Best iraq war biographies according to redditors

We found 182 Reddit comments discussing the best iraq war biographies. We ranked the 66 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

Next page

Top Reddit comments about Iraq War Biographies:

u/YourOldPalHoward · 51 pointsr/ChapoTrapHouse

If you’re at all interested in this case, I highly recommend the book Black Hearts, which investigates the incident and everyone involved in extreme detail. It’s an exhaustive, practically bottomless chronology of military incompetence and inhumanity. Oddly enough I was exposed to it because it was on the official reading list of the Marine Corps a few years ago, ostensibly as a lesson on the consequences of a poor command environment. But anyone who has served can tell you that everything the book catalogued is just business as usual for the military.

u/wetwater · 18 pointsr/aviation

They usually fly. There's a book called Warthog that talks about flying over in the A-10A during the first Gulf War. One thing to note is the A model didn't have an autopilot, and they followed a tanker for most, if not all, of the way, for navigation, refueling, and the weather radar the tanker had (they encountered a thunderstorm on the way and how that affected the flight).

u/[deleted] · 17 pointsr/HistoryPorn

There's a part in a book called House to House, which is about American Army soldiers in Fallujah, that I think of whenever I see movies where people get shot and just instantly die. I copied this by typing it out so any errors are mine, not the author's.

>I look over at Fitts, and I know what he's thinking. If this is true, these guys are going to be hard to kill. In Muqdadiyah, my squad watched a drug-crazed Mahdi militiaman charge Cory Brown's Bradley. He climbed up the front glacis plate, screaming like a lunatic. The gunner blasted him with coax machine-gun fire, shredding his legs. He tumbled off the Bradley and flopped faceup onto the street. As we approached him, he started to laugh. The laughter grew into a hysteria-tinged cackle, then ended with a bone-chilling keen. That froze us cold. Watching us with wild eyes, he then pulled a bottle of pills out of a blood-soaked pocket and drained its contents into his mouth. Then he went for something under his jacket. Thinking he was about to detonate a bomb vest, three of us opened fire and riddled him with bullets. We shot and shot until he finally stopped moving.

>Leaving my men behind, I went to investigate the corpse. His right arm was torn off. His legs were nothing but punctured meat. Most of his face was gone, and only a bloody lump remained of his nose. Both eyes had been shot out. I put a boot on his chest. The Mahdi militiaman didn't move. I kicked him. No movement. Given how many times he had been shot, I didn't expect anything else, but just to be sure, I shot him twice in the stomach. Then I marked him with a chem light so the body disposal teams could find him later that night.

>A few minutes later, a Blackhawk landed and we started loading wounded insurgents into it. While we worked, two men carried the shattered husk of that Mahdi militiaman to the helicopter. To our astonishment, he was still alive. Blood bubbles burbled up through his mangled nose and mouth. Blind, in agony, he still managed to scream through broken teeth and punctured lungs. We loaded him on the helicopter and never saw him again.

>We later discovered the Mahdi militia had gained access to American epinephrine--pure adrenaline that will keep a heart pumping even after its owner has been exposed to nerve gas or chemical weapons. A dude with that in his system is almost superhuman. Short of being blown to pieces with our biggest guns, he'll keep fighting until his limbs are severed or he bleeds out.

It's not the perfect example, since the guy was doped up, but I always think of it. Anyway, House to House is a really great book. I actually randomly chose a page on my kindle and pulled up that exact passage I was looking for. Kinda spooky!

u/TehPopeOfDope · 16 pointsr/todayilearned

In Viper Pilot Dan Hampton talks about his time in the air directly after 9/11. He does a good job conveying how much confusion there was. He was actually given the green light from the ground to take out a SEAL team helicopter. Luckily he stayed cool and called everyone off before that chopper was downed.

u/equal_tea · 16 pointsr/politics

If you're interested in a more colorful (and almost definitely less true) picture of Mattis, he is actually a character in the excellent HBO series Generation Kill, although a minor one who is only on screen in a few episodes.

The series focuses on a team of recon marines who experience the absurdity and futility of the Iraq War. Their commanding officer spends all of his time desperately trying to anticipate what General Mattis wants and to make him happy - and makes a number of arguably terrible decisions as a result.

