Today, when the media or the general public talk about U.S. military operations around the world, they only mention the two areas where major combat operations are occurring: Iraq and Afghanistan. Many don't realize that the U.S. military, especially the U.S. Army, is also deployed to 120 nations around the globe, conducting missions ranging from hunting down terrorist groups to providing humanitarian assistance and conducting diplomacy.
In 2003, Robert D. Kaplan set out to embed himself with the military, but in a more extraordinary fashion than is often seen. Instead of sticking with one or two units in an area of major media focus, Kaplan hopped from one unit to another all around the world, watching the U.S. military work in many different ways.
Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: A-TITLE: "Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground" AUTHOR: Robert D. Kaplan LENGTH: 428 pages PUBLISHER: Random House Publishing Group PRICE: Hardcover: $27.95 list price |
In Kaplan's second book, "Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts," which was released this September, he shifts his focus from the ground forces to those deployed around the Pacific Ocean. After a long interlude talking about the Pacific theater of operations, he embeds himself on a destroyer -a medium-sized ship-and later on a nuclear submarine. He also travels with various fighter squadrons who operate planes ranging from the A-10, which is designed to destroy tanks and help ground forces, to a B-2 squadron, which, at $1.4 billion, is a stealth bomber designed to pummel the enemy's homeland.
That's not to say he doesn't still analyze what goes on on the ground. He also travels to Africa to watch U.S. Marines train a platoon of troops for Niger and Special Forces troops work with Algerians to trade and teach one another skills they have learned fighting their own insurgencies.
Kaplan's broad and overarching point is that warfare has changed and, as the global hegemon, the U.S. military's role in the world has changed as well. While old and traditionally based enemies still remain to be fought, such as North Korea, the U.S. military must be prepared to adapt and fight smaller units, train others to fight and provide diplomatic and humanitarian assistance. Kaplan mentions that, for the price of one F-22 fighter, the United States could deploy Special Forces to the whole of the Saharan desert to conduct a more efficient imperialism, as was seen in Niger and Algeria, as opposed to the inefficient strategies of Iraq.
Likewise, Kaplan's analysis of the military in general, their demographics and how the composition reflects our society is extremely pertinent. The American is an individual, and the backbone of the army is not formed by its officers, but by its noncommissioned officers or sergeants who represent middle-class America.
Kaplan plans to publish a third and final book to complete his trilogy. While "Imperial Grunts" was perhaps his better work, "Hog Pilots" tends to stray away from historical tangents and side conversations. Still, both books provide excellent insight into what the average citizen does not see the military do. While he may have visited Fallujah and Mosul in the course of the books, he was also in lesser-known areas, reporting on what the military is also about.
