Customer Reviews

Tomorrow's Soldier:: The Warriors, Weapons, And Tactics That Will Win America's Wars In The Twenty-First Century

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I thought Tomorrow's Soldier presented a well-researched and comprehensive account of an important subject that is unfortunately little understood by even most well-informed people today. David Alexander showed a detailed grasp of one of the most complex subjects in the world: global weaponry, military doctrine and tactics and their relationship to politics and history. The book tied all of these together into a narrative that kept me interested at the same time it kept me informed. As an educator, I have used the book in one of the courses I teach and have recommended the book to several of my colleagues. I think it's a book that belongs on everyone's bookshelf, and is especially relevant as we enter the 21st century. I take exception to the reader from Germany who also reviewed the book. Apart from its gratuitously nasty tone, the reviewer failed to cite reasons to back up his criticisms. He wrote that the chapter on flashpoints "shows a limited understanding of international politics and relations" but failed to state why this was. My own opinion of this chapter is that it was very well handled, as was the rest of the book. Tomorrow's Soldier is a nonfiction title that is informative and entertaining. Bravo, Mr. Alexander! You've done a great job!

"You are tomorrow's soldier. You will play your part in the next major war America will wage." From these opening lines of Tomorrow's Soldier, David Alexander's excellent book on 21st century warfare, the author builds on this theme in a series of eight carefully researched and well-written chapters on combat in the combined arms battlespace of near-future conflicts.

Sometimes in clear and concise descriptions of complex weapons systems such as stealth aircraft, main battle tanks and nuclear submarines, at other times in fast-paced narrative that reads like the best fiction, Alexander shows how the warfighters of tomorrow will interact with the weaponry, battlefield communications, and other combatants on the killing grounds of the new century.

"Probably it will be a regional war, one involving an aggressor state challenging the strategic interests of America and her global allies," the author writes. "Also probable is that it will be another coalition war, similar to Desert Storm. Similar ... but in many ways very different." Alexander predicts, for example, that unlike the Gulf War, tomorrow's war might involve sizable numbers of friendly casualties and the disappearance of the "home front." "The front lines of tomorrow's war could expand to include the continental U.S.," Alexander writes, "and everyone could become a combatant" to some extent. By this he explains that while the next war might be regional in theater, it could be global in scope, because rogue states now have access to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and have demonstrated a willingness to use terrorism to carry the fight far from the immediate war zone.

The book's eight chapters offer a description of high-technology as applied to the combined arms battlefield written in plain language that is easily understandable by any reader, and glossaries of military terms and acronyms have been included to familiarize those unacquainted with the finer points of that Washington Beltway language called "Pentagonese."

Chapter one, War: Past, Present and Future, is a concise description of the history of modern warfare. Chapter two, Flashpoints to Future War, goes into likely places where war may break out (note: since the book's appearance, Alexander's predictions concerning fighting in the Balkans and in the Caucasus have become reality). Chapter three, Warzones and Weaponry 2010, offers an overview of major combat systems from the "digitized G.I." to robotic reconnaissance aircraft. Chapter four, Synthetic Battlespace, deals with virtual reality in combat. Chapter five, Land Warfighting 2010, discusses future land battle, including some excellent writing on hypertanks and mechanized systems. Chapter six, Tacair 2010, is a comprehensive look at high-tech combat aviation systems, including the Joint Strike Fighter, the F117A Nighthawk and the B-2 Spirit bomber. Chapter seven, From the Sea, is an informative chapter on surface and undersea naval warfare. The final chapter, War Beyond Tomorrow, which deals with such esoteric subjects as weapons of mass destruction, information warfare, robotic assault systems and war in space, concludes the book.

As everyone who follows current events knows, a revolution in military technology has taken place. This exceptional book takes you into the secret world of military warplanners, counter-terrorist specialists and high-technology weapons labs to make clear exactly what the "digital" in digital warfare really means, and what tomorrow's war could mean to you.

--Mike Dockweiler, Military Systems Analyst and Pentagon Consultant

I read this book here in Brazil.Even being an (unemployed) agronomist, I love to read books about military affairs.This book is the best about this subject, I ever read until today.
Being writen in 1997, this book had a prophecy writen on page 5:
"For the first time in history the American "home front" will become highly vulnerable and will become the target of enemy attack.This attack will materialize in many forms.Terrorists will almost certainly target American cities, launching sudden, unexpected strikes against the dense target population they offer".A great prophecy.
A fault of this book is his paper.A paper of bad quality.A paper for newspaper, not for books.At second this book focus in Comanche helicopter and other military sistems , who were cut , by american military planners some years ago.

showing you what may be in the future. It deals with new aircraft designs, robots and drones, new armor, ships, computer-linked information networks and the war-in-space. But while interesting, I think it does not deal with the real issue, which is America's willingness, or lack of it, to get down and dirty in dealing with the many flashpoints and trouble spots in the world, either with brand-new weapons or old fashion ones.

This seems to be almost entirely based on American research and American armed forces Joint Vision 2020 statements. As such it's useful for but also limited to the official American view. As a result there's at best limited discussion of
- longterm operations
- requirements imposed by operations amid a civilian population, possibly ours or allied civilians, with lots of media attention probable and likely no war declared
- what actual training, logistics, and joint command structures are needed, ie everything needed to actually use the weapons described
- defeating opponents who may not be states or who have systems as much or more advanced
or anything else not currently focused on by the JV 2020 statements.

I found the flashpoint background an inadequately-informed U.S.-centric view. Calling Iran part of the Arab world would infuriate Iranians and Arabs alike. Given a choice, both North and South Koreans would -much- rather chart their own path since historically both China and Japan have treated Korea very badly. I could go on but that's hopefully enough.

Sorry, but I found this to be gee-whiz tech with minimal analysis and context. It's only somewhat useful for noting some more conventional American technologies.

First of all, this book is NOT well written. Sentences such as the following abound throughout the text: "In the next chapter we will examine some of the best guesstimates about the flashpoints that may ignite the tinderbox of geopolitics into the bonfire of Mars, and thereby bring about tomorrow's war." Give me a break. Second, the politics in the chapters about "flashpoints" shows a limited understanding of international politics and relations. Third, if you are looking for a quick way to find out about some of the technological advances which are changing warfare, and don't already know much about it, then this book is useful as a primer. You're better off reading Jane's Defence Weekly and Defense News, however.

I found this book interesting and well written, it is made for the people who do dont know all there is fore the military.This book kept me interested and had me clinging for the next chapter