This volume provides an account of how Army logistics affected ground operations during the Grenada intervention and how combat influenced logistical performance.--[from Foreword]

Edgar F. Raines Jr.'s The Rucksack War: U.S. Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983, the second volume in the U.S. Army Center of Military History's Contingency Operations Series, provides an account of how Army logistics affected ground operations during the Grenada intervention and, in turn, how combat influenced logistical performance. Noteworthy is the book's emphasis on the role of individuals and of the decisions they made based on the necessarily incomplete and sometimes misleading information available at the time. The narrative ranges through all levels of war-from the meetings of the National Security Council, where the president grappled with the question of whether to intervene in the wake of a bloody coup, to the jungles of Grenada, where a sergeant in combat coped successfully with a Cuban ambush despite a lack of hand grenades. Raines is careful to place Army logistical planning and operations in a joint context as well as grounding them in the Army's post-Vietnam reform of logistical organization and doctrine. In addition to furnishing a fascinating account of a complex operation, The Rucksack War identifies many issues that may well influence the conduct of U.S. forces in future short-notice contingency operations.

On 25 October 1983 U.S. land, sea, and air forces, operating in conjunction with ground force contingents from several Caribbean countries, landed on the island nation of Grenada in the eastern Caribbean. Operation URGENT FURY, the code name for this intervention, marked the U.S. Army's first commitment to combat since the close of the Vietnam war. In point of fact, the amount of fighting was slight in comparison with other conflicts during the twentieth century, lacking both great intensity and long duration. The logistical effort required to move and sustain two ranger battalions and two brigades of the 82d Airborne Division, in contrast, was considerable and not without difficulty. The genesis, evolution, and eventual solution of the logistical problems, and especially their impact on combat operations on the island, make a fascinating story in their own right. These facets are particularly pertinent because of the likelihood that the Army will face other short-notice contingencies in the future in which the same or similar circumstances prevail. The Rucksack War: U.S. Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983, provides an account of how Army logistics affected ground operations during the Grenada intervention and, in turn, how combat influenced logistical performance. Noteworthy is the emphasis on the role of individuals and the decisions they made based on the necessarily incomplete and sometimes misleading information available at the time during an unexpected and short-notice contingency operation. The narrative ranges from the meetings of the National Security Council, where the president grappled with the question of whether to send in troops, to the jungle environs of Grenada, where a sergeant in combat coped successfully with a Cuban ambush even though he and his men were handicapped by a lack of hand grenades. The considerations that influenced these decisions and others like them are discussed at all three levels of war-strategic, operational, and tactical. Most important, the author tells the story of the Army's operations and its logistical effort in Grenada from the joint perspective. He covers not only planning and decisionmaking by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Atlantic Command, and Joint Special Operations Command but also coordination and communications, or lack thereof, between the service contingents in the area of operations. The result is a fascinating account of a complex event that provides insight into the myriad issues the Army encountered and will continue to face in future contingency operations. The author puts forth his conclusions on this brief but important campaign not as authoritative pronouncements but as a springboard for further professional reflection and discussion. Without question, for Army leaders, commanders, and especially logisticians, they offer instructive parallels and trenchant observations pertinent in today's complicated world.

A military memoir with an underlying love story

The Stuff of Soldiers uses everyday objects to tell the story of the Great Patriotic War as never before. Brandon M. Schechter attends to a diverse array of things—from spoons to tanks—to show how a wide array of citizens became soldiers, and how the provisioning of material goods separated soldiers from civilians. Through a fascinating examination of leaflets, proclamations, newspapers, manuals, letters to and from the front, diaries, and interviews, The Stuff of Soldiers reveals how the use of everyday items made it possible to wage war. The dazzling range of documents showcases ethnic diversity, women's particular problems at the front, and vivid descriptions of violence and looting. Each chapter features a series of related objects: weapons, uniforms, rations, and even the knick-knacks in a soldier's rucksack. These objects narrate the experience of people at war, illuminating the changes taking place in Soviet society over the course of the most destructive conflict in recorded history. Schechter argues that spoons, shovels, belts, and watches held as much meaning to the waging of war as guns and tanks. In The Stuff of Soldiers, he describes the transformative potential of material things to create a modern culture, citizen, and soldier during World War II.