During a defense line assault on Iwo Jima, U..S. units were often pinned down. To limit U.S. casualties, two unconventional procedures were tried: (1) headquarters releasing ALL CONTROL over what happened next to frontline units: and (2) those units ALLOWING one or two low-ranking volunteers to outflank some of the machineguns. Both were destined to become the essence of Maneuver Warfare.

The Iwo Alamo

History

H. John Poole

Anthony C. Zinni (Foreword)

Military

Posterity Press(NC)

Don't recognize this drug-funded Maoist army ? Its operatives have been busy in at least nine Latin American countries. Bringing an end to America's white-heroin deluge may take temporarily reinforcing -- with a lone U.S. infantry squad -- a few police outposts in Colombia, Panama, and Mexico. After briefly noting the extent of criminal, Communist, and Islamist subversion throughout the region, this book shows the Unconventional Warfare (UW) techniques that 14 isolated GIs might need to vie with many times their number of drug runners and revolutionaries. Among the "how-to" chapters are: (1) "Best 4GW Defense Is Locally Tailored;" (2) "Deep Interdiction;" (3) "Buffer Zones"; and (4) "Working a Heavily Populated Area." well illustrated, full of tiny element maneuvers, and quite exciting to read. One even shows how to blanket an area with secretly occupied fire team zones. Such an advanced UW concept would also work in other parts of the world. According to Australian Army Journal, "Poole's methods in Tequila Junction are an example of a decentralised approach to counterinsurgency that may provide a tactical level solution ... [to] keep the insurgents off balance in Uruzgan [Afghanistan]." As a final bonus, this book's appendix shows a fully tested way for any U.S. infantry or special operations company to develop its own state-of-the-art techniques for any intensity of combat.

Tequila Junction: 4th-Generation Counterinsurgency

Americas

Posterity Press (NC), illustrated edition

Without "boots on the ground" that are tactically proficient enough to survive as tiny well-dispersed elements without any help from supporting arms, America should not plan to win any more wars. This book shows how the Pentagon could--with some "truly light" infantrymen and more self-sufficient commandos--project more overseas power at less cost in money and lives. Since Korea, America's foes haven't needed as much preparatory fire or technology, nor have they caused as much collateral damage. This makes them more appealing to local populations. "One More Bridge to Cross" takes a closer look at what happened at Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, and later battles. Then, it shows how to defend against (and acquire) advanced surprise assault technique. Semi-autonomous U.S. squads will not be possible until control over training has been decentralized. Too little tactical experimentation at the company/school level has been the problem. Since the Vietnam War, it has become increasingly clear that America's defense establishment cannot defeat any "bottom-up-operating" (criminal-or-Asian-oriented) foe without first allowing more initiative from its own lowest echelons.

One More Bridge to Cross: Lowering the Cost of War

This book shows how to control a contested region with squad-sized outposts. North Vietnam and Iran have done it. Now, North Korea may try to consolidate the South with such a strategy. Scores of tiny Western outposts could do this too. After a short threat assessment, Dragon Days describes what a single U.S. rifle squad must do to safely accomplish such a mission in Asia. It will need the following Unconventional Warfare (UW) skills: (1) some police procedure; (2) obscurely defending; (3) finding an enemy weakness; (4) making a secret approach; (5) disguising the attack; (6) precluding a counterstroke; (7) rural E&amp;E; (8) enhancing rural terrain (9) urban E&amp;E; and (10) enhancing urban terrain. Because of Asia's bottom-up culture, the little picture is where such an ability originates. This heavily illustrated book contains more small-unit perspective than any U.S. govt. publication. In fact, it may still constitute America's only UW tactical-technique manual.

Dragon Days: Time for "Unconventional" Tactics

Asia

"Phantom Soldier" is now on the U.S. Army's most prestigious pre-deployment reading list for a reason. It won't please those who have come to believe that wars are won and casualties limited through technology, or that the victor's version of one is always correct. But, all U.S. security personnel should read it. Possibly the West's best treatise on Oriental warfare, it sheds new light on what Asian infantry can do: (1) alternate between guerrilla, mobile, and positional warfare; (2) use "ordinary forces" to engage and "extraordinary forces [infiltrators]" to defeat; and then (3) retreat to save lives. What occurred in history doesn't change, but one's perception of it does--as he comes to better understand his former foe. Here's what really happened at Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir, and Hue City. Those who believe this book's cover art to be fantasy have only to google the term "dac cong." Through how the NVA held their own without resupply, tanks, artillery, or air power, U.S. grunts could better survive the more lethal enemy weaponry of the 21st Century.

