I didn't do a reading review in 2014, primarily because of time, and I wasn't blogging much in Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015. This time, I'm really trying to blog at least once a week. So, I'm dividing my lists into 3 sections:
Military History
Spiritual
Brain Candy
Most of my reviews are a few sentences in length, but, as you might expect since I didn't blog much at the beginning of 2015, either, my reviews for books I read during that time are rather short, too.
So, without further ado, here's today's reviews of Military History.
1)Fearless (by Eric Blehm) - Story of Navy SEAL Adam Brown, from childhood to dark, college-aged period of trying to find purpose to time as Navy SEAL, and the impact for Christ of his life on those around him. (Read this one twice in order to read it to Matthew, and a little to Ben.) *
2)The Only Thing Worth Dying For (by Eric Blehm) - Story of a Green Beret unit (12-man team) who helped put Karzai in power within three months of 9/11/2001. A good story and history lesson. *
3)Killing Lions (by John & Sam Eldridge) - What does it look like to transfer from boyhood to manhood, ideally in your 20's, but for men of all ages, especially those whose fathers weren't there - or didn't know how - to help them become a many. (Read this one multiple times - with Michael and Mark, as well as David Poland) *
4)Into the Fire (by Dakota Meyer & Bing West) - Autobiographical story of the first living Marine in 30 years to receive the Medal of Honor, and the battle in Afghanistan he survived in order to receive it. .5
5)The Trident (by Jason Redman & John Browning) - Autobiographical leadership story of Jason Redman's journey - becoming a SEAL officer, being broken because of his pride and lack of teachability, being rebuilt through humility and learning to be teachable (even by those "below" him), and then his recovery from wounds that almost kill him. This is not about how he became a SEAL, or his life before becoming one, though those things are touched on.
6)The Outlaw Platoon (by Sean Parnell & John Bruning) - The story of a year in Afghanistan with 3rd Platoon of the 10th Mt. Division, as told by the Lt. who lead them during that year. *
7)The Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds (by Major Rusty Bradley and Kevin Maurer) - A great read about a major battle in Afghanistan to defend Kandahar four years after "The Only Thing Worth Dying For." At the time Major Bradley was the Captain of one of the ODA's of the Green Berets who were assigned to assist Canadian Forces in clearing out the Taliban. Instead they ended up playing a major role in the operation, and, along with U.S. air power, ended up saving the mission. *
8)Code Name: Johnny Walker (by "Johnny Walker"and Jim DeFelice) - A well written memoir about growing up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, getting an education and getting married, then becoming an interpreter for the Navy SEALS. Not only does he cover the pain and difficulty of working for the Americans in an increasingly anti-American country, but he also covers the difficulties (physically and emotionally) of being an interpreter for the SEALS and watching his country implode. He sticks with his code name to protect family and friends still in Iraq. A good book to get a better idea of an average (I'll call him a "jack-Muslim") muslim's perspective of the Iraq war. Definitely more swearing than I think was necessary, even for a military book (most books read above had considerably less). .5
9)Battle Ready: Memoir of a Warrior Medic (by Mark L. Donald & Scott Mactavish) - Excellent memoir about growing up and becoming not just a Navy SEAL, or just a Corpsman, but a long list of different roles: Marine Recon, then Navy SEAL, then Hospital Corps for the SEALs, then a Physician's Assistant performing as a corpsman, and many other roles, too numerous to mention here. The most important part of the book though - the reason he wrote it - is he learned an important lesson through all of those years, one that cost him much, and one he wants to pass on to others so they don't have to pay a similar price... or worse. He learned the importance of asking for help, whether it's PTSD, or something simple. And who he learned it from is just as important. This is a great book for both military and civilians. *.5
10)Brothers Forever (by Tom Silko & Colonel Tom Manion) - Story of two Naval Acad. roommates and grads, the best of friends, who lost their lives in the war on terror. 2Lt. Travis Manion was a Marine officer, while Lt. Brendan Looney was a Navy SEAL. Their story is an amazing one of friendship and a desire to serve their country, even if the other died first. A well written, encouraging story to forge ahead, set a good example, and not to give up. *
11)No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan (by Mitch Weiss and Kevin Maurer) - Story of a Special Forces operation in Afghanistan that went horribly wrong, and the heroic actions taken by the teams to bring everyone home. The goal was to capture or take out a senior Al Qaeda leader... by attacking in the daylight, letting them know we were coming (by sending helicopters ahead to find a path through bad weather), attacking up hill, and trying to invade a well-defended, walled compound. To add insult to injury, not only was the intelligence awful/completely wrong (intelligence said there was no water, yet satellite pics showed an obvious river flowing through), but everybody from the Capt. down try to talk the commanding officers out of the plan, and they were ignored. While the story was sad and frustrating to read, it was very well written. I didn't like the ending, not because it was poorly done, but because there's no record of anybody being disciplined, or even corrected for the arrogant operation that was obviously more about padding some upper-level commander's resume then about doing what's best for America or Afghanistan. Still, it was a great story and lesson in planning operations, as well as the stories of some great soldiers that may not have died, but gave their lives in other ways. I give it *.5
12)Guardian Angels (by William Sine) - Tells the story of Mr. Sine's experience, as well as many other para-rescue men of the Air Force. The stories are good, but the editing is very poor, with instances of poor english and words being our of order in every chapter. In addition, Mr. Sine glorifies many of his immoral and reckless behaviors, as well as the occasional disobeying of an order or two. Most, if not all, other similar books I've read, there have been instances of similar stories, but they've either downplayed them, or they've actually admitted that what they did was wrong, and shouldn't have been done. I really didn't like this book. *.5
