Newswise — ROLLA, Mo. – Dr. John C. McManus, a military historian and the author of “Grunts,” a book about the importance of ground forces in recent U.S. military history, is available to discuss the role highly trained “boots on the ground” played in Sunday’s killing of Osama Bin Laden.
“I think it’s fascinating, and very telling, that the operation seemed to stem from human intelligence and was successful because of a direct attack by highly trained ‘boots on the ground’,” says McManus, an associate professor of U.S. military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) in Rolla, Mo.
McManus’ latest book – titled “Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq” – examines the significance of American ground forces in an era of increasing reliance on technology in modern warfare. The book was published in August 2010 by NAL, an imprint of Penguin.
“The true difference makers in wars will be the soldiers on the ground,” McManus says. “Now, they need a lot of support, and the technology makes a difference. But in the end, who tips the balance? The guy on the ground.”
A member of the Missouri S&T faculty since 2000, McManus is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on the history of Americans in combat. A member of the editorial advisory board at World War II magazine and Global War Studies, McManus was named to History News Network’s list of Top Young Historians in 2007. In 2008, he received the Missouri Conference on History Book Award for “Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible.”
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