The Heroic school stresses the human element in conflict: troops win wars, not weapons. To emerge victorious in combat requires soldiers who embody the warrior ethos-honor, loyalty, bravery, and military genius. In contrast are the “Heroes,” who attempt to reduce war to its essence. Linn traces the heritage of Guardians from advocating coastal defense in the nineteenth century to promoting a missile defense shield in the twenty-first century. If applied properly, these principles should all but guarantee victory, regardless of what the enemy does. Enamored of technology and focused on protecting the homeland, Guardians believe war is governed by scientific principles and thus predictable to a degree. The eldest group, the “Guardians,” view warfare as more science than art.
These three groups differ from each other in fundamental ways. Linn identifies three martial philosophies that have competed for the heart and mind of the Army and its approach to land warfare since the early days of the republic. He argues that if there is an American way of war, it is due to the efforts of military thinkers during peacetime, not military leaders during wartime. In this important and readable book, he ably captures and dissects the history of this debate as well as its consequences for past, current, and future military policy. A professor of history at Texas A&M University, Linn has established himself as one of the country’s leading interpreters of its military history. Explaining why this confusion reigns and how it has affected the way in which America has approached armed conflict is the goal of Brian McAllister Linn’s The Echo of Battle: The Army’s Way of War. Those individuals charged with fighting war seemed to no longer know what the term meant. In truth, the American military community had been engaged in a bitter debate over the very concept of war well before 9/11. Who is the enemy in the current GWOT? Are we really fighting a tactic-terrorism-and not an organization? How does one fight a GWOT? How will we know if we have won? The notion is so vague that military officers at the highest ranks have failed to coalesce behind a definition. Yet despite the omnipresence of the GWOT, there is still no consensus over its ultimate meaning, even among America’s military leadership. What issued from that period of reflection was an unwelcome addition to our lexicon: the global war on terrorism (GWOT).
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That tragic day forced Americans to confront new perils and contemplate how to respond. The events of 11 September 2001 demonstrated anew that we live in a dangerous world and that the United States is not immune from its threats. The Echo of Battle: The Army’s Way of War by Brian McAllister Linn.
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