Pundita: America's amazing new military: getting it right all around the world

The blogger Pundita discusses Imperial Grunts, by Robert D. Kaplan (Random House, Sept. 2005), and recent changes in the U.S. military. (She also says that the book's title is somewhat misleading.)


Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground

From Barnes & Noble (click on book cover for more):

FROM OUR EDITORS

A huge map hangs from a Pentagon wall that divides the planet into five area military commands. Veteran Atlantic Monthly correspondent Robert D. Kaplan decided that the only way to explore such a map, "to know it intimately," was on foot. With unprecedented access, he traveled alongside America's elite fighting forces to far-flung regions of the world, including Mongolia, Columbia, Yemen, West Africa, and Iraq. With vivid reportage, he describes not only conventional military missions and patrols in volatile areas but also humanitarian activities. First-rate journalism; first-class insights.