The framework of operational warfare /

An officer in the US Army, Newell (US Army Center of Military History, Washington, DC) here presents a book in the series "The Operational Level of War," which is intended to contribute to an understanding of the potentials and dangers of war in the 1990s. Newell uses the term "operational art" (derived from the 1986 edition of the Army's Field Manual 100-5, Operations) to refer to the level of war between strategy and tactics. He argues that war must be analyzed from the strategic, operational, and tactical perspectives, and suggests the five-paragraph field order format as a vehicle for analysis. If appropriate levels of civil and military leadership apply the five questions of the field order format (What is the situation? What is the object of the war? How will the war be conducted? Supported? Controlled?) to each of the perspectives of war, orderly analysis will be possible. By its nature war is chaotic; Newell argues that a logical thought process from the top levels of government to the smallest field tactical units is essential to mitigate that chaos. An important contribution to the study of war that must be approached carefully and thoughtfully. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.-D. F. Bletz, Wilson College