Make Your Bed: Little Things that can Change Your Life . . . and maybe the world
Admiral William McRaven, U.S. Navy (Ret.). New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2017. 130 pp.
Reviewed by General Anthony Zinni, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)
I met Navy Admiral William H. McRaven for the first time when he was the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at McDill Air Force base in Tampa. I was invited to McDill by General James Mattis, then the commander of U.S. Central Command, to discuss operations and strategy in the Middle East. After a day of briefs and discussions, General Mattis invited me to dinner to continue our talks and included Admiral McRaven. As the three of us enjoyed the dinner and engaged in discussion, I became increasingly impressed with Admiral McRaven’s depth of understanding of the issues and his sensible strategic thinking on the conduct of future operations in the region.
As I read Admiral McRaven’s book, Make Your Bed: Little Thing That Can Change Your Life . . . and Maybe the World, I was struck by the power in its simplicity. The brilliant four-star admiral I listened to during dinner that evening described the things and experiences that shaped his life in ways that a private or seaman could easily understand and relate to.
It is clear that Admiral McRaven has never lost sight of what shaped his values and successful life. The character that was built through his life as a SEAL—and the demands of a career that began with the tough selection, training, and discipline—shines through in the life lessons he offers in the book. His writing caused me to reflect on how much a person’s beliefs, values, and character are shaped at an early age, especially if he or she is exposed to trying experiences that are forever ingrained in the soul. Truly, Admiral McRaven kept those valuable lessons close to his heart and they influenced him throughout his remarkable military career.
Make Your Bed is clearly and directly written and should be required reading for every young man or woman starting out life, whether it is in the military or some other endeavor. This is a book you give to your son or daughter as they begin to face life’s challenges. It is about responsibility, teamwork, courage, determination, commitment, strength, and caring.
I also believe it is worthwhile reading for those of us well along in life, or a career, to serve as a self check to remind ourselves of who we are and on what life lessons we draw. Admiral McRaven’s example can spur us to think about how we might capture those things and experiences that shaped our code for living a meaningful life.
General Zinni was commissioned an infantry second lieutenant in 1965. His operational experiences include two tours in Vietnam. He retired from the military in 2000 after commanding the U.S. Central Command.
Going Deep: John P. Holland and the Invention of the Attack Submarine
Lawrence Goldstone. New York: Pegasus Books, 2017. 378 pp. Illus. Bibliog. Notes. Index. $27.95.
Reviewed by Rear Admiral William J. Holland Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Mr. Goldstone has written the “Book of Genesis” record of submarines in which John Holland is not Adam but certainly plays the part of Moses. For the most part, descriptions are clear enough for an uninformed reader, while being meaningful for the knowledgeable. The result is an intriguing story not just of the technical advances in the submarine—from Holland’s first practical boat, the Fenian Ram in 1883, to his last, the second class of boat built for the U.S. Navy, the USS Octopus (SS-9), commissioned in 1905—but also of the machinations of Holland, his major competitor, Simon Lake, and the industrialists who backed them. While tracing developments and barriers in the creation of the first true submarines, the author spends a significant amount of his narrative on the economic and political activities of Holland’s backers and nemeses. Modern readers may be shocked at the chicanery, innuendo, intimidation, blatant falsehood, bribery, and collusion that were practiced by most—though never by Holland.
In 1578, William Bourne wrote about his imagined submersible, “the side of the ship . . . must be made so tight and close . . . that no water may soak through,” thus establishing the basic requirement for a submarine. Attempts through the next two centuries are briefly described until the American Revolution, when Bushnell’s Turtle seems to have been the first attempt to use a submersible to attack another ship. Goldstone nicely depicts the fits and starts of international technological ferment that marked the 19th century. Robert Fulton’s transformation from accomplished portrait painter through innovative canal engineer to submarine inventor, while seeming improbable, was not unique. In submarines, inventors explored cylindrical shapes, controlled buoyancy, longitudinal and lateral stability, and horizontal control surfaces, none successfully.
A self-taught engineer, Holland created the necessary attributes of a modern submarine almost from whole cloth. A mechanical genius, obstinate inventor, and naive businessman, at every stage he faced a lack of money. As such, he was easy prey for the machinations of his earliest backer, Elihu B. “E. B.” Frost, who later swallowed the Holland Torpedo Boat Company lock, stock, and patents, regurgitating it as the Electric Boat Corporation. Through the narrative familiar names appear, to be repeated in those of present-day submarine tenders such as Lake, Cable, Sperry, and Land; not all were of equal importance in the development of the boats, and in the author’s view several could not be described as “able.”
