Siewert, Jack R. Outpost Kelly; a tanker's story.

SIEWERT, Jack R. Outpost Kelly; a tanker's story. Univ. of Alabama Press. 156p. illus. notes. bibliog. c2006. 0-8173-5341-0. $19.95. SA

Warfare is so much more than great armies wheeling in clever strategic maneuvers, of divisions invading enemy beaches or battering enemy strong points into submission. Much more often, war is long, dusty marches as tired platoons are plugged into critical points on the line, or small units cowering under enemy barrages in their waterlogged defensive trenches. And always, there is the young company-grade officer, not long out of college, using his untried resources and half-remembered lectures to make sense out of a bewildering situation. Leadership is a skill always learned in the field, and how successful it is depends on what is in the soldier to begin with.

In 1950, Second Lieutenant Jack Siewert found himself in charge of a platoon of five M-48 Patton tanks and their enlisted crews, rapidly learning how to survive and fight in a morass of rocky hills in Korea. Here, the author tells of a fairly routine three-day assignment to the front line that morphed into a two-week struggle to defend, and then to retake, an isolated outpost. It was not one of the more newsworthy battles of the war, nor was it strictly speaking even a battle--mostly it was just tension-filled waiting interspersed with grinding fighting. This isn't even a coming-of-age-in-combat tale; Siewert was a capable and self-possessed young officer before the combat began, and a stable and responsible one afterward. His story is, in fact, is refreshingly free of self-conscious angst and melodrama. It comes across as the tale of most young men, placed in uniform and in command of a small body of men, who simply do what they must do under new and frightening conditions. It also makes an instructive manual for others, in or out of the military, who might find themselves in a boots-on-the-ground leadership position someday. Recommended for school and public collections.

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.

Raymond Puffer, Ph.D., Historian, Edwards AFB, Lancaster, CA