What We Need: Extravagance and Shortages in America's Military by Barrett Tillman

Table of Contents

With the U.S. military struggling to adapt to the new world order of stateless warfare as exemplified in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon continues to buy extremely expensive weapon systems it seldom if ever uses: advanced fighters, stealth bombers, "boomer" submarines, and ballistic missiles, just to name a few.

Why do our soldiers still carry unreliable forty-year-old rifles?

Why are they without adequate body armor?

Why do their vehicles have makeshift protection, at best?

Why aren't they getting the medical care they deserve?

At this critical time in the history of America's armed forces, author Barrett Tillman gets down to business and offers remedies and solutions. In easily accessible, often humorous prose, Tillman throws back the curtains of pretense and excuse, cutting deeply into the core issues. If you've ever wondered why the U.S. military can't thrive on an annual budget of $440,000,000,000 - that's right: four hundred forty and nine more zeroes! you are about to find out.

What We Need includes a detailed examination of the military industrial complex, expert analysis of American force structure and the challenges of the "real" new world order, and prescriptions for how we can get more bangand the bang we needfor our buck.

Iconoclastic and unfailingly irreverent, this book is a must read for all Americans who are concerned about our national defense.