Tom Clancy
Booknotes, Sunday, July 13, 1997
Tom Clancy discusses Into the Storm.
For many Americans the overwhelming and rapid defeat of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 signaled the final chapter in the U.S. military's amazing recovery from the tragedy of Vietnam. Leading a multinational coalition put together by President Bush, the U.S. military had liberated Kuwait and reduced the Iraqi army from the fourth largest in the world to twenty-second largest in a little over a month. But while reporters routinely compared and contrasted the Army' s experience in the Persian Gulf with its experiences in Southeast Asia more than twenty years earlier, many missed the enormous and profound transformation that had occurred in our Army-first from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, and then from that period until Operation Desert Storm and beyond. INTO THE STORM: A Study in Command, by Tom Clancy, is the first in an extraordinary series of nonfiction books—a look deep into the operational art of war as seen through the eyes of some of America's greatest military leaders. Working in collaboration with General Fred Franks, Jr. (Ret.), who commanded the main Coalition force that broke the back of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guards during the Gulf War, Clancy explores the nature of war and command from the inside. He offers a minute-by-minute account of ground combat during Desert Storm, much of it told in Franks's own voice, as well as a thorough analysis of the decisions that were made and the strategies and tactics that were used. Just as important, Clancy also tracks the evolution of America's Army as it moved, in a single generation, from the triumph of World War II to the embarrassment of Korea, and from the tragedy and waste of Vietnam to dominance on the sands of Iraq and Kuwait. In carrying out his study of command Clancy draws on hundreds of hours of interviews with General Franks, and dozens of other individuals who played important roles in the Vietnam and Persian Gulf Wars as well as the development and rebuilding of the U.S. Army and its doctrine. Clancy also incorporates information from a wide variety of newspaper accounts and books, as well as previously unpublished articles, monographs, and field reports. —from the publisher's website (timspalding)… (more)
For many Americans the overwhelming and rapid defeat of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 signaled the final chapter in the U.S. military's amazing recovery from the tragedy of Vietnam. Leading a multinational coalition put together by President Bush, the U.S. military had liberated Kuwait and reduced the Iraqi army from the fourth largest in the world to twenty-second largest in a little over a month. But while reporters routinely compared and contrasted the Army' s experience in the Persian Gulf with its experiences in Southeast Asia more than twenty years earlier, many missed the enormous and profound transformation that had occurred in our Army-first from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, and then from that period until Operation Desert Storm and beyond. INTO THE STORM: A Study in Command, by Tom Clancy, is the first in an extraordinary series of nonfiction books—a look deep into the operational art of war as seen through the eyes of some of America's greatest military leaders. Working in collaboration with General Fred Franks, Jr. (Ret.), who commanded the main Coalition force that broke the back of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guards during the Gulf War, Clancy explores the nature of war and command from the inside. He offers a minute-by-minute account of ground combat during Desert Storm, much of it told in Franks's own voice, as well as a thorough analysis of the decisions that were made and the strategies and tactics that were used. Just as important, Clancy also tracks the evolution of America's Army as it moved, in a single generation, from the triumph of World War II to the embarrassment of Korea, and from the tragedy and waste of Vietnam to dominance on the sands of Iraq and Kuwait. In carrying out his study of command Clancy draws on hundreds of hours of interviews with General Franks, and dozens of other individuals who played important roles in the Vietnam and Persian Gulf Wars as well as the development and rebuilding of the U.S. Army and its doctrine. Clancy also incorporates information from a wide variety of newspaper accounts and books, as well as previously unpublished articles, monographs, and field reports. —from the publisher's website (timspalding)… (more)
