Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground (Vintage Departures) - Books

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
In Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts, acclaimed journalist Robert D. Kaplan continues his exploration of the American military's challenging and varied commitments around the world.

From protecting sea lanes, to providing disaster relief, to preparing for potential military confrontation with North Korea and Iran, Kaplan describes the astonishing, vital, and often unacknowledged operations regularly performed by American military personnel in the air, at sea, and on the ground. Vivid and illuminating, this book takes us deep into the highly technical and exotic cultures of the armed forces, telling soldiers' stories from the perspective of the troops on the ground.

Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

This book will help you understand our country's global commitments October 16, 2008
In his latest book, Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts, Robert D. Kaplan picks up where he left off with his last book, Imperial Grunts: On the Ground with the American Military. This book is a travel log of sorts, taking the reader along on a nearly two-year journey that Kaplan experienced before things began to get better for the American military in Iraq-and worse in Afghanistan.

I was amazed at how much we actually do not know about our country's military deployments and how widespread the front lines in the Global War on terrorism actually are.

Kaplan leads off this exploit with a deployment in Niger with a Marine unit that is in this poor African country to help in any simple way they can. Medical supplies, basic training, and American moral support all add up to a short vignette starring a small group of regular guys in a poverty-stricken country doing everything they can to make life just a little bit better for their hosts.

From Niger, the odyssey continues through a variety of locales that range from the jungles of Thailand to the frozen tundra of Alaska and on to the thin air of Nepal. Kaplan visits Mosul, Iraq, where the situation has improved so dramatically that he barely recognizes the city he left a little over a year before. He spends time on a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Pacific, preparing for the future challenges our Navy will face with the growing expeditionary navy of Communist China.

Kaplan is a journalist, being such, the writing is excellent and his observations are striking. U.S. military might is deployed all across the globe today as you read this, trying to make a difference as only a volunteer force of a democratic country can do.

This is an excellent book. Each stop on Kaplan's tour is its own chapter. This allows the reader to stop often and reflect on the experience the writer has just described. Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts is eye-opening in so many regards that it is actually hard to get into words everything that is included

Armchair Interviews says: Read this book to understand our country's commitments to bettering the world and seeing to it that our shores stay safe.

4 out of 5 stars

Not as Good as Imperial Grunts October 7, 2008
Though not as good a book as the author's "Imperial Grunts" this sequel is a very well-done work. As in the previous book, Kaplan visits U.S. military outposts, large and small, around the world, describing the quiet and usually effective efforts our elite troops are executing to keep peace and prepare, if necessary, for war. As another reviewer noted, this is primarily a military travelogue and Kaplan, who I believe is one of the premier travel writers of this or any other time, winnows out the fascinating and the exotic as he writes about the various U.S. posts and the troops who man them. Some of the chapters are very compelling, such as the one describing the "pilots" of the unmanned Predators, the one describing the B-2 bomber pilots, the submarine crews, the green berets and so on. All in all, a fine account of today's military culture and the many ways we are waging -- overtly and covertly -- the Global War on Terrorism and wars to come.

4 out of 5 stars

Sequel to Imperial Grunts September 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

As pointed out by several other reviewers, this book is a sequel to the earlier and better Imperial Grunts. Kaplan revisits some of the locales of the earlier book and reports tremendous progress in places like Columbia and the Philippines. He spends time on a nuclear carrier, a destroyer and a nuclear fast attack submarine. Those were the best parts of the book. He spends time with A 10 pilots on deployment to Thailand and provides well-deserved credit to these blue collar fighter pilots who fly the unloved but tremendously valuable attack aircraft. It was so unloved by the fighter mafia that runs the US Air Force that they were going to retire the plane. The Army, which depends on air support, and has no air wing of its own like the Marine Corp, offered to take over the plane and add it to its own air arm. The Air Force quickly restored the A 10 units to full flying status and no more was heard for a while about retiring them.

Kaplan does travel a lot and the depth of his interviews in the earlier book isn't here but it is still a good source of information about the far flung US military as it fights the savage wars of peace.

5 out of 5 stars

A wonderful, informative and refreshing read February 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Compared to his earlier book, The Imperial Grunts, this one is not as good but it enhanced my view of the US Military much more than the "Imperial Grunts" since that book was mostly written about the ground forces deployed around the world. This one is about the naval, air forces and ground forces altogether but its emphasis is more on Air Force and Navy. It's a very informative book on the status of the US military and its future. Robert D. Kaplan is an able author with tons of knowledge about the past and he wonderfully mixes the past with present and then predicts the future to the best of his ability. I recommend his books to the military and political enthusiasts.

1 out of 5 stars

really bad January 17, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is a really bad book. Kaplan plays toy soldier, hangs out with military units all over the world and comes back with no particular insight and nothing to say. Its the adventures of a military groopie or wannabe who gets to play without paying.

In as much as there is an argument, its the same one from Imperial grunts. We don't need a fighting army anymore and the special forces can do everything. And Kaplan still doesn't understand that special forces are special because they are small and that the concept can't be scaled up to infinity.

He talks about covering Africa with A-teams. But he doesn't understand that 95% of the people in the military are not suitable for A-teams and that cost is not what determines how many A-teams you have.

His evaluations of the military come across as nothing more than blind admiration. Elite is the most commonly used word in the book and its applied to almost everyone serving to the point where it loses all meaning. Same with special forces. He applies the terms to regular military units which are in no way special forces. And Kaplan is in love with every weapons system as well. I'm sorry but navy submarines are not special forces teams on the cutting edge of intelligence gathering. They are the "big force" army Kaplan used to be critical of.

This is by far the worst book Kaplan has ever written (not politically but as a matter of writing craft). If your looking for a feel-good book about the US military and those who serve in it, you will probably like the book. Its a good book for amature military buffs. But for anyone looking for depth or useful content, don't bother.

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