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128 The book has four parts capped with a prologue and epilogue. In the prologue, Williams answers why he was ultimately drawn to the Marines and what the myth of being a Marine meant to him. The first part of the book follows his trials and tribulations of his recruit training, more commonly known as Boot Camp. The second part deals with his coming to terms with the life of being a Reservist. The third part of the book is the bulk of the book and it deals with his experience of being activated for service in the First Gulf War, and his return home. In fact, it is in this part that the title of the book comes from and the story behind it goes directly to the perception of conflict that is often part of Regular/Active Forces and Reserve Forces working together. The last part of the book is the shortest, but it covers the greatest passage of time as far as the story of Buzz Williams. It covers the last four years of his Marine Reserve service and his entry into the teaching profession. The epilogue covers, in brief, his decision to leave the Marine Reserves and the further development of his civilian career. In the end, we are left in no doubt that Buzz Williams is still a Marine at heart. The story captures the effective storytelling ability of Williams but also the range of emotions he experienced. The book is entertaining and effectively tells the story of Buzz Williams as a Marine Reservist. Williams communicates the experience of a Reservist while holding nothing back. He illustrates this in his descriptions of Boot Camp, when he felt he had earned the respect of his Drill Instructor only to be singled out by him when he was advanced to the next graduating recruit class to ensure his completion of his recruit training in time for his next semester of school. The resulting ostracism, he felt, effectively demonstrates the highs and lows of Reserve service. In many ways his story of Boot Camp captures the Reservist experience,(which Williams very effectively portrays): the effort to earn respect only to lose it for being identified as a Reservist. This is an example of what happens within the military community; the civilian world brings its own trials and tribulations, which Williams addresses as well. The Reservist also experiences this lack of understanding from the civilian side of his/her world. Williams illustrates this with an extreme example of some of the university professors he dealt with on his return from the Gulf. Some were prepared to compromise and assist him in meeting the academic requirements he had missed as a result of his deployment, while others could not hide their hostility. The case of one professor is particularly cited (page 266-7). In many ways the insulated world of the Regular Forces due to its geographic locations around Canada is protected from this hostility that in many cases the Reservist is confronted with as the only visible member of the military establishment available for someone to reach out and attack. Williams also illustrates the problem that the Reservist has after any part-time military training, the matter of winding down and the transition to the civilian world. Because of the nature of Reserve training, packing a lot of training objectives into a minimal amount of time, this in most cases ultimately leads to little or no sleep. In the case of Williams, this resulted in a post-exercise car crash. This incident is a realistic example faced by a Reservist who rapidly moves between the two worlds of the military and civilian. Williams also touches on the difficulty of meeting expectations in both worlds. One example is in his return from Boot Camp where he continues the practice of a locker layout much to the confusion of his mother who cannot understand this focus on minute details. Williams telling of the Reserve experience is not without weakness. The number of Reservists who chose to release from the Marine Reserves after the First Gulf War would provide a context to his discussion when Williams talks about the numbers who release from his own Marine Reserve Company. He talks about the sense of loss when he started parading with his Reserve Company and the fact familiar faces were not there, they had released. The sense of abandonment by Williams is convincingly told but if he had provided definitive numbers not only for his company but also for the Marine Canadian Army Journal Vol. 11.1 Spring 2008
Reserves the reader could put this into a contextual understanding. As well, if Williams could have provided reasons for the releases, this would have helped the reader’s understanding why so many released. A Canadian comparison is readily available. Review the number of Reservists who release within one year after doing an overseas tour, would we find a similar experience for our Reserves? The issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Williams again does not provide the numbers to illustrate the context of the problem and how it affected his own experience. Is he the minority or is the problem greater than we realize? By providing greater detail to this, Williams could have brought a greater understanding to this issue and may have provided insight to those who are in a position to influence policy as it affects Reservists. In the end though, these are minor issues and would only provide context to the whole Reserve experience and not the story of one Reservist, which Williams convincingly relays. Williams is generally positive of his Marine Reserve experience and at the end he notes he will always be a Marine. To Canadians, this account may open some eyes to the experience of Reservists and provide a greater understanding of their trials and tribulations; and, hopefully inspire Canadian Reservists to put their own experience down on paper. In the end, if it helps bridge the gap between the “Spare Parts” and the regular soldier, then this effort is well worth the read. CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN TODAY’S CHINA: SWIMMING IN A NEW SEA Edited by FINKELSTEIN, David M. and GUNNESS, K. Armonk, New York, M.E. Sharpe, 2006, pages. $29.95 USD PB, ISBN 978-0-7656-1660-9 Reviewed by Richard Desjardins Much has been made in recent years of the growth of China’s defence budget. For the past decade, these expenditures have increased by at least 10 percent annually and in some years, by as much as 20 percent. What has been done with these increases and where they fit into the larger picture of China’s rise has been less clear. In this context, the