Soldiers of the Nation PDF Download

Author: Harry Franqui-Rivera
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496222342
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
As the island of Puerto Rico transitioned from Spanish to U.S. imperial rule, the military and political mobilization of popular sectors of its society played important roles in the evolution of its national identities and subsequent political choices. While scholars of American imperialism have examined the political, economic, and cultural aspects of U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico, few have considered the integral role of Puerto Rican men in colonial military service, helping to consolidate the empire. In Soldiers of the Nation Harry Franqui-Rivera argues that the emergence of strong and complicated Puerto Rican national identities is deeply rooted in the long history of colonial military organizations on the island. Franqui-Rivera examines the patterns of inclusion and exclusion within the military and the various forms of citizenship that are subsequently transformed into socioeconomic and political enfranchisement. Analyzing the armed forces as an agent of cultural homogenization, Franqui-Rivera further explains the formation and evolution of Puerto Rican national identities that led to the creation of the Estado Libre Asociado (the commonwealth) in 1952. Franqui-Rivera concludes that Puerto Rican soldiers were neither cannon fodder for the metropolis nor the pawns of the criollo political elites. Rather, they were men with complex identities who demonstrated a liberal, popular, and broad definition of Puertorriqueñidad.

Author: Gordon R. Sullivan
Publisher: Army
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Soldiers Serving the Nation, like its companion volume Portrait of an Army (1991), highlights a representative cross-section from the more than 15,000 pieces of military art in the Army Art Collection, consisting of paintings, drawings, sketches, watercolors, and other media. The selected images provide a powerful record of an Army on the move by focusing on the individual Soldier meeting the nation's needs wherever and whenever required. The artists have captured that sense of duty and personal commitment in portraits and scenes, recording conditions, people, and things that have shaped the Soldier's life. The result is a distilling of experience and emotions, of conditions and places, and of courage and hard work, as rendered in images that move from the particular moment to what has been consistent over time--the long tradition of service rooted in the dedication and inner strength of each Soldier.

Author: Andrew J. Bacevich
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
ISBN: 0805096035
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
A blistering critique of the gulf between America's soldiers and the society that sends them off to war, from the bestselling author of The Limits of Power and Washington Rules The United States has been "at war" in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade. Yet as war has become normalized, a yawning gap has opened between America's soldiers and veterans and the society in whose name they fight. For ordinary citizens, as former secretary of defense Robert Gates has acknowledged, armed conflict has become an "abstraction" and military service "something for other people to do." In Breach of Trust, bestselling author Andrew J. Bacevich takes stock of the separation between Americans and their military, tracing its origins to the Vietnam era and exploring its pernicious implications: a nation with an abiding appetite for war waged at enormous expense by a standing army demonstrably unable to achieve victory. Among the collateral casualties are values once considered central to democratic practice, including the principle that responsibility for defending the country should rest with its citizens. Citing figures as diverse as the martyr-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the marine-turned-anti-warrior Smedley Butler, Breach of Trust summons Americans to restore that principle. Rather than something for "other people" to do, national defense should become the business of "we the people." Should Americans refuse to shoulder this responsibility, Bacevich warns, the prospect of endless war, waged by a "foreign legion" of professionals and contractor-mercenaries, beckons. So too does bankruptcy—moral as well as fiscal.

Author: Kevin Dellicker
Publisher: Koehler Books
ISBN: 9781646630929
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
". . . a poignant reminder that our freedom still depends on 'twenty-percent soldiers' who volunteer to protect and defend our nation when duty calls." -Tom Ridge, 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania, First US Secretary of Homeland Security The National Guard and Reserves is comprised of remarkable men and women who work behind the scenes as our nation's supplemental fighting force. It's a part-time job with a full-time commitment that involves the entire family. They wear the same uniforms and train to the same standards as America's full-time military. And when called to service, they fight right alongside the active duty. Nobody knows the difference. Yet they are very different. Twenty-Percent Soldiers is the true account of one couple's life in the National Guard through eighteen years of part-time warfare. With humor and humility, Kevin and Susan Dellicker portray what it's like to jump back and forth between having a "normal" civilian life in small-town Pennsylvania and conducting special operations missions in Southwest Asia. A tribute to all the part-time soldiers and their families who have been fighting the Global War on Terrorism since 9/11, this story is also a call-to-action for politicians and military leaders to fix a broken family support system that is failing the part-time force. Twenty-Percent Soldiers reinforces a truth that all Americans can embrace: With perseverance, love and faith, ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.

