The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard [Hardcover]

James Burton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993

From the late 1960s through the mid-1980s, a small band of military activists waged war against corruption in the Pentagon, challenging a system they believed squandered the public's money and trust. This book examines that movement and its proponents and describes how the system responded to their criticisms and efforts to change accepted practices and entrenched ways of thinking.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former Air Force colonel Burton spent 14 years as a Pentagon specialist in weapons acquisition and testing before his retirement in 1986. In this angry, controversial, convincing brief, he testifies that the process of selecting and purchasing weapons for our armed forces is "ethically and morally corrupt from top to bottom," with few checks and balances. The most scathing and damning portions of the expose illustrate how Pentagon procurement officers routinely give more consideration to satisfying defense contractors than to the safety of the troops who will use a given weapon on the field. Burton recalls the fuss he raised over the Bradley Fighting Vehicle's vulnerability to anti-armor weapons, and though (reluctantly made) design changes improved the safety of the vehicle, Burton suffered both personally and professionally for his boat-rocking, as he shows here. Ultimately, he is not optimistic: the flaws in weapons procurement are probably permanent, Burton concludes, since the reforms he and others forced were only temporary. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press; 1st edition (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557500819
• ISBN-13: 978-1557500816
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,475,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Right is Might!, March 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard (Hardcover)

I read this book after seeing the HBO black comedy film The Pentagon Wars. It is all true!! I was part of the U. S. Army Chemical Research Development Engineering Center at Edgewood Arsonal back in the late 1980's. I assisted with the testing of the xm-22, xm-21, cadnet, nbc recon. vehicle (a m-113 that got its butt kicked by the then west german fuchs vehicle) and other systems. There were times that you just had to shake your head at the way the officers and civilians conducted some of the tests. The Col is right on the money.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference, June 20, 2004

By 

Jon - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard (Hardcover)

A very interesting book that not only details certain aspects of the defense procurement culture, but also goes into the politics of some of the different services. While the focus is primarily on the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, there are other great bits of information (such as the creation of the F-16) and amusing stories (any involving the "Blitzfighter" aircraft).
The DOD politics that the author experiences are fascinating, and remain relevant today. One example is the discussion of the A-10, its amazing record in the 1991 Gulf War, and how the Air Force really hates it and the close air support role it plays (today the Air Force is moving towards replacing the A-10 with higher flying, faster planes for the close air support missions).
Overall this book is an important read for anyone interested not only in defense procurement, but DOD politics and modern warfare as well. A good book to have as a reference.

18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Old Guard still wants our men to ride in deathtraps!, October 27, 2002

By 

Sam Damon Jr. (Fort Bragg, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard (Hardcover)

The "Old Guard" of out-of-touch and can't-handle-the-truth milicrats still run the Pentagon--even after the 9/11 attacks clearly showed a "house-cleaning" is in order to meet the challenges of 21st Century asymmetric warfare by cunning enemies. Colonel Burton's book outlines how 1980s reformers sought to get reliable, safe and affordable weapons into U.S. military service and how these common sense efforts are opposed by the egotists with other agendas. The point is that the U.S. military culture BREEDS self-seeking, egotistical, vain milicrats not common sense warriors with values of honor and troop welfare and mission accomplishment.

The sad thing is that the 1980s military reformers are now gone and not on duty to stop the current round of Pentagon losers like the lav3stryker, V-22, AAAV and F-22 all stricken with the disease of Tofflerian gadgets while ignoring sound physical robustness, reliability and combat effectiveness at their own level. The current generals runnng DoD have simply transplanted their bureaucratic pass-the-buck mentality to the foot Soldier and pilot by hoping a computer "mouse-click" will deliver some magic firepower to solve the battlefield problem instead of empowering lower ranks to fight and win at their own level.

What makes this book so haunting is that its a true story that is repeating itself before our very eyes with the Army's thin-skinned, air-filled rubber-tired LAV-3 Stryker armored car boondoggle that will get our men killed in combat. The book shows the exact same PR tactics and lying "spin" the Army and DoD use to put people second and their programs/promotions first. The depiction of how the Army will cheat on tests to masquerade that "all is well" with a program is common as seen by the recent efforts to deceive the public by flying overweight lav3strykers a short distance by C-130 aircraft with less fuel inside to compensate--exactly how in the Bradley's fuel tanks were filled just with the minimum fuel to drive in front of the audience grandstands and to the aim point for the test anti-tank weapon to hit it.

The tragedy is that after 2 decades, the Army today is rushing the lav3stryker deathtrap into production without ANY live-fire testing against fully fueled and ammo loaded vehicles fired at by RPGs or 14.5mm heavy machine guns thanks to a loophole in DoD procurement. Too bad Colonel Burton wasn't on duty now in the Pentagon. When they make the movie sequel to this book, "Pentagon Wars II: the lav3stryker" it looks like the ending will not be a happy one with a better vehicle (upgraded M113A3 Gavins) going into service. The horror of hundreds of dead American Soldiers Colonel Burton wanted to prevent will be our "wake-up call".

If we ignored the film and Col Burton's book its based on, what makes us think the Pentagon Old Guard will change after needless deaths?