Abstract
This paper discusses replacing signal battalion executive officers with civilian GS-13/14 personnel. The author also analyzes the function of the battalion and battalions of the future, offers a case study in Europe of a battalion structure, and suggests possible changes.

Abstract
The paper describes how historian Christopher Browning has written a fascinating book, "Ordinary Men: Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland", in which he draws extensively upon primary source material, including transcripts of investigations and war crimes trials, to ascertain with historical specifics how it was that ordinary men could have carried out the horrific acts that were perpetrated upon the peoples of Europe by the Germans under Hitler and the Nazis.

From the Paper
"Christopher R. Browning's research during the process of writing "Ordinary Men: Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland" led him to the conclusion that most of the German soldiers in this unit took part in mass murder because they were ordinary men who deferred to authority, felt compelled to obey orders, and lacked the will and moral courage to recognize evil and resist it."

Tags:police, battalion, 101

Abstract
This paper reviews the book, "Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland" by Christopher R. Browning. The paper describes the story, which details the actions of Reserve Police Battalion 101, a unit of the German armed forces involved in the mass killing of the Jewish population in Poland from 1942 to 1943. The paper explains that Browning sought to reconstruct a 16-month period beginning with the Jewish massacre at Jozefow in July of 1943 and culminating with the "Fall Harvest Jew Hunt" in November, 1943. The paper notes that the individuals of Reserve Police Battalion 101 involved in the relocation and execution of the Jewish population in Poland were "ordinary men," primarily middle-aged conscripts from working-class Hamburg, without specialized training beyond basic police methodology. The author concludes that he is still struggling to answer the book's evocative, fundamental questions about good and evil and what it means to be human.

From the Paper
"In 1941, Germany invaded Russia and in doing so annexed areas from the Baltic States toward Stalingrad and Russia. Gaining so much land studded with pockets of ethnic Poles, Jews and Gypsies led to the development of Einsatzgruppen or Special Forces units charged with establishing racial purity in areas conquered by the German army. This group had one task: rounding up and exterminating those deemed ethnically unfit either on the spot or through relocation to death four death camps built under the command of Odilo Globocnik in the fall of 1941. The camps were operationally ready by the early 1942 and it was at this time that the Reserve Police Battalion 101 became associated with this Special Forces unit and asked to kill Jewish men, women and children with impunity."

Tags:Holocaust, following, order, middle, class, German, tragedy, horror, soldier, obey

Abstract
In this article the writer explores Christopher Browning's controversial 1992 text, 'Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland'. The writer both summarizes the text's salient points as well as discusses the opinion of the academic community as to its veracity and merit. Every bit as importantly, this paper examines the methodology employed and looks at why Browning's text, if not a great book, can at least be described as an important one. In the end, by looking at the psychology of the killers as he does, the writer maintains that Browning forces the reader to confront "the banality of evil" which made the Holocaust possible on such an unimaginable scale.

From the Paper
"The book is, simply put, a vivid portrayal of a horrifying event. It begins with the first mass-killing at Jozefow in the early morning hours of July 13, 1942. On that day, the members of Reserve Force Battalion 101 were roused from their bunks - they were effectively sequestered in a school building in the town of Bilgoraj - and ordered into waiting trucks. After a short time, they stopped at the small, aforementioned town of Jozefow and were ordered into a semi-circle around their 53-year old commander, Major Wilhelm Trapp. At this point, the first bit of horror in Browning's narrative unfolds. As he describes it, a tearful and badly-shaken Trapp tells his troops that the 1800 Jews in the small community were to be rounded up and separated into two groups - males of working age and everybody else."

Tags:killers, German, unit, psychopaths, Jews

Abstract
The paper provides the background to the book, "The Lost Battalion", and explains the story of the men from the American First Army who became lost in the Argonne Forest from October 2 to October 7, 1918. The paper describes this costly and important battle from World War I and looks at the authors' vivid accounts and illustrations of this experience.

Outline:
Introduction
Review and Discussion
Conclusion

From the Paper
"They were probably not the first men to become truly lost in the Argonne Forest, but during those fateful days from October 2 to October 7, 1918, the men of the so-called "Lost Battalion" did become the most famous to do so, if only for fives day, thereby earning them a place in history books that helps keep the memory of this costly and important battle from World War I alive today. Indeed, these men were not "lost" in terms of their physical whereabouts being unknown, but rather related to whether they could be saved at all. Given the number of American troops involved in the Argonne-Meuse battle and the fog of war that surrounded World War I battlefields in general and this one in particular, it is little wonder that the Lost Battalion was lost in the fashion it was, but the truly miraculous aspect of the encounter was that there were not far more of them placed in this untenable predicament."

