Customer Reviews

Firepower in Limited War: Revised Edition

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Major General Bob Scales may well be the Army's brightest light and this generation's successor to General Don Starry and Dan Morelli (who inspired the Toffler's book on War and Anti-War). First published by the National Defense University Press in 1990, this book reflects deeply on the limitations of firepower in limited war situations, and the conclusion is a telling indictment of our national intelligence community and our joint military intelligence community, neither of which is willing to break out of their little boxes to find a proper response to this statement: "The common theme in all five case studies presented here is the recurring inability of the side with the firepower advantage to find the enemy with sufficient timeliness and accuracy to exploit that advantage fully and efficiently."

MGen. Scales provides the world with a fascinating study of man's recent relationship to technology. I enjoyed the book and wrote many things in the margins. MGen. Scales shows how firepower was used and countered in the French and U.S. tials in Viet Nam, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, during British actions on the Flaklands and through U.S. Army/Air Force combined operations against Iraq. Not dry or technical, this book weaves the moral aspect of war with the effects of artillery, naval and air-delivered munitions in a manner which would be clear to both the civilian and military professional. A great book for those involved in America's national and military strategy or foreign policy, for it illustrates what firepower has and hasn't been recently able to contribute to the foreign policies of France, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the U.S. Invaluable to those seeking to understand why technology rarely triumphs over human will on the battlefield. I also recommend it to the casual reader interested in modern military history--MGen Scales fills his tactical discussions with stories of human interest from all sides of these conflicts. His discussion on Iraq, for instance, opens with a dramatic story from an Iraqi artillery leader about his experience at the receiving end of American firepower. My only disappointment is that his discussion of the Iraq war focuses on the U.S. Army and Air Force and to a point that almost discredits the contributions of the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy and the Coalition. Nonetheless, a worthwhile expenditure and a fine book to keep on the shelf.

Readers with the slightest interest of firepower in a non-conventional warfare will find this penetrating analysis the most incisive treatment available, anywhere.