Summary Of The Masks Of War By Carl Builder

Chapter two of Masks of War examines Carl Builder’s thesis that the U.S. military services each have a unique service personality and that their cultural characteristics influence service operations, including joint operations. The examination will summarize how Builder defines the individual service cultures in his book, The Masks of War, and how these service cultures affect the Joint Organizations to which they belong. This chapter presumes with a summary of what many consider is the most dramatic military reform legislation in American history, the Goldwater Nicholas Act of 1986. Builder’s study of military service culture was sponsored by the RAND Corporation and initiated by the Army. Specifically, the study’s purpose was to determine why anomalies existed in the ability of the various services to conduct systems analysis. It is significant to note that the study began before the Goldwater Nichols act of 1986 was passed but was not published until 1989. Carl Builder illustrates each branch roles and responsibility during wartime and how essential joint operation is to help win the hearts and mind on the battlefield.
We can all tell stories of how cadences that we recite during foot marches can also serve as ways to taunt other branches of the military, but LTC DiMarco helped put Carl Builder point in perspective. As much as we would disagree and put one branch above the other, I look at all five branches and including the US Coast Guard (see what I did) are essential to the mission in what we called combined joint forces land components command