they continue six years into the global war on terror is unforgivable. The Army is jealous of the numerous multi-billion dollar Air Force & Navy programs. The outlook is bleak. The services all want to spend on big ticket items that advance program managers' careers & set them up with cushy double dip jobs once out of uniform. The DoD doesn't do its job in restraining these impulses & enforcing a rational acquisition strategy based on our real defense needs (although to Rumsfeld's credit, he did kill the Army's desired new howitzer under transformation rationale). Finally, Congress always has its own agendas that usually no more than accidentally coincide with what's in our national best interest. Pick up What We Need at your own risk. It is not happy reading, but it's an important message that should be widely disseminated. --Check Six

As I write this review from Iraq during my 15th month of deployment, it is hard not get p*****d off while reading Mr. Tillman's book. It is right on the money and the unbelievable fact of the matter is that the problems in the military caused by the civilian leadership (from congress on up) are actually worse than the book portrays! I had the same 'privilege'; of being';trained'; at Ft. Sill for this deployment as one of the other testimonial troops. The training is canned cookie cutter stuff whose only goal is to release the Army of any liability rather than teaching Joe how to soldier. The book is excellent and has many entertaining facts and stories and snippets of history that are all there to prove his point that the United States will end up being the country that eventually defeats the United States military. MAJ Pete Derouin, Balad, Iraq. --Pete Derouin Dustdevil Six