Author:
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811733238
Category : Soldiers
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
- Vibrant color paintings illustrate soldiers and battles of the war - Color photos of seldom-seen period artifacts such as uniforms, weapons, and other equipment In this collection, renowned artist Don Troiani teams up with leading artifact historian James L. Kochan to present the American Revolution as it has existed only in our imaginations: in living color.From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from Washington to Cornwallis, from the Minute Men to the Black Watch, these pages are packed with scenes of grand action and great characters, recreated in the vivid blues and reds that defined the Revolutionary era. Troiani's depictions of these legendary fife-and-drum soldiers are based on firsthand accounts and, wherever possible, surviving artifacts. Scores of color photographs of these objects--many of them from private collections and seen here for the very first time--accompany the paintings. Items range from muskets and beautifully ornate swords to more unique pieces such as badges with unit insignia or patriotic slogans and Baron von Steuben's liquor chest.More than just a glimpse into a world long past, this is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Revolutionary War firsthand.

Author: David Vine
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1627791698
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
American military bases encircle the globe; from Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras. The far-reaching story of the perils of the U. S. military bases and what these bases say about America today.

Author: Gregory T. Knouff
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271047751
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
"The Soldiers' Revolution offers us a rare glimpse into the everyday world of the American Revolution. We see how the common experience of war drew soldiers together as they began the long process of forging an identity for a fledgling nation."--Jacket.

Author: Benjamin Buchholz
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society
ISBN: 0870203959
Category : Iraq War, 2003-
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
"Private Soldiers chronicles the 2-127th's year-long deployment from the unique perspective of the soldiers themselves. Written and photographed by three battalion members, the book provides a rare first-hand account of war and life in Iraq. Fascinating soldier interviews reveal the effects of deployment on the troops and on their families back home, and interviews with Iraqi civilians describe the Iraqis' perceptions of life, war, and working alongside Wisconsin troops. Brilliant photography illuminates the 2-127th's year, from training to "boots on the ground" to their return home. And candid photos token by battalion members capture the soldiers' day-to-day lives and camaraderie."--BOOK JACKET.

Author: Kristin Ann Hass
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520274113
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
For the city’s first two hundred years, the story told at Washington DC’s symbolic center, the National Mall, was about triumphant American leaders. Since 1982, when the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated, the narrative has shifted to emphasize the memory of American wars. In the last thirty years, five significant war memorials have been built on, or very nearly on, the Mall. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, The National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During WWII, and the National World War II Memorial have not only transformed the physical space of the Mall but have also dramatically rewritten ideas about U.S. nationalism expressed there. In Sacrificing Soldiers on the National Mall, Kristin Ann Hass examines this war memorial boom, the debates about war and race and gender and patriotism that shaped the memorials, and the new narratives about the nature of American citizenship that they spawned. Sacrificing Soldiers on the National Mall explores the meanings we have made in exchange for the lives of our soldiers and asks if we have made good on our enormous responsibility to them.

Author: Fred Anderson
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 0807838284
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
A People's Army documents the many distinctions between British regulars and Massachusetts provincial troops during the Seven Years' War. Originally published by UNC Press in 1984, the book was the first investigation of colonial military life to give equal attention to official records and to the diaries and other writings of the common soldier. The provincials' own accounts of their experiences in the campaign amplify statistical profiles that define the men, both as civilians and as soldiers. These writings reveal in intimate detail their misadventures, the drudgery of soldiering, the imminence of death, and the providential world view that helped reconcile them to their condition and to the war.