COMBAT MISSILEMAN.

By James Baarand William E. Howard '45. New York:Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961. 244 pp.$4.75.

The authors present a clearly written, journalistic-style report and attempt to alert the reader to the staggering dangers which face our nation. The controversial "missile gap" is the source of their concern, James Baar and William Howard, formerly with Missile & Rockets (a missile/space weekly), are superbly qualified to hang out the lanterns - "three if by air." Unfortunately, one sometimes has the feeling that Baar and Howard are not only hanging out lanterns, but all too frequently firing muskets at our political leaders.

Much nontechnical data is provided (although some of it is no longer accurate), but it does not detract from the clarity of the alarm.

The use of character miniatures throughout provides an excellent image of today's combat missileman, whom the authors refer to as a new "breed of cat."

In an historical sketch of the missile program, its staggering complexity is forcefully pictured when the authors suggest that the Manhattan Project was small by comparison. The site-building program, by itself, involving labor disputes, "change orders," unscrupulous contractors, and incompetent personnel, suggests scenes from World War II. The overview also provides insight into not only some of the internecine warfare that went on between the Services, but also within the Air Force for control of missiles.

The authors have no truck with President Eisenhower's concern over a possible "conspiracy" between the military and the growing arms industry involving billions of dollars (47.6 billion defense bill for Fiscal Year 1963) and millions of workers. They even go so far as to compare his farewell warning (January 1961) with that of Chamberlain's 1938 address. Notwithstanding, many will still be concerned over the possibility of unwarranted influence by the industrial-military complex.