Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always: More Than a Century of Service by Citizen Sailors - Hardcover

Commander David F. Winkler; U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0692327657 ISBN 13: 9780692327654

Publisher: Navy Reserve Centennial Book Committee, 2014

Synopsis

Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always: More Than a Century of Service by Citizen Sailors coincides with the centennial anniversary of the U.S. Navy Reserve on March 3, 2015. However, as the title indicates, Americans have been leaving their civilian occupations since the birth of the Navy in 1775 to serve the nation at sea during times of crises. This handsomely illustrated narrative aims to tell the story of those civilians' contributions to the nation's defense and security. Twelve chapters narrate the contributions of citizen-Sailors in the 19th century and the Navy Reserve during World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iraq, and continuing conflicts today. Besides providing a broad chronology covering how citizen-Sailors served as privateers, naval militiamen, National Naval Volunteers, Naval Reservists, and finally, simply as Sailors as part of the one Navy concept, the author elected to follow numerous individuals on their journeys in the Navy Reserve as representative stories of the millions of Americans who once wore Navy blue part-time. By highlighting the contributions of these individuals, the intent is to honor all who served in the USNR as well as salute their families for their service to country.

About this title

About the Author:

David F. Winkler earned his Ph.D. in 1998. from American University. His dissertation Cold War at Sea: High Seas Confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet Union was published in 2000 by the Naval Institute Press. He wrote Amirs, Admirals, and Desert Sailors: The U.S. Navy, Bahrain, and the Gulf which was published by Naval Institute Press in 2007, and was managing editor of The Navy, an illustrated coffee table book published by the Foundation. His latest book Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always covers the history of the Navy Reserve. At the Naval Historical Foundation he is the Director of Programs which includes Oral History collection. Winkler received his commission as a Navy ensign in 1980 through the Navy ROTC unit at Penn State. In addition to a B.A. in Political Science, he has an M.A. in International Affairs from Washington University. He is a retired Navy Reserve commander.

Review:

By Rear Adm. Tom Brooks, U.S. Navy (Ret.) At first glance Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always looks like an attractive coffee-table book produced for public relations and recruiting purposes. It is, of course, all of that. But more important this book contains serious history. Dr. David Winkler, the primary author, is the staff historian for the Naval Historical Foundation. The author of several well-researched and written books, his professionalism shows not only in the book's clear lucid style, but also in the way he has blended the voices of its many contributing authors to create a smooth flowing text. Although the formal authorization of the Naval Reserve Force came in March 1915 (Its name changed to Naval Reserve in 1919), citizen-sailors had been augmenting the American Navy since 1775. They filled out the crews of Navy ships and privateers in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 and replaced the officers and sailors who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Toward the end of the 19th Century, a number of states formed naval militias, which became the foundation for the Naval Reserve Force a generation later. Many naval militias disappeared with the creation of the Naval Reserve. Today, only New York operates a state naval militia. By the end of World War I, almost 300,000 Naval Reservists had served in the Navy. The first women had been recruited into the Naval Reserve Force in 1917, and the Reserve Flying Corps had trained some 2,700 naval aviators. Like the Navy at large, the Naval Reserve suffered from inadequate funding during most of the early interwar period, but continued to operate and create imaginative volunteer programs. These volunteers would begin to be called to active duty in 1940 and would significantly contribute to the outcome of World War II. At the time of the Battle of Midway, some 90 percent of the naval aviators had received their wings through Naval Reserve training programs. By the end of the war, over 50 percent of all officers in the surface fleet were Reservists. While the impact of the Reserve organizations in World War II are generally well understood by the public at large, less known are their contributions during the Korean War, when ships, sailors, aircraft, and aviators were called up to respond to the invasion of South Korea. Very often these were the same ships, personnel, and aircraft that had fought in World War II five years before. With the Cold War came the return of the draft and the regular and reserve forces expanded greatly. While there was no broad call-up of reservists for the Vietnam War (approximately 1,000 Seabees were called up in 1968), many Reservists voluntarily came back on active duty and served with great distinction. Less appreciated is the contribution of the Navy Reserve during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. More than 21,000 Reservists were called up to support Operation Desert Storm. Call-ups continued for the subsequent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Perhaps more significant, Reservists volunteers were solicited to fill Individual Augmentation billets. Thousands responded and continue to respond to this day, with some serving multiple tours. In fact, in some Navy communities, more reservists have served on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan than have regular Navy personnel. This story is presented in exquisite detail in Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always and accompanied by interesting vignettes and biographies. The collection of pictures and illustrations is one of the best in this reviewer's experience. Anyone who is or was part of the Navy Reserve will want to own a copy of this book. But beyond that, anyone with an interest in naval history would be delighted to have this book in his or her library. --U.S. Naval Institute Naval History, August 2015, pp. 67-68.

About this edition

• Publisher: Navy Reserve Centennial Book Committee
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0692327657
• ISBN 13: 9780692327654
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Jack Wittman
• Illustrator: Jeff Lukes