America’s Military Today

Challenges for the Armed Forces in a Time of War

Tod Ensign

paperback

$18.95 / £12.99

In the face of seemingly unending resistance in Iraq and growing difficulty with recruitment at home, the U.S. armed forces are under increasing scrutiny from Congress, the media, the public, and even from within. Now available in an affordable paperback edition, America’s Military Today provides an eye-opening survey of the way the modern U.S. military enlists, trains, and deploys its all-volunteer force. Longstanding soldiers’ rights attorney Tod Ensign brings together a range of expert commentators to examine hot-button issues, including:

• The techniques used by the Pentagon to recruit and train a required 200,000 volunteers each year
• The controversial arguments being advanced for a return to the draft
• The military’s reputation as an exemplar in the promotion of racial minoritie
• The ongoing challenge of gender discrimination, sexual assaults, and bias against gays and lesbians
• The appropriate role of the armed forces in policing post-9/11 America
• The future of war fighting, with an emphasis on the continued relevance of the ordinary foot soldier

The book also includes first-person accounts from soldiers on active duty in Iraq, providing a harrowing and poignant picture of life at the sharp end of combat duty today.

Tod Ensign is an attorney and the director of Citizen Soldier, a nonprofit GI rights advocacy group. He is the author of Military Life, and a coauthor of GI Guinea Pigs. He lives in Manhattan.