This is a brief, yet very complete, book on the 21st Century evolution and current status of the organization of the British Army. Through five chapters and an introduction the author deals with the changing demands on the British Army and it's evolving structure to meet those demands as well as the changes in the traditional British regimental system. One chapter deals with actual operations and the last one concerns itself with the uniforms. Other equipment such as weapons and vehicles are only dealt with through the captions of the rather small (most measuring only around 3"X3") photos. Ten traditional Osprey full page color plates of uniforms are there as well as explanations of the drawings and one interesting color plate shows all the current badges of the new regiments of the British Army. Its interesting to see them all in one place. A short section at the end of the book on further reading points those interested in the topic to books on regimental badges, MOD updates and the web site for the British Army.

This is not a narrative account, but rather it factually traces the changes brought about by the various Ministries of Defense since 2000. It's not so much a book that you sit down and read cover to cover, although due to its brevity you could do that, instead its more of an outline or reference on the subject. If you are looking for a concise yet thorough reference on this subject, this book fills the bill.

I'd like to thank Osprey Publishing for providing the review copy of this book and iPMS/USA for the opportunity to see and review it.