Tags:Meuse, River, provisions, ammunition, Germans, Whittlesey

Abstract
This paper explains that the book "We Were Soldier's Once...And Young: Ia Drang: The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam" by Lt. General Harold G. Moore and James Galloway is a record of a group of soldiers who, under exceptional, inspirational leadership, fought not only against the enemy but also against the odds of their own survival. The author points out that the story focuses on the relationship between then Lt. Colonel Harold G. Moore and the 450 men who composed the 1st battalion, 7th Calvary and chronicles their horrific journey together as they were dropped into the Ia Drang Valley for the first battle of the Vietnam War and one of the first major military helicopter operations in history. The paper states that what also makes this book significant is that Moore and Galloway recount each man's death in individual dignity.

From the Paper
"A few different factors affected troop levels. The first was that President Lyndon B. Johnson did not declare a state of emergency and extended the active dusty tours of draftees and reserve officers. Thus, anyone with less than 60 days or less remaining on their tour would not be sent to battle. This removed at least 100 young men from Moore's battalion. The tour of duty was decreed to be 12-13 months, which meant that troops had precious little time to cement emotional and psychological bonds with the men fighting beside them. Additionally, there was a six month limit on battalion and brigade command. The men who would not be going to battle were the experienced men."

Tags:death, unprepared, helicopter, first, leadership

Abstract
This paper uses three different theoretical perspectives for understanding human violence, identified by Charles Tilly, to analyze why members of a German police battalion would help commit genocide.

From the Paper
"Charles Tilly identified three different theoretical approaches to understanding or investigating human violence that can be used as theoretical lenses through which specific examples of violent behavior committed by groups can be assessed. These three theories focus on ideas, behavior and relationships which constitute three different approaches to understanding fundamental causes in human affairs. The purpose of this essay is to examine the application of these approaches and the demands made by each approach for evidence indicative of a causal association between the analytic..."

Tags:Nazis, anti-Semitism, genocide, violence, violent behavior

Abstract
According to Christopher R. Browning's aptly-titled history of the German Reserve Police Battalion 101, "Ordinary Men", the most significant single factor influencing any given policeman's decision to participate in acts of Nazi genocide, was that individual's personal willingness to obey the orders given to him as a soldier and as a German. In other words, how much was that individual willing to be subject to, for want of a better word, peer pressure? The paper shows that this is in direct contrast to the thesis advocated by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen in his book, "Hitler's Willing Executioners". Goldhagen stresses that the actions of the policemen, soldiers and citizens who enforced the larger Reich ideological agenda were performed enthusiastically. The paper explains Goldhagen's belief that this willingness was the result of many years of anti-Semitic propaganda in Germany, extending back in historical time to the earliest days of German Lutheranism's influences on Christianity.

From the Paper
"The actions of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 become, in essence, even more chilling when viewed through Browning's schema of explanation. It is easy to rationalize inhumanity as a symptom of German culture, and to state that all human beings have pure free will to resist the pressures of position, country, and ideology. The idea that one can still retain one's ethical, moral compass (as evidenced by the disgust and horror of the policemen) and act against it when structural pressures persuade one to do otherwise is far more disturbing and a far more bracing slap in the ethical face of one's judgment."

Tags:Jewish, propaganda, structuralism

Abstract
This paper supports Browning's thesis that the despicable behavior of Hitler and his allies towards another race, as seen in World War II, is no aberration, but is rather entirely possible and even probable in other places and times. The writer makes reference to Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban comparing the organization to a totalitarian regime.

From the Paper
"Drawing extensively on primary source material, including transcripts of investigations and war crime trials, Browning asks how "ordinary men" could have carried out the horrific acts that are described in his book in such detail. His answer is disturbing, because he avoids facile generalizations that would provide a comfortable psychological distance between "us" and "them."

Tags:scapegoat, Police, Battalion, 101, Nazi, invasion, Poland, murderers, Jews, anti-Semitism, racism

Abstract
This paper supports Browning's thesis that the despicable behavior of Hitler and his allies towards another race, as seen in World War II, is no aberration but is rather entirely possible and even probable in other places and times. The writer makes reference to Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban comparing the organization to a totalitarian regime.

From the paper:

"Drawing extensively on primary source material, including transcripts of investigations and war crime trials, Browning asks how "ordinary men" could have carried out the horrific acts that are described in his book in such detail. His answer is disturbing, because he avoids facile generalizations that would provide a comfortable psychological distance between "us" and "them.""

Tags:scapegoat, Police, Battalion, 101, Nazi, invasion, Poland, murderers, Jews, anti-Semitism, racism