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The huge buildup of China’s Navy is allowing it to flex its muscles — witness the naval exercises in the South China Sea this summer, the largest of their kind.

Cmdr. Tom Henderschedt and Marine Corps Lt. Col. Chad Sbragia have examined the PLAN, or People’s Liberation Army Navy, at close quarters during their recent attaché postings in Beijing. In this month’s cover article, they share their discoveries from that experience and debunk some commonly held American myths on the PLAN’s motivations and ambitions.

With U.S. combat operations in Iraq scheduled to end Aug. 31, Army Lt. Col. Danny Davis returns to AFJ to examine the Iraq surge and the real story behind its success. Davis is an Iraq veteran who will deploy a second time to Afghanistan in November. He will write a second article for us next month looking at whether the Iraq surge has any lessons for the Afghanistan campaign.

Chuck Allen, an Army war college professor and another regular author at AFJ, has previously examined on these pages why it is that even excellent senior officers fail. This month, he applies his theory of disconnect between military leaders and their civilian bosses to the cases of Afghanistan commanders Gen. David McKiernan and Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Air Force professors Dave Levy and Lt. Col. Jim Parco take on the issue of gays in the military and point to the reason why a debate on “don’t ask, don’t tell” is practically impossible.

Nadia Schadlow, a Smith Richardson Foundation officer, |counters the growing chorus of counterinsurgency naysayers.

And in true irregular fashion, Dan Green turns the lens not on President Obama’s Afghanistan exit strategy, but more intriguingly on the endgame President Hamad Karzai may be seeking.