Presented with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's "transformation" challenge, both the United States Air Force and United States Army devised organizational structures to meet the demand for fast reaction expeditionary forces. One of the Air...
From the conclusion of the Third Afghan War (1919) to India’s Independence (1947), Great Britain governed the wild, mountainous territory of the North-West Frontier that borders Afghanistan. This control used a variety of mature political and...
Recent military interventions in Haiti, Somalia, Iraq, and elsewhere confirm the axiom that it is possible to win every battle and yet still manage to lose a war. Although the United States has developed a method of warfare that can produce...
Dr. Richard Gatling invented the world’s first practical machine gun in 1862. Between that weapon and subsequent improved designs, the world’s armies had roughly 50 years to adopt the machine gun and perfect its employment before it helped...
In 2001, the Belgian Defense Force (BDF) significantly adapted its structure and operational engagements to better meet the contemporary organizational challenges. In this thesis, recent studies of organizational leadership are combined with the...
The careers of the senior Army officers at the end of the nineteenth century were highlighted by extreme self-sacrifice and devotion to duty and country, but history has largely forgotten these patriots. One of these officers was Brigadier General...
Future war concepts envisage dispersed formations roaming deep into enemy territory to achieve a disproportionate effect on their enemy. The effect they seek to achieve is not simply attritional, but the shattering of an enemy's cohesion. Many of...
This study investigates Major General Daniel Harvey Hill's performance during the Chattanooga campaign, focusing specifically on the Battle of Chickamauga. Hill's early life and performance in the Army of Northern Virginia are evaluated for...
Asymmetric threats counter an adversary’s strengths by focusing on its weaknesses. In the post-Cold War world asymmetric threats to U.S. national security are far more likely than they were just a decade ago. This paper considers asymmetric...
The US government currently espouses a strategy of peacetime engagement with the PRC. Both nations declare that peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region are in their national interest. Developing areas where the PRC can play a constructive,...
The weaponization of space is a long debated topic. So far, space-based assets have not been targeted, although the technology exists to permit this kind of attack. The central research question is: Should the U.S. develop and employ space-based...
As the military scrutinizes and downsizes training budgets, the number of simulations for training, modeling, research, and education in the U.S. military continues to expand. The military endeavors to integrate these simulations into the military...
Mission, threat and capabilities adaptations in the twenty-first century continue to change the tasks assigned to U.S. Army Infantry units. Traditional infantry tactical training does not prepare U.S. infantry forces for many of the tasks required...
The thesis of this research is that the U.S. Army aviation engineer units played a crucial role in the success of General Douglas MacArthur's island hopping campaign in the Southwest Pacific Theater at the tactical, operational, and strategic...
Helmuth von Moltke’s alleged statement the U.S. Civil War was an affair in which two armed mobs chased each other around the country and from which no lessons could be learned underlines a grave misjudgment of this war in contemporary Germany....
As global urbanization increases, the likelihood of United States (US) military participation in combat operations in urban areas also grows proportionally. This study examines the mission analysis step of the military decision-making process...
The organization charged with producing three quarters of the Army's officer corps has failed to meet requirements for thirteen years running. In 1989, the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) produced over 8,000 new lieutenants, today it can't...
This study examines the intelligence requirements and collection methods recommended in support of operations other than war (OOTW). An examination of four case study examples (Operation Just Cause, Operation Restore Hope, Operation Uphold...
This study addresses how the Army Ground Forces (AGF) developed and incorporated organic light aviation into the force structure during World War II. The work includes a brief background on the reasons the AGF developed this capability and how it...
This research focuses on how the Army utilizes leadership doctrine to prepare midgrade officers for innovative and adaptive organizational leadership required for the Army After Next. The research evaluates Army leadership doctrine and follows the...