Thomas E. Hennefer, PhD

New Book Available Now

2009-01-23T16:47:00.000-06:00

The Best Kind of War is a detailed account of how Professional Military Corporations (PMC's) or mercenary organizations have evolved into major international corporations. As force multipliers, PMC’s operate in a flexural state of reality. They rely on the continuity of the major world powers for a base of operation from which to function, but need the chaos of the third world as a source of income. PMC’s operate in an environment similar to Wall Street. They need the stability and consistency of mainstream business to maintain professional relationships so contracts can be procured and fees negotiated, but require the frenzy, speculation and quest for power that only a free market can provide. Without one, the other cannot exist.

The Best Kind of War, (if in fact they exist), are those that are quick, brutal and decisive. The Best Kind of War addresses an immediate threat that leaves no doubt who the enemy is, what their objectives are, and what it will take to defeat them. The best kind of war strikes the enemy with the brutality of overwhelming firepower thus leaving them weak, confused, disorganized and vulnerable. The Best Kind of War is decisive with no doubt about the outcome, or who the victor is.

This war won’t be like Vietnam, which was a war of ideology, or World War Two, which was a war of conquest and genocide. This war will be a long war against global terrorism and radical Islam that represent a new evolution in warfare and transcends the traditional. This is a war where conventional forces participate directly with civilians, and engage the enemy not on a battlefield with fixed fortifications and large standing armies, but one that encompasses an endless yet indefinable front. Historians have often described the last century as Pax Americana or the American Century. They may well define the next century as the age of professional Military Corporation.

This Date in History

2008-07-03T11:46:00.006-06:00

While traveling from the ETO (European Theater of Operation) after the surender of the German Army and while in-route to the Pacific to prepare for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, my Father In-law with the rest of his company stopped in a small rail depot literally on the edge of nowhere to rest and stretch their legs.

It was early on the morning of July 16th 1945, when the sky suddenly lit up like it was high noon. One of the nearby MP's told everyone that a near by ammunition dump had probably exploded. Since all of the men in Dads company were experienced veterans, they knew this was not true, and my father in-law made the unfortunate comment that they had all seen a lot of explosion in Europe and THAT was NOT an ammunition dump!

As a result of this comment, their departure from the railhead at Alamogordo New Mexico was delayed.

What Dad actually saw (and probably heard and felt) was the "Trinity Test", a blast that was seen for over 200 miles, and heard for almost 100. The test left a crater 2 miles wide, vaporized the steel testing tower, and turned an area approximately 1/2 mile in circumference into glass as the sand melted under the heat.

"Fat Man" (named after Winston Churchill for obvious reasons) was dropped on Nagasaki Japan on August 9, while "Little Boy" (initially named Tall Boy after Roosevelt, but changed after his death) was detonated on Hiroshima, Japan on Monday, August 6, 1945. Both at the executive order of then U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

The "Trinity Test" held on July 16, 1945, was the code name given to the first testing of an atomic bomb. Dr. Robert Oppenheimer team leader for the "Manhattan Project" chose to name the "Trinity Test", a name inspired by the poems of John Donne. The site chosen was a remote corner on the Alamagordo Bombing Range known as the "Jornada del Muerto," or "Journey of Death," 210 miles south of Los Alamos.

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer wasn't positive the test would be successful, General Leslie Groves overall military commander of the Manhattan Project wondered how he would explain to Congress about wasting a billion 1941 dollars of government money research on a weapon that didn't work, and Dr. Enrico Ferme, was taking bets that the bomb would ignite all of the oxygen in the atmosphere and kill everything and everyone in the state of New Mexico. Mean while, Captain Paul Tibbets was on the Pacific island of Tinian practicing bombing runs in his B-29 named "Enola Gay" after his mother.

The success of the Trinity test meant that both types of bombs -- the uranium design (Little Boy), untested but thought to be reliable, and the plutonium design "Fat Man", which had just been tested successfully -- were now available for use in the war against Japan. Within days, Japan offered to surrender, but not because the US had atomic bombs, but because cooler heads in the Japanese government finally prevailed, and Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989) was guaranteed the survival of his throne.

In retrospect, the fire bombings conducted on Tokyo and other major Japanese cities prior to the Nagasaki/Hiroshima event by General Curtis Emerson Lemay, killed far more Japanese civilians then both atomic bombs combined, but when considering the Japanese military and civilian mindset at the time of total dedication to the emperor and Bushido, and that conservative estimates put American causalities at 1 million wounded, 250,000 dead, and the Japanese causalities in the millions, if the islands of Japan were invaded (some estimated the war would last until 1969), the use of the bombs seems historically and militarily justified.

