Katherine Carroll is a non-tenure track associate professor at Vanderbilt University where she teaches courses on the U.S. military, the Iraq War, and the Middle East in the Department of Political Science. She is also the associate director of Vanderbilt's Program in Public Policy Studies.

William B. Hickman is a retired Major General in the U.S. Army, with extensive experience supporting our European Allies, deployments in support of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, and strategic and operational assignments focused on U.S. national security.

Introduction: Understanding the U.S. Military Section One: The U.S. Military's Context 1. The U.S. Military in the Constitution 2. Civil-Military Relations Section Two: The Branches of Service and Reserve Component 3. The United States Army 4. The United States Navy 5. The United States Air Force 6. The United States Marine Corps 7. The United States Space Force 8. The National Guard and Reserves Section Three: Structural and Normative Constraints 9. Command Relationships 10. The Joint Force 11. Strategy 12. The U.S. Defense Budget 13. Military Justice 14. Military Medicine 15. Recruiting and Strength Management 16. Tactics 17. Training and Education 18. The Profession of Arms