The Downsized Warrior: America's Army in Transition.(Review)

David McCormick. New York and London: New York University Press, 1998. Pp. 267. $24.95, cloth.

The United States Army that so convincingly won the Persian Gulf War just seven years ago was a force of 770,000 active-duty soldiers. The army of today has only 480,000, and the number may well be cut further. In The Downsized Warrior, McCormick, himself a former army officer and Operation Desert Storm veteran, analyzes the impact of the process by which 22,000 army officers were "downsized" in the wake of the Cold War. It is an interesting, original, and sobering tale, greatly strengthened by the differing levels of analysis the author brings to bear on the central question of the study: How has downsizing affected the devotion and professionalism of the officer corps of the United States Army?

McCormick begins his study by arguing that a professional officer corps is essential to the organization's long-term health, calling it "the heart and soul of the army." He reviews previous efforts to downsize the force, focusing on the divisive impact of the post-Vietnam officer drawdown and its long-term damage to the army. The study analyzes the politics of downsizing, tracking the evolution of army force posture from the Base Force of 1989 through the Bottom-Up Review …