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102 reviews

klockrike 123 reviews

The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Department of the Army

I recently picked up a book from the library called The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants by the Department of the Army. Yes, that Army, the US Army and Pentagon are listed on the back page. This is a 'no-nonsense survival aid, {...} an essential guide for serious adventurers and the armchair botanist alike." I thought I would get some interesting information about locally edible and poisonous plants, but the book provided something else, a serious scare. First, the book covers the show more tropics, subtropics, and temperate zones, but covers very few edible plants from each region. That is OK, even if not great. In the beginning of the book it is stated that you should never eat any plants you can't securely identify to the correct species. Well, well - I would like to see the person that can identify any plant to the correct species based on the photos and descriptions in this book. I can't even see some of the plants in some of the photos. Many of photos are grainy, too dark, and over-tinted in green. And when they couldn't find good photos they resorted to stick figures of the plants, also badly pixelated.

The photos of sorghum grains, the only photo used to illustrate this plant, looks like a large bunch of small cockroaches on a tabletop. The description of sorghum, which supposedly is there to help you identify the plant, follows: "There are many different kinds of sorghum, all of which bear grains in heads at the top of the plants. The grains are brown, white, red, or black. Sorghum is the main food crop in many parts of the world." Would you be comfortable with identify a wild plant as sorghum after reading this? I mean, the only real description here is that the seed color can vary and that the seeds are in heads on the top of the plant. It doesn't even say it is a grass! Plant families are only listed for poisonous plants, I wonder why? If you get sick, only then you need to know the family?

The mixture of tropical with temperate plants provides some interesting contrasts. Sago palm (with a horrible photo), and sassafras (with a great photo, from the season when the plants have leaves) share one page. Same with prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) and pokeweed (Phytolacca, a plant which actually is very poisonous if raw or taller than 25 cm.)

Some information is dangerously wrong. The fish tail palm, which I recently saw in the botanical garden in Stockholm, is edible, but the fruits are toxic and the leaves can give you dermatitis (link)." In this manual, this is a perfectly fine plant without any warning signs at all. Only 17 poisonous plants are listed, and this book is supposedly covering the whole world.

Looking through this book I am starting to think it is a joke. Either that, or the American soldiers are much dumber than I thought. The text reads often like an essay by a 4th grader, for example:
"Look for sugarcane in fields. It grows only in the tropics (throughout the world). Because it is a crop, it is often found in large numbers."

This book is an embarrassment to the US government, US publishers, and botany. The book was published in 2009, and even if it was printed in China (true), I bet the material was provided from the US.

Remember that this book is called the "Complete guide..."? It is as complete and useful as the human anatomy chapter of a high school biology book is to a neurosurgeon. As a survival aid, this book is not very helpful, and could even be risky to use for the serious outdoorsman. I also really doubt there are any armchair botanists out there that would enjoy a book with so many botanical faults. I really hope the US Army provides their soldiers with better field manuals than this. There are many more and better books on this subject for those that really are interested in wild edible plants and wilderness survival. show less

Oct 3, 20102 other reviews

MnManstein 43 reviews

Small Unit Actions During the German Campaign in Russia by Department of the Army

This book is a small compilation of reports written after the end of WWII by German officers on a variety of topics. In this case, all of the reports deal with small unit actions by the Germans and the Soviets. Needless to say, there is literally nothing out there that describe small unit actions (unless it is in a memoir), so the reports written and included in this book are definitely worth their weight in gold. The book is broken up into seven different chapters and include topics such as show more infantry, armor, engineers, fighting in the taiga and the tundra etc. etc. Within each topic/chapter, there are a bevy of small unit engagements described by the Germans. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every chapter, as they describe in minute detail what was going on from the tactical perspective, while we normally only get the operational perspective (i.e. the 30,000 foot perspective). I would highly, highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in combat on the eastern front. show less

Oct 2, 20251 other review

gmicksmith 1,115 reviews

The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual by United States Army

Sarah Sewall writes an excellent introduction to this volume based on the ground-braking effort of General Petraeus et.al. who re-wrote the book on counter-insurgency. This manual formed the backbone to the largely successful surge in Iraq and is a complete re-casting of military doctrine. At times the prose reads more like an academic treatise, which is not always a good thing, but it is comprehensive, academically defensible, and is an indication that the military is learned, adaptable, show more and resilient.

The manual solicited input from a wide variety of sources, including non-military personnel and is an impressive triumph of learning from past mistakes and the application of sound principles based on historical lessons from other, and even non-American military successes. The notes from history are an interesting sidelight that illustrate important counterinsurgency principles.

I had to find out why the military turned Iraq around from 2006-2008 and the manual demonstrates the painful and bloody lessons learned in Iraq.

Obama, the apologist American, seems to have learned little from the volume. The only phrase he lifts from the work, in his statement on Afghanistan, is the destroy and disrupt Al Qaeda point. Other than that, he seems to have ignored the lessons of Iraq.

Update: 12 July 2010
The Obama regime is attempting to strike Islamist or references to Islam from an understanding of terrorism. However, the two, whether we like it or not, are intertwined and Petraeus, et. al. noted the connection in this ground-breaking 2006 Counterinsurgency Manual. The role of Islam in terrorism is rightfully understand as a key component for the counterinsurgency effort. Petraeus notes at numerous times (I-22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 50, 73, 76, 78, and 87) in the Manual how Islam plays a significant role. For example, the Indonesian Dar `ul Islam is an example which can almost "single-handedly drive an insurgency" (I-73; yet, religion is not the sole factor in terrorism as Petraeus points out that many IRA members "were not devout members" (I-78) [of Catholicsm]. Petraeus does not single out Islam or Muslims as the enemy; he is more simply pointing out the reality that religion often plays a critical role in mobilizing and enlivening a populace. There is nothing inaccurate about the historical reality of a common religious inspiration for violence. Petraeus even-handedly and deftly noted a commonly present aspect of religion: violence. show less

Apr 13, 20094 other reviews

Michele_lee 147 reviews

U.S. Army Zombie Combat Skills by Department of the Army

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

A disturbing trend in zombie fiction is the role of the military in the zombie uprising. It seems to play one of two roles, either the perpetration or bungling idiot failure. Rare is the book that shows the military in a vital role. With this book, which should be a shelf resource for any writer wanting to do more than fiddle about with zombie tales, perhaps that will change.
U.S. Army Zombie Combat Skills gives zombies fans an explicit, precise look at show more how the military is prepared to handle all threats, even the forces of the undead. The detail is elaborate, including the best defense strategies based on the number of of men, first aid, equipment specifics and detail on effective communication. This book is both a parody (complete with Figures and tables featuring the moaning hungry dead) and completely serious. A valuable addition to zombie based libraries (again, especially for writers) one has to wonder why the military has this particular kind of foresight. show less

Apr 16, 2010

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