A number of observations will sound familiar to those involved in developments of new or unusual technologies. These included delays by a Secretary of the Navy reluctant to authorize expenditures for an invention he did not understand, a conservative naval hierarchy loath to divert money from battleships to “gadgets,” and technical organizations mired in their own preconceptions and regulations. Among the requirements the Navy bureaus imposed were steam propulsion, twin propellers, and vertical propellers.
The author observes at one point: “The naval experts assigned to oversee production of the boat to be called the Plunger and ensure adherence to the agreed upon specifications were notably inexpert—like most naval officers they had no practical experience in submarine design—and as so often is the case with those who lack knowledge, were that much more inflexible in their ignorance.” Goldstone’s laconic report of Holland’s and Frost’s actions at this point will be familiar to those involved in building a new type of ship: “There was no choice but to move forward with the navy’s specifications and hope a workable boat could be salvaged.” Eventually abandoning Plunger, Holland shifted to building a submarine of his own design, a successful precursor of those that would follow. The 1900 congressional hearings on submarines featuring Holland as the descriptor and Admiral George Dewey as the enthusiastic endorser led to the purchase of Holland’s prototype, commissioned on 12 October 1900.
With the commissioning of the USS Holland (SS-1), the invention phase was nearing an end and innovation began taking its place. Isaac Rice, not a name familiar to submariners, brought investment and diversification and with Frost consolidated their monopoly of submarine construction and expertise, as well as developing the industries necessary to support the submarine, e.g., lead acid batteries (Exide) and small electric motors (Electro-dynamic). Goldstone’s discussion of these developments is brief but pointed. Anyone curious about “how did we get here” in submarines will find this work instructive.
Admiral Holland served most of his active duty in submarines and submarine-related assignments. He is not related to John Philip Holland.
Twilight Warriors: The Soldiers, Spies, and Special Agents Who Are Revolutionizing the American Way of War
James Kitfield. Basic Books, 2016. 416 pp. Bibliographic essay. $27.99.
Reviewed by J. Furman Daniel III
The most fundamental debate among military scholars and practitioners regards the true nature of war. Some argue that new technologies, tactics, and a constantly evolving enemy make modern conflicts nearly unrecognizable from those of previous generations. Others maintain that war is an enduring element of the human experience and remains fundamentally unchanged since ancient times. In his new book, Twilight Warriors: The Soldiers, Spies, and Special Agents Who Are Revolutionizing the American Way of War, journalist James Kitfield crafts a tale of both radical change and enduring continuity as he examines America’s wars and warriors in the post-9/11 era.
The core of Kitfield’s argument is that war is a profoundly human endeavor. Despite changing technology, evolving enemies, and shifting battlefields, human beings still pay the greatest costs for fighting wars and exercise critical agency in shaping war’s evolution.
To this end, Kitfield reprises the formula that he successfully employed in his 1995 book, Prodigal Soldiers: How a Generation of Officers Born of Vietnam Revolutionized the American Style of War. In that work, Kitfield examines the cadre of professional officers who experienced U.S. failures in Vietnam as junior officers but chose to remain in uniform to rebuild the force, leading it to an unprecedented victory in Operation Desert Storm. The Prodigal Soldiers—including future generals Powell, Schwarzkopf, McCaffrey, Horner, and others—remained, relying on their values, intellect, and commitment to their nation to change how the military fought. In the process, this generation formed a true professional brotherhood.
Kitfield’s sequel follows a similar brotherhood of professionals who entered the military and intelligence communities in the decades prior to 9/11. This brotherhood was forced to adapt its technological, tactical, and strategic thinking to equally radical changes. Much like their predecessors, the Twilight Warriors—including Michael Flynn, David Petraeus, Stanley McChrystal, Scott Miller, Martin Dempsey, David Deptula, and the FBI’s Brian McCauley—formed a close-knit community based on trust and teamwork.
As each of these men would learn, this brotherhood was essential for fighting their new and ever-changing enemies. While past adversaries had been comparatively easy to identify, target, and destroy, defeating the new enemies demanded greater integration of military, civilian, and intelligence assets. These warriors relied on their intimate bonds to cooperate across service divides and form a “new American-style of warfare” focused on “hunting individual terrorists and other extremists who hid in the dark corners of the world, and in plain sight.”
While Kitfield’s book is primarily about the human drivers of this revolution in military affairs, he does not neglect technological, bureaucratic, and intellectual inputs. The development of remotely piloted aircraft, cyber warfare assets, and other weapon systems has been well documented. Kitfield places these new technologies into a more holistic context and demonstrates how these capabilities only worked with the proper array of soft skills to manage their use. Similarly, the book does an excellent job of highlighting the structural changes within the military and the intelligence community. The challenge was to adapt to the new bottom-up flow of information and to dramatically increase the speed of decision cycles and operational tempos. These structural factors necessitated a constant reassessment of the use of force and U.S. strategy in the post-9/11 world.
