Product Description

Tactics of the Crescent Moon comes none too soon for deployed U.S. service personnel. Little, if any, of their battlefield intelligence has been tactically interpreted. U.S. analysts are generally more interested in the enemy’s strategic or technological capabilities. Even if those analysts did want to tactically assess the information, most lack the infantry and historical background to do so. This book fills that void. It reveals—for the first time in any detail—the most common small-unit maneuvers of the Iraqi and Afghan resistance fighters. Its author is a retired infantryman and recognized authority on guerrilla warfare. He has traveled the world extensively and still trains active-duty U.S. units.

Tactics of the Crescent Moon could save many lives (if not turn the tide of war) in the Middle East. It is a heavily researched, well-illustrated, and spell-binding account of how Muslim militants fight. While the book delves mainly into their tactical method, it also uncovers their cultural orientation. This nail-biting nonfiction covers events as recent as 15 September 2004.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20199 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780963869579
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"Have become addicted to ... Poole’s savvy books on how to beat the enemy, written for ... grunt at the bayonet level." -- Col. David H. Hackworth U.S. Army (Ret.), September 2004

"John Poole has ... captured the nature of the new threat and ... produced a required read for our troopers’ packs." -- Gen. Anthony C. Zinni USMC (Ret.), November 2004

"John Poole has ... hit a home run.... [I]f we ... adapt our training and operations ..., we can still prevail." -- Col. Robert V. Kane U.S. Army (Ret.), October 2004

"Poole’s well-titled Tactics of the Crescent Moon offers an absorbing ... analytic study of ... Islamic guerrilla tactics." -- B.Gen. Edwin H. Simmons USMC (Ret.), September 2004

"Tactics of the Crescent Moon helps us understand the threat of terrorism and what must be done to defeat it." -- Maj.Gen. John H. Admire USMC (Ret.), November 2004

"This book grasps Fourth Generation war against Islamic opponents far better than anything coming out of TRADOC or Quantico." -- William S. Lind, September 2004

"[Book] ... may help to turn the tide of this war.... [It] provides ... battlefield intelligence you can’t get any other way." -- Leatherneck, December 2004

"[T]he insurgency’s ... mid-level leaders ... [are] from al-Qaeda, the Lebanese Shiite ... Hezbollah, and ... Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said the author." -- Newhouse News Service, 12 November 2004

"[This book] ... is a comprehensive interpretation of Muslim extremists’ tactics, theory, and thinking." -- North County Times (Southern California), 28 November 2004

From the Publisher
Tactics of the Crescent Moon shows—in detail—how Muslim militants fight at short range. From all available intelligence, it has extracted small-unit tactical trends. While the enemy’s combat methods may seem amateurish, they are quite effective in a 4th-generation-warfare environment. They have already forced the Israeli Army out of Southern Lebanon and the Soviet Army out of Afghanistan. To make matters worse, they may be improving. In the book’s foreword, Maj.Gen. Ray L. Smith USMC (Ret.) warns that the current crop of "irregulars have flexible and adaptable training techniques and tactical methods." This book should help U.S. forces to counter those methods.

From the Author
This is more than one foreign faction at work in Iraq. There is al-Qaeda and its veterans of the Afghan or Chechen Wars. But there is also Lebanese Hezbollah (an Iranian Revolutionary Guard affiliate) and its suicide recruits (largely Palestinian). Both factions are recruiting and training locals to do the fighting. Normally at a disadvantage in firepower and technology, both rely on surprise. While not yet as tactically sophisticated as the Viet Cong were 35 years ago, both are unfettered by bureaucratic restriction and doctrinal inertia. Their training method is decentralized and dynamic. It allows each instructor to refine what he teaches. Unless, U.S. soldiers and Marines follow suit, they may be facing a protracted struggle with a Vietnam-like ending.

Customer Reviews

Special Operations must read
Having read the book and been impressed with how author join Poole has distilled into a readable and understandable format, the tactics techniques and ideology of muslim fighters, I have gained a perspective on their tactical methods that I did not have or could not have learned by a generalized study.

Gunny Poole has done the hard work of research for the grunt and special operations soldier. It is a book that gives a TACTICAL perspective explaining the subtleties of the eastern (south west asia in this case) tactical mindset.

As a current Special Forces soldier who has been to both Afghanistan and Iraq I RECCOMEND THIS BOOK.

I am also humbled by the experience and knowledge of those here and elsewhere who have reviewed and reccommended Gunny Poole's books and only offer my perspective from a sergeant's and operators viewpoint.

This book is not meant to give a big picture theorist a perspective on middle eastern culture and geo politics. And rightly so. It is a thought provoking and pertinent study for the soldier on the ground. Fighting the militants (insurgent).

No military study is currently availble that gives the tactical mindset and explains it as Mr Poole has. The only other that comes close is Afghan Guerilla war, a series of vignettes in the words of the Afghan mujahideen, which the soldier then has to try to figure out their tactical method within the given context.

Gunny Poole's Book Tactics of the Crescent Moon is better way for soldiers to learn the enemy.

If you want a book about US failures and how our real strategy is land and resource aquisition as one reviewer here lamented about, look elesewhere.

This book is for the guy on the ground who will be doing the fighting and the men that will plan and lead those operations.

This book could turn the tide in the war on terror
This book is truly remarkable. In Tactics of the Crescent Moon, John Poole provides an incredibly insightful analysis of the Middle Eastern problem and our role in trying to resolve it. He explains extremely complicated issues with remarkable clarity, examining them from historical, political, cultural, military and moral perspectives. Despite the immense scope of the book, his key insights never get lost in the complexity of his subject matter. At the most fundamental level, John Poole provides detailed tactical descriptions of exactly how our Middle Eastern adversaries fight. To illuminate the big picture, he clearly shows how these tactical examples relate to the larger cultural and political issues. He goes on to propose solutions that can help American privates survive, help commanders make better decisions, help generals develop better strategies and even help politicians make better military policies. Most importantly, the book's profound morality offers insight on how to win what might be the most important battle of all, the battle for the moral high ground. We will not win this war on terrorism if we lose touch, even for a moment, with the great and noble values that make us who we are. John Poole reminds us that when Americans go to war we bring with us our honor, our compassion, our love of freedom, and our belief in the equality of all people. Our morality is our ultimate weapon.

A must read for those who leave the wire
During seven months in Falluja in 2005 I spent approximately 150 days in the city. The history alone in this book showed us just how much we may have been underestimating our enemies, and that if they followed their classical influences they could have done much more damage.

The history is priceless dating back to influences of the Samarai and how it came to bring the original Middle Eastern assassins, and how today's suicide bombers are like those in the past, only they have explosives instead of knives, and do not need as much skill.

John Poole had spent close to 30 years in the Marine Corps leading men as both a gunnery sergeant (when enlisted) and a Lt Colonel (when commissioned). He saw Vietnam first hand, and left feeling that he could have done more for the men he'd led. Although the officers that are in charge of teaching battle field skills are not fast to accept his methods the men on the ground who deal with the enemies in the streets of Iraqi cities know he is right.