Shaping U.S. Military Forces: Revolution or Relevance in a Post-cold War World

This book assesses those military force changes that have been made since the Cold War, explains the many changes that have not been made, and recommends changes that must be made. However, to change something, one must know what holds it together. Service cultures constitute the most change-resistant characteristic of the U.S. military force. Cultures and beliefs, derived from the harsh lessons of war, orient the services' doctrinal thinking and their responses to their statutory responsibilities to train, organize, and equip. These elements must be understood before comparing the current force to the requirements of the Cold War and to the requirements of present and future conflicts. Worley details recommendations for change along with an assessment of how political forces will line up to resist them.

D. Robert Worley is a Fellow with the Johns Hopkins University Washington Center for the Study of American Government. He previously held adjunct faculty positions at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs and UCLA's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has served as a defense policy analyst at the National Security and Army Research Divisions of Rand, the Joint Advanced Warfighting Program at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities. Before beginning his professional career, he served in the United States Marine Corps with one tour in Vietnam.