[Robert Tomlinson] tackles the concept of a military learning organization, specifically how that organization’s ability to learn impacts its ability to adapt to the modern battlefield. Harnessing learning tenets adapted to a military organization, Tomlinson reviews the learning culture of the US Army, Air Force, and Navy through the lens of the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict known as the Yom Kippur War.... Overall, Tomlinson’s Influence of Foreign Wars is a useful case study on the ability of American military organizations to adapt based on outside lessons learned as opposed to directly experienced personal service trauma akin to the shock of Pearl Harbor or the more recent First Battle of Fallujah. Furthermore, his work does not require in-depth knowledge of the ’73 Yom Kippur War as it is less about the conflict and more about the ability of American military services to learn and adapt. As centered on Tomlinson’s five tenets of a learning organization, The Case for Yom Kippur serves as a useful model for future like-studies and is a welcome addition to professional military education as it helps to fill gaps in study between the end of the Vietnam War and the emergence of the modern US military.

Æther: A Journal of Strategic Airpower & Spacepower

This book is a phenomenal exploration of military organizational learning. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 was a pivotal learning event for Cold Warriors. As relevant today as it was 50 years ago. This event was a key turning point for the post-Vietnam US military which motivated transformational innovations such as the Army’s National Training Center, USAF’s Red Flag exercises, the M1A1, and the F-117. A must-read for anyone interested in organizational learning or military innovation.

Mike Fowler, United States Air Force Academy

Tomlinson's timely book on how U.S. military leaders utilized lessons from the Yom Kippur War to propel organizational change to extend deterrence against the Soviet Red Army during the Cold War is essential reading for military and foreign policy decision makers facing similar challenges confronting a rising China and resurgent Russia.

Phil Haun, U.S. Naval War College

[This book] will certainly be of great interest not only to those individuals interested in the military dimension of the Arab–Israeli conflict in particular or military affairs more generally, but also to those individuals interested in how organizations transform themselves over time as a result of their ability to learn from the experiences of others.

Israel Affairs