13)That Others May Live (by Jack Brehm & Pete Nelson) - True story of Jack's life as a PJ. Much better that Guardian Angels. I'm disappointed that it ended before much of Iraq & Afghanistan, but it still had some great stories, including the story behind the rescue in "The Perfect Storm." What made it better was it rarely felt like Mr. Brehm was trying to make himself look good. He also espoused the importance of taking care of his wife. Good story. *
14)Top Dog: The Story of Marine Hero Lucca (by Maria Goodavage) - Great story of an explosives sniffing dog who saved hundreds of lives, and lost his leg saving more. While I'm not ready to start offering medals to dogs, I am ready to start treating them as more than another piece of equipment, which is what the current military rules demand. Thankfully, steps have been made, and now dogs are taken care of like their human counterparts (medivac, trained veterinarians in country, etc.) in every way except how they retire. Good book. Made me cry a couple times. *.5
15)None Braver: U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War On Terror (by Michael Hirsh) Great book that does a good job of telling a wide variety of stories about the different jobs of PJ's. Doesn't go into too much detail about any particular PJ; it's more about the wide variety of missions, and how PJ's put their lives on the line to rescue folks. Good book. *
16)Roughneck Nine-One: The Extra-ordinary Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War (by Frank Antenori) - I enjoyed this book for the most part. The author did a good job of taking the reader into the lives of the men and the mission. It's the story of one particular mission that helped turn the page in what Green Berets can do in modern warfare. I suspect it was a lot scarier and more dangerous than the tone of the author suggests. *.5
17)Ashley's War (by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon) - The story of the first women to join - unofficially, of course - special operation teams. This story is primarily of the women who worked with Army Rangers, since the women were Army, but they served with all Special Ops. Their purpose: To assist in questioning, searching, and protecting Afghan women. Ashley had the sad honor of being the first woman to be killed in this "enabling unit" (that what the army terms those people who aren't officially special operations, but they assist the special ops teams in doing their jobs, so they're almost part of the teams - bomb disposal, dog handlers, etc.). This was a good book about an interesting topic that I hadn't heard of before.*.5
18)The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers (by Nicholas Irving and Gary Brozek) - A few good stories about the difficulties of war, but generally an average book. *
19)Seal of Honor (by Gary Williams) - Another version of the story of Operation Red Wings, but this time focusing on the biography of Lt. Michael Murphy, who not only led the operation, but was the officer who made the cell call for help that cost him his life. He later received the Medal of Honor (posthumously). The book ends with some of the other ways he was honored, and how his parents keep his memory alive. This was a good read about an honorable man. It was well written and researched, and honored Lt. Murphy well. *.5
20)Back In The Fight (by Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Kapacziewski and Charles Sasser) - The story of the first Special Op soldier (an Army Ranger, in this case) who went back into combat as an amputee, having lost his leg from a grenade during a tour in Northern Iraq. This is a great story. It's inspiring, not only for what Sgt. Kap did to get back into service, but also for the story of how he became a Ranger, things he did as a Ranger (before and after his amputation), and, best of all, the love story between him and his wife, Kim. Nothing deep or profound here, but a great story. *.5
21)Gentlemen Bastards (by Kevin Maurer) - The story of a specific Green Beret ODA in Afghanistan, as told by an embedded writer. The title of the book is the team's nick name. The author does a good job of communicating two things: The difficulties of trying to help the Afghan people create a cohesive government, specifically creating policemen, and 2)Just how boring war can be amidst all the difficulties, especially for a Special Forces unit whose focus isn't fighting but is training police units (even federal police units) how to find, fight, and/or capture bad guys. Still, though it was well written and informative, I didn't find it as interesting as other Special Forces books. I think that's in part because there wasn't a human element. He talked more about assignments, what he experienced, and the like rather than developing the human element of either the trainers or the trainees. I also found it unnecessary the amount of profanity he used, even for a military book. Overall, I'd give it **.5
22)Green Berets (by Robin Moore) - I don't usually review a book I don't finish (there have been a few this year), but I'm making an exception because I was so frustrated with this book. There were so many good things about it, I can fully understand why John Wayne made a movie from it. Yet, it was so ridiculously sexual, that I finally gave up because of the sinfulness (and downright just disgustingness) of the sexuality discussed. It may have been reality, and it may have had great stories to tell, but the sexuality issues kept me from enjoying it... or finishing it. *.5
23)Inside Delta Force (By Msg. Eric Haney) - This is an average book about an amazing Special Forces Group. It's well written, but nothing that strikes me as special itself. It's also been surrounded by controversy, as many former Delta Force soldiers have accused the author of exaggeration, sharing too much information, or out-right lying. While I'm certainly not the one to tell whether it's accurate or not, the controversy does cast a bit of a shadow over the book. I enjoyed the read, but it's not something I'd read again. .5
24)Delta Force (by Charlie Beckwith and Donald Knox (c) 1983) (Updated Epilogue by C.A. Mobley in 2000) - If one is looking to learn some military history about Delta Force and their part in the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979-80, this is a great book to read. Col. Beckwith does a great job of sharing how Delta Force (anti-terrorism Special Operations unit) came to be, from the concept/idea received from a year spent with British SAS forces in 1962 to implementing the principles on a small scale with Special Forces in Vietnam, all the way to how they trained and prepped for the rescue mission in Iran... and why it went bad. Informative without being dry; not entertaining in a trite way, but enjoyable none-the-less. *.5
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