Read any good war books lately?

[chris snell]

...a little continuation of the "Read any good books" thread...

I'm sitting here tonight, looking through my "on deck" stack of books to read and I'm craving another good war book. I just finished reading "My War: Killing Time in Iraq" by Colby Buzzell, a former 11B Stryker brigade grunt. It was an amazing book, full of action, trigger pulling and door kicking, classic soldier humor and "war stories", but most of all, it was great because it told the story the Iraq War like no CNN reporter ever will. That, in fact, was one of the points that SPC Buzzell made: what we see on CNN and Fox isn't exactly the truth. In the name of OPSEC, news is being run through bullshit filters (that is, creating bullshit, not removing it) and the facts--as we see them--are distorted. In his case, American action was minimized and the Iraqi National Guard--chronically late to arrive on-scene--was given credit for the successes. Total bullshit, most of these press releases. It pissed me off and has me wanting to read some more first-hand accounts of the Iraq War.

Can anybody suggest some?

By the way, thank you to whoever it was who recommended "Masters Of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces". I enjoyed that book a lot. To you, I recommend checking out "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001" by Steve Coll.

 

[El_Cid_2000]

You must read Gates of Fire; this is the book they made the movie 300 from. A history major buddy of mine turned me onto this book and I read it four times back to back. I'm up to about a dozen reads now. I usually read 150+ books a year, and have since I was 10 or so and this is either my first or second favorite book of all time; and I love war / fighting books.

I'm very tempted to get Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army just for the hell of it. I also just finished The Interrogators and it was pretty good. Spare Parts: From Campus to Combat is another one that I've read recently, pretty good as well. I could go on and on, but you have to read Gates of Fire.

I could go on and on and on and on...........


YRMV,
Michael

 

[GregH]

By the way, thank you to whoever it was who recommended "Masters Of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces". I enjoyed that book a lot. To you, I recommend checking out "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001" by Steve Coll.

You're welcome.

I'll look that Steve Coll book up.

Again- I liked "No True Glory-A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah" by Bing West.

 

[RBBailey]

From my brother's memoirs, mostly written while there, much of it is first draft:

It was getting late in the day and I was out on the parameter. Thomas was in the turret of my hummer, Hern was in the turret of the truck just in front of me. I had Michael in a hummer along the south wall closer to the building. There was some sort of commotion taking place just about 200 meters south of our location. Therefore I had Michael move is truck up further to a point where he could actually keep an eye on what was going on down there. There was a relatively quiet time in the battle and I was just sitting in the passenger’s seat of the hummer looking around at my guys pulling security when I heard from the north west a faint, “boom, boom, boom”. It wasn’t deep like an impact but rather hollow sounding. Just then I realized it was a mortar launch. “INCOMMING!” I yelled but it was too late.
“WHAM, WHAM, WHAM.” The rounds impacted about 50-100 meters behind me and to the east. Right where Michael was supposed to be with his truck. I looked out my door and yelled at him but he was in his truck and could not hear. I grabbed my little $30 Motorola radio that I bought at Costco and called him up, “Michael, Michael! Are you alright.”
Michael, “Roger SGT” he replied a little annoyed
Me, “Well fucken back up your truck, they have you bracketed.”
“How far sergeant?”
“All the way to the building.”
Michael jumps down into the driver’s seat and quickly backs up the hummer 50 meters to the building. He then gets back up into the turret.
Five minutes go by and we hear again the hollow booms of a mortar launch. We all yell “incoming” this time, almost routine. I got in my truck and shut the door then looked around waiting for the impact. “WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!” Again I look back at Michael, his truck surrounded by dust and smoke from the impact of the mortars only feet from his vehicle. I call him up on the Motorola, “MICHAEL!” no response, “MICHAEL!” again no response. The wind was blowing just enough to push the thick cloud of smoke and dust away from Michael’s truck. I was looking back when the hummer began to be visible again. There, sitting in the turret, was Michael with a little smile on his face as if nothing had happened. I yelled to him and told him to get on his radio. “Dude, are you ok?” I asked over the radio.
“Yeah roger sergeant” with a tone that basically said. “why are you asking?”
“Make sure you stay on your radio; why didn’t you answer?” I asked.
“Because my ears were ringing and I didn’t know you were calling me.”
I thought that was fair enough.

He's not sure he wants to publish it since it talks too much about friends that he lost, and a lot of people are asking him to do stuff he doesn't want to do anymore.

 

[Timmy!!!!!!!]

The last war book i read was THE ROAD TO UNAFRAID. It is about the life of Jeff Strueker who is an Army Ranger that was in somalia, iraq, and panama. He also mentions a little bit of time he has spent in Afghanistan. If you remember Black Hawk down he was the guy driving the Humvee with the first kia.

