{"id":40722,"date":"2014-03-27T12:30:07","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T16:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=40722"},"modified":"2014-03-27T15:49:38","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T19:49:38","slug":"a-book-recommendation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=40722","title":{"rendered":"A Book Recommendation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of those who read TAH have a military background.<\/p>\n

However, we\u2019re not all from the same service.\u00a0 And though we all know this, it bears repeating:\u00a0 there is a distinct \u2013 and at times, frustrating and perplexing \u2013 difference between the services in terms of norms, goals, and objectives.\u00a0 Each service has its own personality; each has its own culture.\u00a0 Each prays at a different \u201caltar\u201d.<\/p>\n

And to outsiders, those norms, goals, objectives, personality, and culture are a mystery.<\/p>\n

If you truly want to understand the other services \u2013 their personality, their culture, what makes them tick – a book written in 1989 IMO holds the key.\u00a0 The book was written by a RAND Corporation analyst, Carl Builder.\u00a0 It\u2019s called The Masks of War<\/span> (ISBN-10:<\/b> 0801837766; ISBN-13:<\/b> 978-0801837760).<\/p>\n

A short description of Builder’s discussion of service personalities may be found on pp. 9-14 of this document<\/a>.\u00a0 While this is a credible introduction, the book contains much more.\u00a0 (Builder was asked after his book was originally published about the USMC \u2013 which he originally did not include in his analysis of service personalities.\u00a0 His reply was that the USMC\u2019s altar is \u201cHonor\u201d.)<\/p>\n

From what I’ve seen over close to 40 years now, Builder is dead on target.<\/p>\n

The book is relatively short \u2013\u00a0 256 pages, including index and bibliography – and its examples are now rather dated.\u00a0 But if there\u2019s a better source for understanding the differences in culture and focus that drive the different uniformed services, I\u2019ve not found it.<\/p>\n

It really IMO should be required reading for any Senior Enlisted or Officer going to a joint assignment, or who will be working directly with those of other services.<\/p>\n

Do yourself a favor:\u00a0 find a copy and read it.\u00a0(Used copies can be had on Amazon for $10 or less; you might also be able to get it via inter-library loan at your local library.)\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested in how the military services really work and what makes them tick, I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll regret the time you spend reading it.<\/p>\n

And if you know someone going to a joint assignment, maybe point them at a copy.\u00a0 It could well make their life during that assignment much easier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of those who read TAH have a military background. However, we\u2019re not all from the … A Book Recommendation<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}