EDIT: Generation Kill is based on the excellent book of the same name, if you have a more literary bent. I can't remember how much it goes into Mattis, but it is likely more detailed and accurate than the TV series.

u/theusernameIhavepick · 15 pointsr/unpopularopinion

His CIA interrogator agrees with you. https://www.amazon.com/Debriefing-President-Interrogation-Saddam-Hussein/dp/0399575812 According to him, Saddam thought 9/11 and the War on Terror would bring the US and Iraq closer together and couldn't understand why the Bush administration was going after him.

u/13FiSTer · 12 pointsr/Military

Lots and lots of masturbation.

Speculating if latest teenage pop star is legal yet.

Find dangerous insects. Pick up dangerous insects with crude dangerous insect trapping device. Force dangerous insects to fight to the death. Disregard the fact that you're in a war zone in one of the oldest areas of the World, and that a camel spider and scorpion fighting it out is more exciting.

Masturbate more.

EDIT: I recommend you read Kaboom and/or My War. Both portray a really good, typical combat deployment. Read This Man's Army for the Afghanistan version of those two (be warned - as impressive as Exum's accomplishments are, the guy shows off too much for my taste. Still a good read).

EDIT 2: Also read House-to-House if you want to know what a real major combat operation is like.

u/drew_tattoo · 11 pointsr/todayilearned

Right? I read an excerpt from a book while ago about A-10 pilots during the first Gulf War. Apparently a lot of them flew their own planes from America to the Middle East. Anyways during this long flight one pilot had his instruments freeze up on him and then he rolled his plane while looking over his shoulder but didn't realize any of this. It wasn't until his wingman looked over, saw him upside down, and then he had to figure which one of them was right side up!

Source.

u/bitter_cynical_angry · 11 pointsr/longrange

Marine Sniper. This is a classic book about Carlos Hathcock, a Marine who served in Vietnam and for many years (1967 to 2002) held the world record longest confirmed sniper kill. There are several famous encounters, including a multi-day stalk through exposed terrain to kill a Vietnamese general, the time he and his spotter pinned down an entire NVA battalion, the time he was being hunted by a counter-sniper and shot the guy through his scope (probably inspiring the similar scene in Saving Private Ryan), and the record-breaking long range shot itself with a .50 cal M2 machine gun modified for single shot and using a scope mounting system of his own design.

For a more modern take, I recently read Sniper One and thought it was pretty good. It's by British Army Sgt Dan Mills, about his tour in Iraq in 2004. I thought it was interesting to see the perspective of a modern sniper in a completely different environment.

And for what I think is the best fictional book I've read about sniping, check out Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. Don't confuse it with the movie "Shooter" staring Marky Mark; the book is actually quite good. The descriptions of long range shooting are excellent, and have matched up well to my own (admittedly limited, strictly at the shooting range) experiences.

u/sanjeetsuhag · 11 pointsr/bestof

While that is exciting, to me, the epitome of the fighter pilot is the Wild Weasel role. As a Weasel, here's what you do. You go up into enemy territory and bait the Surface to Air Missile (SAM) systems into turning on their radar. When their radar comes on, you fire your HARM (High-Speed Anti Radiation Missile) that tracks that radar and goes down to destroy. Meanwhile, you are on the lookout for SAM launches and then defeating all the missiles that are launched on you. Now, imagine expending all your missiles, going back landing, rearming and then going back up into enemy air and doing the same thing.

If you find this interesting, I'd highly recommend reading these books :

  1. Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat
  2. Magnum! The Wild Weasels in Desert Storm. The Elimination of Iraq's Air Defence
  3. The Hunter Killers: The Extraordinary Story of the First Wild Weasels, the Band of Maverick Aviators Who Flew the Most Dangerous Missions of the Vietnam War
u/Ellistann · 9 pointsr/politics

You're not wrong in these cases.

Pat Tillman had plenty of weird things going on, but I'm of the belief it was friendly fire. It doesn't excuse the fact his leadership's first instinct was to try and cover up their screw-up. But the system did spit out the fact they did and gave the public the 'truth'. I can't say it did/didn't happen like CID stated in their report, but they're pretty good about keeping stuff nuetral and calling it like it is. The situation also has the ring of truth to it in my experience. I'm not saying you couldn't understand because you haven't been there; but many conspiracy folks imagine malfeasance when confusion and stupidity are truly the culprits and tragedy is overwhelming. Our need for logical reasons and want of vengeance for someone to blame is usually the driving force for this and is very understandable.

