Naval War College Historical Monograph Series 16, originally published in April 2009. This book reprints a diary found in the Naval War College archives of Joseph K Taussig, a distinguished U.S. naval officer, kept when as a naval cadet (midshipman and junior officer) he participated in the Spanish-American War, Philippine Insurrection, and Boxer Rebellion. The text is supported by helpful editorial notes and introduction, as well as by numerous period photographs and the diarist's sketches of the scenes and events.

Piracy is increasing at an alarming rate in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast. Piracy in the Strait of Malacca region once ran rampant, but has steadily declined since 2003. It seems useful to apply the counter-piracy tactics used in this region to the Gulf of Aden area to attempt a decline in pirate attacks. An attempt to apply the counter-piracy tactics used in the Malacca region to the Gulf of Aden region will fail. The Strait of Malacca littoral states all have well-functioning, established governments which give them the ability to apply the rest of their counter-piracy "formula"...

Wargames provide unbelievable opportunities for learning. They pique the interest and passion of the casual tactician or historian and assist the professional military officer in operational planning and execution. Their capacity for imparting knowledge can either supplant or complement lectures. Wargames are a valuable tool for the molding of the professional military officer. During the interwar period the United States Naval War College (NWC) used wargames extensively as a method of teaching both history and current tactics to aspiring naval officers. The NWC believed in wargaming's value...

Increased attention must be directed toward Mexico due to the direct and immediate effects issues like Mexican migration, cross border drug control, and transnational organized crime have on U.S. national security. Two primary issues underpin these shared security issues. These are a weak economy and an inadequate education system. Accordingly, this paper posits a relationship between education, economic health, and crime. To be specific, by strengthening the education system, Mexico's economy will improve. Together, these conditions will augment the government's ability to counter criminal...

To enhance the Rule of Law, Mexico has attempted to significantly change its entire system of laws, by moving towards a more transparent justice system, more akin to the open adversarial system possessed by the United States than the closed inquisitorial system employed for most of the 20th century in Mexico. Unfortunately, these constitutional, legislative and professional reforms made to the Mexican justice system, while a step in the right direction, have not yet yielded the desired effect of vastly improving the Rule of Law. This work will analyze key areas of the Mexican justice system...

Mexico's Troublesome Triangle: Poverty, Education, and Emigration. The issues of poverty, education, and emigration are intertwined in Mexico. Each issue directly affects the others with poverty being the main shared component. Further analysis indicates that these issues in turn affect the United States with illegal immigration at the forefront of these three issues. This paper researches these three components and discusses how they affect each other and in turn effect the economic development of southern Mexico. Furthermore, current changes in Mexico's education system are discussed and...

Mexico's leadership finds itself confronted with a variety of thorny governance issues including immigration, drug trafficking and education. Alongside these seemingly unsolvable problems sits the issue of health care which is primarily a good news story. The Mexican government has always taken a paternalistic approach to health care to the extent that access to care is a constitutional right. Nationally, Mexico's medical industry has demonstrated the ability to provide a quality of care on par with global leaders, but there are inequities in quality and availability of care as one dissects...

The central theme of this paper is the operational analysis of Lee as the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. It is meant to transcend the mythical military status of Lee and offer lessons learned for the modern military commander at the operational level. The purpose of this paper is to concentrate on bridging the gap between tactical operations and strategic goals; that of the operational art. It will also discuss some of the less glorious aspects of designing the campaign, command and control, reconnaissance and logistics to show how important these are in developing a coherent...