 

[RBBailey]

He gives a full account of the battle of Najaf, where his Oregon National Guard Platoon, and a SeAL team took over for a company of Marines who had been held down for a week, and of how the incident produced these two photos:

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2005/breaking-news-photography/works/warzone07.html
http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2005/breaking-news-photography/works/warzone14.html

 

[The Limey]

I'm just waiting for the "Steve Young memoirs"....teh war story book to end war story books...I heard even Tom Clancy is helping with the writing of this one due to it being so Sneaky beaky (secret squirrel type stuff...If I tell ya I hafta kill ya =) )

 

[bovw]

A best seller I'm sure!

 

[LRflip]

If you haven't already, pick up Band of Brothers....turn HBO off and actually read the book. Its worth it and you become connected with these heros...

 

[bovw]

Bingo, as well as We Were Soldiers, and Blackhawk Down!

 

[RBBailey]

The movie and the book, Band of Brothers, are both very good. The book is better, although it also takes a few liberties with characters -- nothing out of the ordinary -- but Ambrose took the word of some men a little more literally than that of others. So you get the complete story, but from one viewpoint or another. Most history books are based purely on research, or on a first hand account. Ambrose sort of blends the two styles and makes for a good historical account with personal narratives thrown in, in the form of his type of story telling.

The current version of Blackhawk Down is pretty much the account of what happened there. His first version was actually an online serial that he was writing on a weekly basis, some of it seemed as if it were being written even while he did the research.

We Were Soldiers and Platoon are the bookends to the Vietnam war... the way it started, the way it ended. We Were Soldiers, the book, is very accurate to the events. Platoon is a complete falsehood of bits and pieces of drug induced memories from multiple sources, and is a much better representation of the attitude and perception of the war, than it is of what actually happened in the war -- although individual events may have been truth -- the storyline is way out in left field if you are looking for anything historical.

Also read D-Day by Ambrose, Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor is almost unbelievable, and Pegasus Bridge by Ambrose, and The Hunt for Bin Laden by Robin Moore are a few of my favorites.

A friend of mine is also working on publishing a novel of the Iraq War, and based on his character, I'm looking forward to reading it. And like I posted above, my brother is working on his third or fourth draft of his memoirs, "On Guard Between Two Rivers" after which I hope to convince him to publish them.

 

[lcater]

Not much of a combat novel, but I really enjoyed Halsey's Typhoon which apparantly was not a well known tragedy.

 

[chris snell]

Those pics are awesome. I'd love to read the story behind them.

We Were Soldiers..., Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, Ghost Soldiers, and D-Day are all on my shelf, already read. I've also read The Forgotten Soldier, perhaps the best war story of all time, in my opinion. Will have to pick up Stalingrad, that sounds good.

The Killer Angels is on my shelf and I need to read it, one of these days.

I also enjoyed About Face by Hackworth--Hack was one hell of a leader, even though he violated the Army Values every now and then.

I bought No True Glory, on your suggestion, a few weeks ago and I think I'm going to start it next.

Peace Kills by P.J. O'Rourke is an interesting read, kind of entertaining to read in 2007. Definitely feel different about it than I did when I did in 2003.

 

[antichrist]

"When Hell Froze Over" is very good, about the US invasion of Russia in 1918. Required reading for anyone interested in the history of the Cold War.

"Fly Boys", an excellent WWII account of the war in the pacific, centering on the island where George Bush was shot down. (very gruesome)

"The Wild Blue : The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24's Over Germany 1944-45". An especially good read for the people who called George McGovern a traitor and coward.

 

[Jake]

Soldatten, is a good book written from the perspective of a German soldier during WWII.

For Self and Country by Rick Eilert is an interesting book about recovery from war wounds in the Naval hospital system during Vietnam

Most all of Ambrose's books are good, Citizen Soldiers, D Day, BoB, etc.

We Were Soldiers is a fantastic book

Fiction? Fields of Fire by James Webb

Newsflash: Steve Young's book on how he won the Iraq war has been pulled for national security reasons....more to follow........:rofl:

 

[Jake]

If You Survive about Infantry Platoon leader during teh Hurtgen Forest campaign

Death Traps pretty good book about armor during WWII

 

[So_Cal1]

If you guys like the combat books, you should read The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield. It talks about how Alexander went to war in ancient Afghanistan. Book has a lot of historical significance and is a page turner -- great battle scenes!

 

[flyfisher11]

"Lone Survivor" Marcus Lutrelle.
atriot:

 

[Lake_Bueller]

I just finished with The Lone Survior. Overall a good book. Not written especially well but a decent story.

It's not a war book but I'm currently reading Long Way Down. My wife had a copy sent over from the UK as a Xmas gift

 

[flyfisher11]

I just finished with The Lone Survior. Overall a good book. Not written especially well but a decent story.

..............

After spending nearly 27 years in the military it is my humble opinion that it was written as we spoke and lived. It is actually more authentic in it's tone, but I do see how my old college English professor would have a problem with it, right?