Phantom Soldier: The Enemy's Answer to U.S. Firepower

This book is not just fun reading for determined riflemen, but vital self-defense info. for all security ranks and jobs. The Pentagon lost on the ground 40 years ago, and its squad tactics haven't changed much. Herein lie more advanced techniques for every category of short-range combat. They will permit better small-unit maneuvers (and fewer losses) for every intensity of combat. As Western ordnance turned more lethal, Eastern armies came to rely on tiny semi-autonomous elements. Most provide every rifleman with guerrilla training. Until the Pentagon follows suit, its own infantry enlistees will have less field skill, initiative, and decision-making experience than their Communist counterparts. In any close encounter, they will die unnecessarily and their commanders suffer too many casualties.

The Tiger's Way: A U.S. Private's Best Chance for Survival

This book focuses on how Iran and its various proxies fight. It is on the most prestigious pre-deployment reading lists for both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps, because it fully details the Islamists' yet-to-be-defeated 4GW method. That method is best countered by "truly light" infantry tactics, but America has had only "line" infantry since 1943. Its members travel mostly by truck and fight mostly with supporting arms. That's because the Pentagon is still practicing a "higher-tech" version of 2GW (killing as many enemy as possible). How to operate the latest equipment takes up so much of the young infantryman's day that he never learns how to sneak up on an expert defender. He and his buddies don't become any less visible by donning advanced electronics, so their traditional small-unit maneuvers remain as predictable as before. All Posterity Press books should be viewed as instruments of long-overdue change.

Tactics of the Crescent Moon: Militant Muslim Combat Methods

Posterity Press (NC), illustrated edition (November 5, 2004)

This book is now on the U.S. Army's most prestigious pre-deployment reading list. Since 9/11, our deployed troops have learned many things. Though the war in Afghanistan is still raging, many of their hard-won lessons have yet to be assimilated by the Stateside bureaucracy. To help, Militant Tricks has recounted America's progress in Iraq and Afghanistan from the standpoint of East Asian battlefield deception. Both countries were part of the Mongol Empire for over 200 years and thus prone to every sort of ancient Chinese illusion. Militant Tricks also contains the tactical "techniques" with which to counter an Islamic extremist’s urban offensive. While some of these nontraditional techniques were risked during the Baghdad Surge, they may soon be forgotten.

Militant Tricks: Battlefield Ruses of the Islamic Insurgent

This book is about covertly penetrating the enemy heartland along the ground. At the height of the Iraq War, it was selling to Marines in the Euphrates Valley at a rate of 200 per month. That's because it helped them to seize the initiative. First, it describes the West's most effective counter-guerrilla force. This was not the British in Malaysia, but Rhodesia's Selous Scouts. Their ability to operate safely as tiny teams deep in enemy territory is the model to which all U.S. special operators should aspire. Never fond of apartheid, they regularly converted former foes into loyal members. Then, it shows how to follow enemy footprints in urban terrain. Finally, it provides a spellbinding history of "terrorism" in Africa--the most recent arena for Islamist and Communist expansion.

Terrorist Trail: Backtracking the Foreign Fighter

Reference

Afrique offers a detailed "in-theater" intelligence brief on the degree of Chinese expansion in Africa. In the process, it uncovers several disturbing facts: (1) how America's current heroin deluge is due to a largely unimpeded drug conduit across Africa; (2) how the 1994 Rwandan genocide still goes on in the Eastern DRC; (3) how freedom had hit the skids in South Africa; and (4) how the U.S. has been deprived of natural resources essential to its security. But, at the same time, this book demonstrates how police investigative procedure would better ascertain the progress of America's arch-enemies than standard U.S. intelligence-gathering methods. That's because those enemies (the Islamists, Communists, and drug runners) all operate from the bottom up -- through thousands of tiny, seemingly inconsequential, razor cuts at the local level. Many of those cuts have additionally been disguised, so most never register with electronic surveillance or the mainstream media. With 54 nations under attack from those same enemies, modern-day Africa makes a perfect research model for such a conclusion. At the end, Afrique talks about how the U.S. military could more effectively reverse these trends.

Afrique: A Warning for America

Africa

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by H. John Poole. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by H. John Poole