Roger Thompson MA

Here's a wonderful endorsement of "Lessons Not Learned" by the former skipper of the USS Nathanael Greene, SSBN-636:

"I have just finished reading Lessons Not Learned: The U.S. Navy’s Status Quo Culture and highly recommend it to anyone who truly cares about the Navy’s present and future ability to support and defend our nation's interests. I wish I could say that I enjoyed the read, but, as is often the case in confronting unpleasant reality, it was a disquieting experience. And, reality it is. I can vouch for the accuracy of the author’s observations and the validity of his conclusions. I was a first hand witness during my own career that spanned destroyer, diesel submarine, and nuclear submarine service. Whether we can ever change the culture of the U. S. Navy from one characterized by institutionalized parochial self interest to one that rewards commitment to the national best interest based upon enlightened prediction of future warfare requirements is, at best, an open question. Certainly, it cannot happen unless the highest levels of the Defense Department and the Navy recognize and understand the Lessons Not Learned. I thank Roger Thompson for producing a book that should be required reading for all those incumbents from the Secretary of Defense down to Navy Junior Officers." - Commander Kerry F. Gentry, USN, Retired.

Roger Thompson MA FRAS FRSA is a former defence researcher at Canada's National Defence Headquarters and presently an assistant professor at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, one of that country's top universities. A graduate of the University of King's College (BA Honours Certificate in Sociology, 1991) and Dalhousie University (MA in Political Science, 1994), he is the author of several books on the U.S. Navy, "Brown Shoes, Black Shoes, and Felt Slippers: Parochialism and the Evolution of the Post-War U.S. Navy" (1995), which was endorsed by former CNO Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, USN, "Brown Shoes, Black Shoes, and Felt Slippers: Unions of the Post-War U.S. Navy" (1997), and "Lessons Not Learned: The U.S. Navy's Status Quo Culture" (2007), which was endorsed by New York Times Bestselling Author Andrew Bacevich and by Pierre Sprey, the father of the A-10 Warthog and co-designer of the F-16. It was also endorsed by acclaimed author Major Donald Vandergriff, whom the late Dr. Charles Moskos called “the most well-known Major in the Army,” and military reformers Colonel Douglas MacGregor, author of Transformation Under Fire, Winslow Wheeler, author of The Wastrels of Defense, Lt. Col. David Evans, former defence correspondent with the Chicago Tribune, Major Richard A. Gabriel, author of Military Incompetence: Why The American Military Doesn’t Win, and by the internationally known writer Dr. Michael Parenti, author of 18 books. The book is also listed as recommended reading in the 2011 monograph Let Us Lead Toward Ability to Fight by Captain Daniel S. Appleton, USN (Ret.). Capt. Appleton was a Pearl Harbor survivor, and served in "a battleship and two cruisers followed by command of a destroyer, an amphibious assault ship, a division of four destroyers, and a squadron of eight destroyers. Assignments involved seven wartime campaigns and fourteen overseas deployments." He said Lessons Not Learned "Provides compelling evidence against the USN's preference for big aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines".

Prof. Thompson is a Fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, and the former chair of that organization, the late Professor Charles Moskos, once said that he is "The leading scholar in the sociology of naval institutions," and a "most remarkable scholar". His work on combat motivation in naval forces, which he wrote when he was just 26, was praised by the US Chief of Naval Operations, the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, the Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, and the German, Italian, Australian, Spanish, Canadian, Chilean and New Zealand chiefs of naval staff. The Italian Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Quido Venturoni, awarded Professor Thompson a medallion for his achievement, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Armada had his paper translated into Spanish and published. It was also endorsed by the famous novelist, historian, submariner, and naval aide to the President of the United States, the late Captain Edward L. Beach, USN. He received kudos from senior officers of the Royal Navy, the French Navy, and the Republic of Korea Navy as well.

He has taught civic education, and his focus was on the patriotic idealism of President John F. Kennedy. A few years ago he was fortunate to receive a letter from JFK's daughter, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, and a gift in the form of a copy of "Profiles in Courage" for preserving her father's legacy in Korea. Former NATO SACEUR Admiral James Stavridis, a very generous individual, also praised Professor Thompson's contribution to the study of citizenship in Korean higher education.

He is a Fellow of Great Britain's Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and he also has strong connections to America. He went to high school in the US, and his maternal grandparents were Americans, plus some of his relatives have served in the US Navy. Finally, and contrary to what some of his enemies would have you think, long before he wrote his critique of the US Navy, he published harsh criticism of the Canadian military, in which he served as a reservist, as well. He resides in Suwon, Korea.