The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century | USMC, Colonel Thomas X. Hammes

The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century | USMC, Colonel Thomas X. Hammes | Essential

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The Sling and the ...

	The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century USMC, Colonel Thomas X. Hammes Zenith Press, 2006 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 38 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great book

This is by far the best book on insurgent, Maoist, guerrilla warfare that I have ever read.
This book should be a part of any military professional reading program.

Essential

One can hardly understand the war against terror and the conflict in Iraq without understanding the ideas articulated by Col. Hammes. An essential read.

A breath of fresh air

If you're both confused and annoyed by the endless cacophony since September 11, 2001 by politicians, pundits, columnists, and tv and radio talk show hosts proclaiming to be experts on modern warfare, then this book will come as a real relief. This is a level-headed, unbiased, rational, in-depth, and intellectual tour de force that takes a good hard look at the reality of modern warfare. Unlike so many other commentators on the subject who are so blinded by ideology that they are incapable of making an honest examination, Colonel Hammes sweeps all that aside and delivers a highly credible assessment of the nature of the enemies we face today, why our current military structure is incapable of dealing with it adequately, and what we need to do to correct that situation. I never once got the impression that he was rooting for any particular political party, philosophy, or ideology. Instead, he comes across as truly detached from political debates and concerned solely with doing what is necessary to prepare the United States to deal with the enemies of today and tomorrow.

Hammes begins with a solid (though perhaps too brief) examination of the history of fourth generation warfare (4GW), which I found to be highly enlightening. Not being a military history scholar myself, I learned a lot from that part of the book alone. That history lesson is a very good lead-in for his assessment of the current state of threats around the world, and then finally a discussion of what steps we must take to deal with those threats. What he calls for is nothing short of a revolution in the way our military is structured and the way it operates, from the lowest levels all the way up to the Dept. of Defense and indeed the entire federal government. It's not a simple solution by any means, but that's what makes Hammes' assessment even more credible. In an age when we are constantly inundated with simple-minded "solutions" to complex problems, this book, while quite sobering, is refreshing to read.

I did feel like Hammes probably goes a bit beyond his area of expertise toward the end of the book when he discusses several topics outside the realm of military affairs, but overall this is a solid performance that everyone would benefit from reading.

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sling and the stone

Very informative book by a former USMC officer. Provides insight into long term insurgent plans in the middle east, and reasons for the neccessity of continued persistence. Begins with a short review of the evolution of modern warfare into forth generation war, and the adaptation of 4GW in the twentieth century by various revolutionary groups. Also gives a brief but very good history of the Jewish and Palestinian conflict. If you think its time to just get out of the middle east this book might change your way of thinking. The book gets a little boggy toward the end, but overall an excellent read.

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The 4th Generation of Warfare

Colonel Hammes' book is about the 4th generation of warfare (4GW). 4GW differs from the other 3 in that it intends to defeat the enemies' will to fight (hearts and minds) rather than his means to fight (armies, communication and industry). Hammes provides numerous examples of conflicts where 4GW has been used around the globe with varying degrees of success. Where the book loses some focus is in detailing changes necessary to the government and military of the United States to implement 4GW. Very little attention is given to either the Navy or Air Force. The book also does not try to show how a 4GW strategy could have been used effectively by the United States in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq or even if we would have become involved in these conflicts if we knew they would take decades to resolve. Overall the book provides an excellent primer on how superpowers can be defeated and the future of war in general.

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reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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