Kaplan is not alone in arguing that America must embrace an imperial destiny. While they may not talk of empire, many neoconservative and some liberal commentators have presented a similar view of the US as the final guarantor of global security. Where Kaplan is distinctive is in claiming that America's imperial mission follows from a realist analysis of contemporary international relations, and asking how the sections of the American military that have the task of implementing this mission perceive their role.

In Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground, he reports on his travels to US military bases in every quarter of the globe. Kaplan enjoyed a degree of access to US military bases and personnel that is rare if not unique among contemporary journalists.

The result has many weaknesses; but it is a consistently thought-provoking and vividly evocative book (the first of several he plans to write on the subject, he tells us) that challenges many preconceptions about the place of the military in American life and the world.

The Mirage of Empire

He is an irrepressible man with full, close-cropped gray hair, blue eyes and a radiant smile, and as he told me about the early days, he recalled his disbelief at the men who were drawn to the company. "He wants to work for me?" he said he thought, over and over. But his modesty went only so far. "Rock stars like to work with rock stars," he said.

When it needed cash, to pay employees or buy equipment or build camps, it dispatched someone from Chicago with a rucksack filled with bricks of hundred-dollar bills. "All the people in Iraq had to say is, 'We need a backpack,' Or, 'We need two backpacks.'" Each pack held half a million dollars.

Suddenly, we were braking. Traffic crawled and doors were "cracked": doors are opened as little as possible, and rifles are pointed out -- the response when other vehicles get too near. The windows on armored vehicles are so heavy that they don't reliably roll up once they're rolled down, so they don't use the windows to point their guns. The door-cracking is rehearsed procedure; they can ride this way at top speed, leaning out to aim their guns in warning, or to put bullets into the engine of an oncoming car.

The Other Army

This guy is spot on.

The mistake the Army made in 1969 is the same mistake it is making now: how can you educate a group of handpicked students at one of the best universities in the world and then treat them as if they are too stupid to know when they have been told a lie?

In the fall of 2003 I was embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in northern Iraq, and its West Point lieutenants were among the most gung-ho soldiers I have ever encountered, yet most were already talking about getting out of the Army. I talked late into one night with a muscular first lieutenant with a shaved head and a no-nonsense manner who had stacks of Foreign Affairs, The New Yorker and The Atlantic under his bunk. He had served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and he was disgusted with what he had seen in Iraq by December 2003.

I know people like this. Some of them even have MemeStreams accounts.

The Army will need this lieutenant 20 years from now when he could be a colonel, or 30 years from now when he could have four stars on his collar. But I doubt he will be in uniform long enough to make captain.

Sad, but true.

The Not-So-Long Gray Line

My co-worker looks over at me from his desk and says, "Did you know any of them?"

Decius recently wrote:
I think the interesting blogs are the radical ones with the most emotionally divisive content. Or the funny ones. The ones that make you feel, and not the ones that make you think.

Although this article appears in a newspaper and not a blog, I think it fits the description.

Over There

If national security in and of itself is no longer a justification for this degree of classification, one might be inclined to ask what is.

Cat-and-Mouse Games

It's a heartwarming tale of military transformation.

Looking back over the past four years, an extraordinary amount of change has taken place within the US military establishment. Without doubt, the status quo has been challenged, and a new architecture of American defense, not only envisioned but planned, developed, constructed and, in many areas, employed.

Some of the change was driven by external events, most notably, the Global War on Terror. However, much was undertaken as a result of the Department’s own internal analysis of what was required to prepare the US military and the Department for the threats and challenges of the 21st century.

Together, they represent possibly one of the most significant periods of accomplishment in the history of the Department of Defense.

The Department has initiated significant change and accomplished a great deal over the past four years and, with the continuing support of the Congress and, most importantly, the American people, we will continue to improve and accomplish our mission in the years to come.

Facing the Future: Meeting the Threats & Challenges of the 21st Century

Finally, the book sketches several possible new conflict scenarios that could occupy the American military in the years and decades ahead.

Defense Strategy for the Post-Saddam Era

He said the campaign would reach out to people he called "influencers" and would include parents and teachers who might be invited to meetings with senior Army leaders.

Coming soon to a blog near you ... (just wait until they discover AIM and SkypeMe)

Army Likely to Miss 2 Recruiting Goals; Review Is Planned

The most recent Pentagon review of detainee abuse found 30 cases in which prisoners were held off the books, including one kept secretly for about 45 days.

Army Documents Shed Light on CIA 'Ghosting'

Officials said they do not believe they need to change any law, executive order or regulation to put these changes in place. They said they will continue to work with Congress as they move forward.

DoD Proposes Program to Remodel Defense Intelligence