ANTI-AL QAEDA BASE ENVISIONED

2007-12-31T15:21:00.000-06:00

Exiled Egyptian cleric Ahmed Subhy Mansour, whose teachings have earned him dozens of death "fatwas" from fellow Muslim clerics, uses the English translation for al Qaeda — meaning "the base" — to describe a plan to defeat Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, who he says have seized control of Islam.

"Suppose you have here [in the United States] a base to counter al Qaeda in the war of ideas?" Sheik Mansour asked during a recent luncheon at The Washington Times. "You could convince a large number — millions of silent Muslims. We can convince them very easily that the real enemy is not the United States. It is not Israel. The real enemy is the dictators in the Muslim world and the culture of the Wahhabis and Muslim Brotherhood," he said, referring to the dominant arbiters of Islamic orthodoxy in Saudi Arabia and Egypt respectively.

Sheik Mansour is the founder of a small Egyptian sect that is neither Sunni nor Shi"ite. They call themselves Quranists because they believe that the Koran represents the single authentic scripture of Islam. They especially anger Sunni Muslims by rejecting the Hadith and Sunna, purported sayings and traditions of the prophet Muhammad. "Killing people just because they are not Muslims, they have a Hadith for this. To kill a Muslim like me after accusing him to be an 'apostate," they have a Hadith for this. To persecute the Jews, they have a Hadith for this. All this is garbage. It has nothing to do with Islam. It contradicts more than one-fourth of the Koranic verses..." (full story)

SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BUE

2007-12-31T14:53:00.000-06:00

Over the last 20 years, I have read some really great books on military science, and in all that time, friends keep asking me what books I would recommend. To assist them and visitors to this site, I have added a new link called SUGGESTED READING.

In this section, you will find some the books that I have read and have found to be fascinating. Some of the books are available in a traditional format while others are only available as ebooks. Hope you enjoy them.

EMBEDDED MEDIA: A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

2007-12-20T15:37:00.000-06:00

In the 60's, my family and I were sitting at the dinner table when a news reporter broadcasted tape of a suspected Viet Cong operative being executed in the street by Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam’s national police chief.

The image we saw that night, concluded showing the local chief of police executing a suspected Viet Cong captain in the head. At the time, showing an image of this type was unheard of; its impact forever changed our perspective of the war. If I recall correctly, the photo also went on to win a Pulitzer.

At that time, the only way for those on the home front to receive any news about the war was from our local radio and television stations, or local newspapers. In my city, it was the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram. Since it was the late 1960’s, in Long Beach California, that narrowed down to three television stations and a smattering of local AM/FM affiliates. The benefit of limiting the number of stations that could broadcast such images was that the military and government could (to some extent) control what the public saw and heard. Yes, there were reporters out in the field in Vietnam, but were usually assigned to a pool and not embedded directly with the troops, especially those on patrol or ambush missions.

With the availability of global personal communications technology including the Internet, bloggs, cell phone, etc., and the continued practice of embedding the media within individual units, the ability of anyone and everyone to publish their views or impressions on current or future conflicts, will be an issue military authorities will need to address openly; since clamping down on a technology that is so wide spread will be as effective as Pandora slamming the lid closed after the demons have already escaped.

While the "War on Terror" and the debate about its constitutionality continue, concerns about the system of American democracy and its morality are at the center of our national life. As the link between the government and the American public, the media are responsible for informing American citizens about Federal policies and practices, and the government's actions and inactions.

In this time of war, what role should the media play? Is there a conflict between legality, ethics, national security and defense? And what exactly does having freedom of the press really mean? (full story)

THIS IS ALI. HE WAS MY FRIEND

2007-12-17T11:08:00.000-06:00

I struggled with the decision to post this story. It's very personal and I still haven't worked through it all. I may just write this and save it so that I can get the thoughts out of my head.

Ali worked for the Facility Protection Service, a branch of the Iraqi Police that was responsible for securing fixed locations (ministries, infrastructure, hospitals, etc.). I met him while visiting the Crossed Swords monument here in the IZ.

A couple weeks before I went on R&R, Ali and I were talking and we discovered that both of our wives were pregnant and due to give birth at about the same time. We were both delighted and congratulated eachother making an agreement that when I returned we would exchange pictures of our kids. He asked if we had picked out a name and we had, but I didn't tell him because we were keeping it a secret until the birth. I would tell him my son's name when I brought him the picture. (full story)

I LIKE OLD BOOKS, especially ones that really deliver!

