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In an era where 'history' had supposedly ended, what was an Army for? This question confronted the US Army at the end of the Cold War. Although public support for the military remained high, fewer were sending their children to enlist and questions were raised about the uncertainty of future operations: How would Army leaders prepare soldiers for difficult peacekeeping operations that called for a more human-oriented approach in light of the promises of high-tech warfare? How best to navigate the broader debates about changing gender and sexual norms in American society? Pulled in different directions, the Army struggled to put forward a compelling vision of who and what the American solder should be. In Uncertain Warriors, David Fitzgerald reveals how, in response to this uncertainty, they eventually fell back on an older vision of martial masculinity, embracing a 'warrior ethos' that was meant to define the contemporary American soldier.

"Taking American mobilization in WWII as its departure point, this book offers a concise but comprehensive introduction to the history of militarization in the United States since 1940. Exploring the ways in which war and the preparation for war has shaped and affected the United States during 'The American Century', Fitzgerald demonstrates how militarization has moulded relations between the US and the rest of the world. Providing a timely synthesis of key scholarship in a rapidly developing field, this book shows how concerns of national security have affected issues as diverse as the development of the welfare state, infrastructure spending, gender relations and notions of citizenship. It will also examine the way in which war is treated in the American Imagination; how it has been depicted throughout this era, why its consequences have been made largely invisible and how Americans have often considered themselves to be reluctant warriors. In integrating domestic histories with international and transnational topics such as the American 'empire of bases' and the experience of American service personnel overseas, the author outlines the ways in which American militarization had, and still has, global consequences. Of interest to scholars, researchers and students of military history, war studies, US foreign relations and policy, this book addresses a burgeoning and dynamic field from which parallels and comparisons can be drawn for the modern day"--

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 The Army's Counterinsurgency War in Vietnam -- 2 "Out of the Rice Paddies" -- 3 Low-Intensity Conflict in the Reagan Years -- 4 Peacekeeping and Operations Other Than War in the 1990s -- 5 Mr. Rumsfeld's War -- 6 Counterinsurgency and "Vietnam" in Iraq, 2003-2006 -- 7 The Return to Counterinsurgency: FM 3-24 and the "Surge" -- 8 A Never-Ending War? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

The politics of absence -- Inside the sending state -- The church's eye on its flock -- Colonies of the little motherland -- The stranger or the prodigal son?