This thesis analyzed the Navy's proposed Riverine Force (RF) structure and capabilities of 2006. Systems Engineering and Analysis cohort 10 (SEA10) developed a cost-effective system of systems which increased battlespace awareness and situational responsiveness for 2010. Riverine missions were decomposed into their functional, physical, and operational architectures using the detect-to-engage sequence. This analysis determined critical RF functions. Critical functions detect and engage were then physically represented by feasible force package alternatives that augmented the baseline RF....

In 1978, Argentina and Chile were poised at the brink of war over disputed possession of the Beagle Channel islands located near the southern tip of South America. Despite provocative military maneuvering and inflammatory rhetoric from both sides, Argentina's ruling military junta pulled back just short of attacking the territory occupied by Chile, and eventually both sides reached a peaceful settlement. Only four years later, Argentina launched a surprise invasion of the British-held Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. Why did Argentina choose to go to war with Britain in 1982 but not...

The resources of the Persian Gulf are vital to United States national interests. Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has gradually increased its military presence in the region. The Arab-Israeli conflict coupled with the increase in military presence that has characterized the American security posture in the Persian Gulf region has contributed to a negative view of the U.S. by the Arab public. In the post-September 11 environment, the U.S. should seek to decrease its presence in the region while maintaining the ability to support national goals. Advancements in...

Virtual battlefields devoid of vegetation deprive soldiers of valuable training in the critical aspects of terrain tactics and terrain-based situational awareness, but creating realistic landscapes by hand is notoriously expensive; requiring both proprietary tools and trained artists, hampering rapid scenario generation and limiting reuse. GENETICS is a new object placement scheme where the arduous task of placing vegetation objects is reduced to finding readily-available source data and setting a few parameters. Our approach constructs large-scale natural environments at run-time using a...

As the United States Air Force air base defense doctrine evolved over the years, implementation and execution errors were occasionally exploited by insurgent forces operating in the areas adjacent to U.S. occupied air bases. Executing unconventional attack methodologies, primarily via stand-off weapons, these insurgents were able to wreak havoc on U.S. and allied air bases, causing massive destruction and the loss of American lives. An examination of the literature from air base (ground) attacks in Korea, Vietnam and at Khobar Towers indicated several problematic areas resonating in all three...

Visual perception modeling is generally weak for game AI and computer generated forces (CGF), or agents, in computer games and military simulations. Several tricks and shortcuts are used in perceptual modeling. The results are, under certain conditions, umealistic behaviors that negatively effect user immersion in games and call into question the validity of calculations in fine resolution military simulations. By determining what the computer-generated agent sees using methods similar to that used to generate the human players' screen view in 3- D virtual environments, we hope to present a...

Violence: the word itself has a distinctly negative connotation. It seems as though our entire society is fixated on preventing violence. Despite our keen desires to repel violence in all of its forms, we are still enthralled by it. Perhaps our fascination with violence is much more than a simple manifestation of the deviant within. Could it be that our violent tendencies are not necessarily all bad? This is precisely the topic we will explore. Using the events of The Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans in 66 AD and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during the Holocaust, we will strive to answer...

This thesis contends that the current attempts by the Russian Federation to assert its influence in the Western Pacific region through naval power are destined to fail. President Vladimir Putin appears determined to make the Russian Federation a prominent actor in the region through the assertion of Russian naval power, and by forming an alliance of convenience with the PRC to minimize U.S. influence in the region. Four reasons provide an explanation for what will be Moscow's ultimate failure to influence events in the Western Pacific region. First, historically Russia has proven unable to...

What are the origins of tactical innovation in large, bureaucratic, military systems? This study will provide a detailed analysis of how the German Army in World War One took advantage of innovative tactical methods developed by their junior and non-commissioned officers in the field. While many historians often look at the results of WWI from the perspective of the General officers and politicians (i.e., top-down), they often overlook the important roles played by creative junior officers in revolutionizing the manner in which the German Army fought. These innovations, when supported by...

This thesis examines how globalization has affected Vietnam's view and treatment of religious institutions. In a larger context, it argues that the conditions of globalization foster increased liberalism and the latent development of civil society. The implications of globalization on religion in Vietnam are explored through a case study of the Catholic Church in Vietnam from 1975 to 2004. The Catholic Church is examined during two different periods: during autarky from 1975 to the Doi Moi reforms in 1986, and during international interdependence from 1987 to 2004. Isolated from international...