In Defense of America's Navy

By Ned Hogan
November 1996
The Navy has been attacked and vilified over the past several years by many who claim special insight into the service’s workings and culture. The flood of revisionist criticism over ...

Men or Missies for Close Air Support?

By Major David C. Fuquea, U.S. Marine Corps
November 1996
Marine Corps Essay Contest WinnerAs the threat to and burden of manned platforms increases, precision-guided cruise missiles may provide the best means for delivering close air support. Truck- mounted ...

Will Sea Dragon Succeed?

By Major Paul L. Damren, U.S. Marine Corps
November 1996
First Honorable Mention Marine Corps Essay ContestIt will if Marine Corps Commandant General Charles Krulak can bring all Marines on board, to share his vision of change and ...

A Joint Heavy-Lift Helicopter?

By Lieutenant Commander M. K. Tribbie, U.S. Navy
November 1996
That’s a good question and it deserves a good answer. The most intelligent choice for a heavy-lift rotor craft replacement would be a joint-design airframe compatible with all the service ...

We Can Make Real "Starship Troopers"

By Captain Robert Smullen, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
November 1996
If the Marine Corps wants real Starship Troopers—warriors who can think and act independently, with self-discipline and the will to complete missions—it will have to restructure training and deployments to ...

Nobody Asked Me, But...No Women in Ground Combat

By Second Lieutenant Laura Boussy, U.S. Air Force
November 1996
"Decisions on what roles women should play in war must be based on military standards, not women's rights."—General Norman SchwarzkopfAs the U.S. Marine Corps moves into the 21st century ...

Meeting Minority Recruiting Quotas

By Captain Todd Buechs, U.S. Marine Corps
November 1996
In 1994, the Secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, directed that the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy will by the year 2000 increase minority representation in their officer ...

Aviation Intel Isn't Ops

By Staff Sergeant Jeffrey S. Cartwright, U.S. Marine Corps
November 1996
Last year, a unique concept was introduced to the AV-8B Harrier community: the weapons department. Modeled after the U.S. Air Force's weapons and tactics shop—found in many F-16 squadrons—this new ...

Strategic Bombing: Always a Myth

By Colonel Everest E. Riccioni, U.S. Air Force (Retired)
November 1996
Seventy-five years of praying at the altar of Giulio Douhet—the god of strategic bombing—has proved worthless. We assess bombing theory and practice analytically, and develop a new model for the ...

New FitRep System Doesn't Cut It

By Captain T. Q. Donaldson, U.S. Navy
November 1996
The new fitness report system was created to fight the corrosive effects of overinflation and peer ranking. Yet, judging from early returns, our new system--like the system it replaced--is being ...

Nonlethal Weapons: Can of Worms

By Lieutenant Colonel Martin Stanton, U.S. Army
November 1996
The U.S. armed forces must slow the nonlethal weapons bandwagon long enough to assess their real capabilities and implications—or risk being hamstrung by public expectations about what can be accomplished ...

We Must Support Independence

By Colonel William V. Kennedy, Army of the United States (Retired)
November 1996
If we do not recognize that Taiwan is or vital importance to Japan, we are someday going to be very surprised and outraged by the ultimate Japanese reaction to the ...

The Critics Were Right

By Jeffrey Record
November 1996
Some say it was the cynical mass media and the counterculture of the 1960s. Others point to shortcomings in civilian leadership—prominent among those leaders, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara ...

Will We Be Ready for Tomorrow?

By Captains George Galdorisi, U.S. Navy, and Kendall Curtis, U.S. Navy (Retired)
November 1996
The challenges of the future will include feeding the hungry, maintaining law and order, and building basic services. Radically different strategies will be required if the armed forces are to ...

Professional Notes

November 1996
Cross-Decking with the Russians Can WorkBy Thomas S. MomiyamaI propose nothing less than to crossdeck with the Russian Navy.Visualize the Russian naval air force’s premier carrier strike fighter Su-33, with ...

Book Reviews & Books of Interest

November 1996
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and SocietyLtCol. Dave Grossman, USA (Ret.). Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1996. 367 pp. Ind. Notes. $24.95 ($22.45) ...

The U.S. Navy: How Fast Is Fast?

By Norman Polmar
November 1996
The U.S. nuclear-propelled attack submarine Seawolf (SSN-21) underwent her initial sea trials this summer with great success. The Navy would not comment on whether the Seawolf attained her designed speed ...

Personal Journals: Every Leader Needs One

By Major Gary C. Lehmann, U.S. Marine Corps
November 1996
Of the principles of leadership, knowing yourself and seeking self-improvement come first. To accomplish this, leaders need a link to their past, to understand themselves better in the present and ...

World Naval Developments: We Should'a Used Western Union

By Norman Friedman, Author, The Naval Institute Guide To World Naval Weapons Systems
November 1996
The September missile strikes on Iraq exemplify the strengths—and weaknesses—of the U.S. post-Cold War position. The recent crisis began when Iraqi troops entered a U.S.- sponsored Kurdish safe zone in ...

Combat Fleets

By A. D. Baker III, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
November 1996
Commissioned this April, the Turkish Navy’s German-designed Sakarya is the second Type 209/1400-class submarine to be completed at Gölçük Naval Shipyard, Kocaeli. The first, the Preveze, was commissioned in 1994 ...

Lest We Forget

By Lieutenant Commander Rick Burgess, U.S. Navy (Retired)
November 1996
Marine Night Fighter Squadron 541 (VMF[N]-54I) was one of several Marine Corps night fighter squadrons that distinguished itself in combat in World War II’s Pacific theater. During their two-year existence ...

Comment and Discussion

November 1996
“Forward ... to the Beach”(See G.R. Worthington, p. 12, September 1996 Proceedings)Lieutenant Commander Bill Hamblet, U.S. Navy—Rear Admiral Worthington declares that combatant craft can replace the Navy’s “Death Stars,” but ...

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