publication of this book is timely. As the debate over Chinese military spending heats up, the need for informed analysis will grow. The value of this collective effort is enhanced by the fact that most authors are well known experts in the field of Chinese studies. Western media coverage of the Chinese military has generally portrayed it as a monolithic organization blended with a similarly monolithic government. This view has contributed to the creation in the popular imagination of a fearsome power with one mind. Academic research, however, has been much more discerning of the reality. The Chinese state, for instance, has not been seen in this simplistic way for some time. Recent research on the Chinese military has also made some headway in developing a more sophisticated picture. This is partly due to an effort by the Chinese government to gain greater acceptability in the international community. Its growing commercial success abroad is increasingly perceived as a threat by various constituencies in Western countries and the growth of its military expenditures further feeds into this fear. By providing a window on its military, the country hopes to assuage Canadian Army Journal Vol. 11.1 Spring 2008 129
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The The Canadian Canadian Army Army
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial—Soldi
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EDITORIAL—SOLDIERS AS WRITERS Maj
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ARMY UPDATE—THE JADEX PAPERS Back
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AMBUSHES, IEDS AND COIN: THE FRENCH
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Since 1945, only one major expediti
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Casualties It is difficult to deter
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March 1846, in which the insurgency
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French fortified line around the De
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an unsustainable level while using
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The FLN clearly adjusted its milita
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The overall resort to a system of d
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proposed by researchers like La Cou
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MANOEUVRE WARFARE THEORY AND COUNTE
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is tempo—the ability of one force
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In Principles, Imperatives and Para
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Canadian draft placed a significant
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to safe havens with the Morice Line
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THE FUTURE OF CANADIAN AIRBORNE FOR
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Political manoeuvring and military
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sustainment air corridors, and to s
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offensive capability would be requi
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Canadian Army Journal Vol. 11.1 Spr
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Immediately after the war, there wa
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transportable brigade group, includ
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spectrum, and included global opera
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strung soldiers of the unit adequat
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45. Sean M. Maloney, “The Mobile
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the super-power of the age. Few gov
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By 7 December 2001, the Taliban had
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ideology.” 51 With the overthrow
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obvious abilities is to make a grav
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We fight them with schools, educati
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TOMORROW’S FIREPOWER Captain Ian
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dominate the much larger and more c
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Even new terminology fails to re-es
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Effects Oriented. A complete close
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armoured squadron, administration c
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system. However, the development of
Page 79 and 80: 31. Today, the role of the infantry
Page 81 and 82: somewhere between 20,000 to 30,000
Page 83 and 84: Definitions Before moving on to try
Page 85 and 86: It is already clear that consensus
Page 87 and 88: increase in the levels of global co
Page 89 and 90: contracting of MPFs to provide arme
Page 91 and 92: What has been demonstrated in this
Page 93 and 94: Domestic regulation in the US has t
Page 95 and 96: Concluding Remarks This article has
Page 97 and 98: the engagement of the Canadian Mano
Page 99 and 100: 42. Isenberg, A Fistful of Contract
Page 101 and 102: into Belgium, General Charles Foulk
Page 103 and 104: anks (mostly from the artillery),
Page 105 and 106: Shot from vantage point of Nixon in
Page 107 and 108: town. Following this, the much-cele
Page 109 and 110: Germans as to what was happening. F
Page 111 and 112: Canadian Military History (Spring 2
Page 113 and 114: On 1 August 1944, Major Dextraze co
Page 115 and 116: NOTE TO FILE—REACHING INTO THE OR
Page 117 and 118: In the years after 1945 OR became h
Page 119 and 120: narrow application. “If aircraft
Page 121 and 122: assistant” for the military. 34 T
Page 123 and 124: — BOOK REVIEWS — TERRIBLE VICTO
Page 125 and 126: CALEPIN D’ESPOIR DUFRESNE, Daniel
Page 127 and 128: as a “Villa Rogati dwelling” (p
Page 129: writes that the charge of the 21st
Page 133 and 134: superiority of numbers to overcome
Page 135 and 136: A HISTORY OF THE FRENCH WAR—ENDIN
Page 137 and 138: THE UNEXPECTED WAR: CANADA IN KANDA
Page 139 and 140: The Existential Challenge The autho
Page 141 and 142: D-DAY: JUNO BEACH, CANADA’S 24 HO
Page 143 and 144: His dispassionate analysis of the b
Page 145 and 146: PEACEKEEPING INTELLIGENCE: NEW PLAY
Page 147 and 148: Thankfully, although hard-hitting i
Page 149 and 150: Chapter Four ends with the death of
Page 151 and 152: noting he did not fill the requirem
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