2007-12-16T17:40:00.000-06:00

Over the last 25 plus years, I have collected a nice library of 1st edition or out of print books and honestly, some were great reads and impossible to put down, while some were honestly just dogs. But not in this case.

THERE'S A WAR TO BE WON is not the type of book everyone appreciates due to its total length (623 pages including index), but if you want to read only one book on World War II and understand all of the issues, conflicts, mistakes that made the years 1933-1945 so amazing, then this would be the one to get.

The author, Geoffrey Perret a Harvard/Berkley graduate also served three years in the U.S. Army, and has received many awards for his historical works. The book is out of print (1991), but covers just about every aspect and theater of World War II, from the Munich Agreement, to the Japanese surrender on the desk of the USS Missouri; with amazing attention to historical detail.

Besides the expected information in a work of this scope, Perret digs deeper into many of the personal stories of the major players, and leaves the reader wondering how the allies ever achieved victory. I have to admit that even with 25+ years as a military historian, I found more than a few citations that were unexpectedly fresh and undiscovered. I have a first edition and admit that it took time to steel myself for a very long read, but was amazed how addictive the book became. I finished in about two weeks.

I tried to find it at my local book haunt, but failed, so I used Abebooks.com to locate another copy that was 1st edition, hardbound with a dust cover. The original 1991 list price was $30.00, but Abebooks.com has great prices and makes building a personal library easy and cost effective.

The ISBN number is 0394578317. A top of the line copy is about $58.60 (USD) for a near mint version, and $5.00 (USD) for one with more mileage.

NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

2007-12-07T16:00:00.000-06:00

With the New Year quickly approaching, I thought I would overhaul the old blogg and give it a new face.

I decided to limit the length of my postings to make them easier to read. I have also enabled your ability to post comments back on way that this site can be improved, or topics that you think are important.

I will also be adding links to my new book Hired Guns: How professional military corporations are reshaping the modern battlefield as well as some other published works as soon as they become available and will include sample pages and hopefully pod-casts. I also will be reviewing books on military topics and hope this helps anyone wanting to know more about this subject.

As always, this blog is focused on military issues and military history, and will continue to examine current issues whenever they become relevant.

Enjoy the new blogg and happy holidays.

WELL AIN'T THAT A SURPRISE

2007-11-25T15:21:00.000-06:00

Every now and then, I Google my name to see what pops up and was surprised to see a paper I had presented at a Ft. Leavenworth conference two years ago at the top of the page. My presentation focused on the use of professional military corporations as force multipliers. The Book is entitled: An Army at War: Change in the Mist of War Conflict and my contribution is on page 218.

The book is a collection of insightful research papers on the complex situation in Iraq, and was keynoted by Major General Robert Scales. During his keynote address, MG General Scales stated some interesting opinions on change in the military and how these changes will impact not only on how future wars are fought, but how technology will make war more inclusive to the general population. MG Scales stated in part that:

Change begins with ideas, and a vision–it's an imaging process; it's an out-of body experience. It requires a set of intellectual muscles different than you guys (he was talking about all of the captains and lieutenants in attendance) in the back of the room have been exercising all of your lives. It requires you to place yourself in a distance place–an altered state– and imagine what might be rather than what just happened. It's the quintessential embodiment of the difference between direct and indirect leadership...

One of the key points of MG Scales address was that we are currently involved in a war not really too different from those fought in the past, but one with enough of a difference to make this war a completely new experience not only in the use of technology but also of wide audience participation.

As an example, one night as I was emailing a Marine buddy stationed in Iraq, I realized how times had changed. During the 60's, it took about two weeks for a letter to travel between California and Vietnam. Now I can IM (instant message) friends in Iraq and Afghanistan in semi-real time and read not only their emails but actually experience their world via pod-casts and video blogs as they cross the wire on their way to work. The challenge for all everyone in this new era of instant communication, is to balance what is really news, what is expedient news, and basically how to tell the difference.

Recently while watching the History Channel presentation Band of Bloggers, I saw a soldier get hit by a sniper and drop to the ground. My first impression was "Crap! I just saw a soldier get dropped by a sniper in real time!" To my amazement, in a moment or two, the soldier got back up, and after inspecting some minor damage to his body armor, shouted out indignantly to the unseen sniper as if his new suit had been ruined by a neighbors dog.

It was both amazing and fascinating to watch this event unfold, unless you happened to be that soldiers mother, daughter, sweetheart or wife.

Now, I'm not going to lament about if or should soldiers blog (that genie is definitely out of that box), but this war will be interesting because for the first time in history, every American will literally have a front row seat to a war that will be the defining historical moment for the next 100 years; but without an intermission.