Thursday, October 21, 2010

The War After Armageddon; Plus a Word: Obstreperous

I just finished reading The War After Armageddon by Ralph Peters and have to recommend it. This is a book written by a retired Army officer who spent enough time researching the Marine Corps to make the language authentic. The title grabbed me first. Armageddon is supposed to be the last war ever, so I was instantly drawn to the question "What else is left to fight over after Armageddon?" I was in the mood for a fast, entertaining read and I usually do well with a war drama. This book fit the bill for me perfectly.

The author knew more than just military terminology and structures. It was apparent to me that he knew the secret languages of Army staff officers and Marine grunts. He understood the pride that motivates every Marine, the values that cause an NCO to maintain an inhuman discipline despite adversity.

Ralph Peters understands more than just how to talk like a professional soldier and Marine; he understands what motivates two sides of an extreme. While his book is a prophetic warning against religious extremism, Peters was able to authentically write the thoughts and speech of Fundamentalist Muslims and Christians. I don't know much about the Koran, but I know that he often made authentic references to scripture that even extreme Christians will appreciate.

This is a dystopian novel about a United States that has swung far to the Christian Right at war against an Islam united under one Caliph. In the same tradition of 1984, Farenheit 451 and Brave New World, Peters uses an unlikely scenario to demonstrate the dangers if we allowed certain ideas to grow out of control.

The book also demonstrates the very real threat of nuclear weapons held by people who are not deterred common rational ideas such as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Growing up in the 1980's, we lived under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation from the Soviet Union but were pretty sure that neither our own military nor the Soviet military would ever launch their weapons because neither side could truly win. My kids are growing up under different assumptions: that there aren't ICBM rockets being trained on American targets anymore. What we try not to think about is that if a religious fanatic is willing to strap TNT to themself and detonate it in a public place, why wouldn't they be willing to detonate a thermo-nuclear weapon if they are given the chance. While the Soviet Union refrained from attacking us because they did not want to live in a post-Nuclear world, it is not apparent to us that the terrorists who threaten the United States understand or even care about their future on this Earth. They are willing to die for their ideas and firmly believe that the afterlife will be far greater than this current life.

Ralph Peters has an impressive resume as a military analyst and strategist, who understands the systems and issues at play globally. That not only contributed to the authenticity and texture of the story, it added another important issue to be considered as part of the dystopian thesis: a dependence on electronic systems at the expense of fundamental military skills may expose our military in a future battle. The battlefield Peters describes is heavily dependent on electronic systems for communication and navigation, but the enemy has several weapons and techniques available that render a fully armed unit with a full compliment of physically-fit men unable to move forward, seek out, and destroy their enemy. Today, electronic systems prevent "friendly fire" incidents, deliver real-time pictures of the battlefield, and many other functions that were unimaginable just a few years ago. However, this is a fragile toolset that could be taken away by a capable enemy in the future. If we depend on GPS and never learn how to triangulate our position, determine an azimuth, and navigate over terrain using a map and compass, we may find ourselves completely lost and hopelessly defenceless in a war. The technologies exist, all we need is a determined enemy.

I learned a new word while reading The War After Armageddon: Obstreperous. It was used to describe an old man being detained in a crowd, but I couldn't tell from the context exactly what the word meant. According to dictionary.com it means either to be unruly and resisting restraint or to be boisterous and clamorous. That's a good word to stick in your back pocket and pull out to make a sentence more interesting later.