A Reluctant Hero's Footsteps
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 12:19 amIn another life, I worked with John off and on for a decade or more. A fascinating man with an impressive military history as well as a gifted scientific and technical background. He retired (again) last month to focus on his writing but he already has two books published that I wanted to bring to your attention.
The first one, "A Reluctant Hero's Footsteps", I think many of you might find interesting. It is a unique approach to teaching his children more about their grandfather and the war in Europe coupled with great travel opportunity.
The second book listed below not so much unless you have an interest in military campaign planning. John currently has another Civil War book in the works.
If you'd like to know more about the author, check his new web page at
http://www.johnrscales.com
He is also on Facebook.
A Reluctant Hero's Footsteps
In 2011, by chance I discovered the after-action reports of the 329th Infantry Regiment, my father's World War II unit, on the Internet. An idea was born: use these to reconstruct my father's path in Europe. I would take my three children, Richard, Mary, and Stephen, on a trip to retrace those footsteps. This book is about our travels, but it is much more. It documents the life of a man and his family, the history of a unit, and how, through research and luck, we were able piece together the story. As far as possible, I tell the tale of my father's life with pictures and artifacts from that life. In parallel, I relate the history of the unit he joined in combat, inserting pictures where I can. In fitting all the records together with the trip itself, I discovered my father in new ways and built a memory for my children. In an appendix, I give you a guide as to how you can do this for your veterans as well.
Sherman Invades Georgia: Planning the North Georgia Campaign Using a Modern Perspective
A longtime Special Forces officer with a Ph.D. in systems engineering presents a new perspective on one of the legendary campaigns of the Civil War, General William T. Sherman's invasion of Georgia. Unlike most Civil War books that either treat individual battles and campaigns in a historical sense and give short shrift to planning, or study campaign planning with snippets from various campaigns to document specific features, General John Scales's book takes advantage of modern planning techniques to fully examine what went into the Georgia campaign. He has limited the information in his book to that possessed by General Sherman at the time, as documented in his correspondence during the campaign and not in his after-the-fact reports and autobiography. Laid out in chapters that follow the format of an "estimate of the situation," this book doesn't simply recount the facts or attempt to provide a definitive history - other books do that - rather it offers a narrative of the campaign that illustrates a logical decision-making process as formulated in modern times. Published in cooperation with the Associations of the United States Army, the book serves two audiences: military professionals can use it for training purposes and Civil War buffs and interested laymen can gain a sense of the uncertainty that real commanders face by not having all the records of both sides at hand.
The first one, "A Reluctant Hero's Footsteps", I think many of you might find interesting. It is a unique approach to teaching his children more about their grandfather and the war in Europe coupled with great travel opportunity.
The second book listed below not so much unless you have an interest in military campaign planning. John currently has another Civil War book in the works.
If you'd like to know more about the author, check his new web page at
http://www.johnrscales.com
He is also on Facebook.
A Reluctant Hero's Footsteps
In 2011, by chance I discovered the after-action reports of the 329th Infantry Regiment, my father's World War II unit, on the Internet. An idea was born: use these to reconstruct my father's path in Europe. I would take my three children, Richard, Mary, and Stephen, on a trip to retrace those footsteps. This book is about our travels, but it is much more. It documents the life of a man and his family, the history of a unit, and how, through research and luck, we were able piece together the story. As far as possible, I tell the tale of my father's life with pictures and artifacts from that life. In parallel, I relate the history of the unit he joined in combat, inserting pictures where I can. In fitting all the records together with the trip itself, I discovered my father in new ways and built a memory for my children. In an appendix, I give you a guide as to how you can do this for your veterans as well.
Sherman Invades Georgia: Planning the North Georgia Campaign Using a Modern Perspective
A longtime Special Forces officer with a Ph.D. in systems engineering presents a new perspective on one of the legendary campaigns of the Civil War, General William T. Sherman's invasion of Georgia. Unlike most Civil War books that either treat individual battles and campaigns in a historical sense and give short shrift to planning, or study campaign planning with snippets from various campaigns to document specific features, General John Scales's book takes advantage of modern planning techniques to fully examine what went into the Georgia campaign. He has limited the information in his book to that possessed by General Sherman at the time, as documented in his correspondence during the campaign and not in his after-the-fact reports and autobiography. Laid out in chapters that follow the format of an "estimate of the situation," this book doesn't simply recount the facts or attempt to provide a definitive history - other books do that - rather it offers a narrative of the campaign that illustrates a logical decision-making process as formulated in modern times. Published in cooperation with the Associations of the United States Army, the book serves two audiences: military professionals can use it for training purposes and Civil War buffs and interested laymen can gain a sense of the uncertainty that real commanders face by not having all the records of both sides at hand.