Military Reform

By reference to the fundamental strengths and weaknesses of America's armed forces, Wheeler and Korb establish a definition of what genuine military reform is and is not, and identify what really needs to be done to transform our military. They compare genuine reform with "cosmetic dabbling"—that improves nothing and often burdens US combat forces to the point of mental and physical immobility.

They focus particularly on the reforms advocated by a small group in Congress and the Pentagon in the 1980s, revealing how these reforms have fundamentally altered the ways in which the Department of Defense designs and buys hardware, and how our armed forces fight. The book uses Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom—and the subsequent insurgency in Iraq—to demonstrate what has been reformed in the US armed forces and the Department of Defense, and what has not.

"A serious-minded, number-crunching, cost-conscious analysis. . . . highly recommended for military history and studies shelves, and a 'must-read' for anyone involved in overseeing military operations or structure."
—Midwest Book Review

Wheeler....and Korb....explain the strengths and weaknesses of America's military forces, shedding light on what genuine military reform is and is not, and what remains to be done. —Parameters, Spring 2008

[T]he folks at Praeger Security International continue their mission of providing readers with insight and understanding of how America's military functions in an era of global uncertainty. Military Reform: A Reference Handbook is authored by Winslow T. Wheeler and Lawrence J. Korb and details the history of attemps at reforming America's armed forces. These two eminent authors examine the critical issues associated with military reform in an effort to distinguish them from "cosmetic dabbling." —SciTech Book News, February 2008,