Twilight Warriors is a powerful tale that is generally well written and paced, but unfortunately it does contain a few minor typos and factual errors. For example, the author incorrectly claims that the USS Cole (DDG-67) bombing occurred in 1980, that Chinook helicopters were involved in the fatal crash during the 1980 Iranian hostage rescue mission, and repeatedly refers to AK-47s as high-powered rifles. While such flaws are minor, they distract from the substantial merits of the larger work.
In sum, Kitfield’s excellent book is strongly recommended for both military and civilian audiences. The key insight is that despite the changing face of conflict, war is disproportionately influenced by small groups of human beings. In the past generation, the United States has been blessed by a talented and professional few who are truly a “band of brothers.” This book chronicles their dedication, leadership, and sacrifice and should not be ignored.
Mr. Daniel is an assistant professor in the College of Security and Intelligence at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. He is the editor of 21st Century Patton: Strategic Insights for the Modern Era (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2016).
Thank you for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Acceleration
Thomas L. Friedman. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016. 496 pp. Illus. Graphs. Index. Refs. $28.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander A.J. Kruppa, U.S. Navy
Innovation and adaptation. You cannot browse a bookstore leadership section or read a professional military journal without coming across continued focus on the importance of leaders embracing these two characteristics. In his latest book, Thank you for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Acceleration, best-selling author Thomas Friedman builds on his earlier ground-breaking works to address the rapid societal transformation that has emerged since his self-described technological revolution of 2007.
In the book, he clearly describes the contrast between the increasing rate of technological change (Moore’s Law) and the much slower rate of societal adaptation. For the first time in history, we are living in a non-analog world. With the recent explosion of big-data analysis, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based connectivity, societies are facing dramatic challenges to the ways and means of achieving success.
In contrast to the rapid acceleration of
physical technology, social technology is limited to human evolution and our associated rate of adaptation. No longer is increased change occurring only within the realm of traditional physical technology. Friedman notes that future advancements in BRINE (“bio, robo, info, nano, enviro”) will occur so quickly and comprehensively that they will have a revolutionary impact on our interdependent, globalized world. We are in a race to keep up, and he lays out clearly a strong argument that without a significant acknowledgment of the imminent challenges, we will likely experience drastic consequences to our workplace, geopolitical landscape, ethical framework, and our communities’ ability to thrive.
This should come to no surprise to Friedman readers, as he meticulously describes and contrasts recent technological advancements with policy implications on both the United States and international societies. From Minnesota to Israel to Madagascar, Friedman takes you (and your kayak) on a global voyage beyond the year 2040, and there is no turning back, especially when readers find themselves floating in a rapid river of technology.
In following Friedman’s journey to an accelerated future, those from the naval services will quickly deduce direct and indirect implications for their profession. Thank You for Being Late will keep readers pondering: Will naval programs of the future quickly embrace the age of acceleration? Are the naval services behind the corporate sector in cloud-based information access and data analysis? What tools and tactics should the Navy be designing that will fully leverage a future with game-changing intelligence assistants (versus artificial intelligence)? What will a pluralistic society, built on a predominantly outsourced, skills-based (instead of education-based) workforce look like? What will be the implications of this new workforce structure for naval force recruiting and retention?
Friedman dedicates a significant segment to describing our planet’s ecosystem interdependence, and although this section tends to slow from the otherwise accelerated state, he ultimately makes a solid case that Mother Nature is the best adaptability model on which to start our studies. As written, it is not a far leap to infer that Friedman would concur with the notion that future naval (and other) leaders will require increased innovation and adaptation skills. But if the author is correct and we are at a pivotal point in history, our current leadership must understand the immediate effects and take strident steps now to provide future leaders with the means to excel in the rapidly changing age of acceleration.
Friedman accurately notes that this age of acceleration will require more rapid collaboration, which will require leaders who have the skills and tools to manage the new environment. The future will require strong and relevant leadership styles that encourage dialog, generate a sense of community, and demand lifelong learning.
But this optimist’s field guide smartly identifies that in addition to a gap between technological and social adaptation, the importance of face-to-face interaction will increase exponentially. Our naval leadership attributes will continue to be an imperative of our future success, and tomorrow’s leaders will need to be competent in creating resonance and generating trust while aligning with our traditions and core values.
Commander Kruppa is a career surface warfare officer and is currently the deputy director of the Commander’s Action Group at Naval Surface Force, Atlantic. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, Marine Corps University, and the USMC School of Advanced Warfighting.