My Lai is a huge black eye for the Army, and we should be called out on it. We use it as training aids to show how a pilot displayed moral courage and saved those that weren't killed immediately. He's lauded as a hero, but we really don't do the right thing and pile shame on Lt Calley or his commander CPT Medina. Or the sister companies doing the same thing in next sector over under their commander (whose name I couldn't easily find) or roast the BN Commander who set the conditions for the massacre.

We've tried to get past that incident, and use it to tell everyone that comes in about personal courage not necessarily being facing a physical danger.

But we aren't perfect as an organization. Not everyone serves with honor. My Lai was Vietnam, but this happened in 2006. The Soldiers involved tried covering it up, but one of the folks broke down and told a friend about it because he was having issues in dealing with the fact he helped carry it out. PFC Watts did the right thing and turned his fellow Soldiers in.

He got an unbelievable amount of shit, and there was a very serious round of discussions about leaving him there with the people he turned in would be killing him by proxy. Eventually he was taken out of the base and told his story to the right folks at CID and the rest is our unfortunate history. Good news is that PFC Watts is alive and well, and that the folks involved are rotting in prison. Bad news is we failed as an organization to stop this from happening and we also pushed PFC Watts out of the Army and he's gotten death threats for years after.

More on the situation is in book Blackhearts.

u/antarcticgecko · 8 pointsr/MilitaryGfys

I read a book called Viper Pilotby a retired wild weasel pilot. They have the latest in countermeasures and are all extremely well trained, he says most of the guys have their masters degree on top of the Air Force level of special forces intensity training. When those guys hear missile lock they react like someone has a gun to their head- they immediately shit pants and evade, evade, evade. Drop everything and pilot like your mother’s life depends on it. It’s terrifying.

u/Joneth · 6 pointsr/entertainment

It's actually from the title of the book the series is based on, which is surprisingly as nonpolitical as possible. It's a rather good read, if you've got the time. It's simply a first hand account of the author when he was embedded with one of the first Marine units to enter Iraq. The only social/political commentary in it is from the Marines themselves. In fact the primary focus of the book is the Marines themselves, examining them as real people. Not so much on the war really.

u/VA_Network_Nerd · 6 pointsr/college

Honest question. Not intended to offend you.

Do you have a learning impairment of some kind?
Or are you just lazy?

If you have some kind of an issue that makes it difficult for you to grasp and embrace somewhat advanced academic topics, but you really want a college degree to help you go somewhere in life, then we can help you.

But I keep reading your responses in the thread and you come across as unmotivated, disinterested and, well, lazy.

I ain't yer daddy. I'm not here to fuss at you. Actually, I'm willing to help find you an answer to your question if I can.

But my approach to trying to help will depend on your response to my question.

Before you respond though, I have a second question.

You don't seem to have the slightest idea what you want to do with your life, but you seem fairly interested in doing it with some assistance from the military.

Please permit me to offer you a suggestion that might help you stall for time before you have to answer these questions.

-----

The ROTC program has strict standards and some fairly lofty requirements. The military cannot tolerate junior leaders that do not have their act together.

Junior leaders are in fantastic positions with excellent opportunities to get a lot of people killed or injured in seconds.

For a good example of good v/s not-good leadership I emphatically encourage you to consume this entire mini-series Generation Kill. It's on HBO and I think Netflix. Or just get the book from the library Generation Kill or something.

Lieutenant Fick (the real person) attended Dartmouth and later wrote the book One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer. This is what a good officer looks like.
Captain America is what a bad officer looks like. He isn't completely bad. He didn't get any of his men killed directly, but it came close from time to time.

I AM NOT suggesting you might be a bad officer. I am trying to explain why ROTC and Officer Candidate School is as tough as it is.
They are working very hard to weed out and otherwise discover good v/s bad officers.

There is another path. A path with fewer risks, that might enable you to observe personal growth and self-discovery at a different pace.

The enlisted path.

Take the SAT. Take the ACT. Keep those scores in your permanent CollegeBoard profile. But take the ASVAB and enlist in the service of your choosing. Pick a job that helps provide you some useful skills. Go see the world. Go meet some new people. Then let your GI Bill pay for college after you've had 4 years of active duty service to figure out what you want to do for a living.

The Army, Navy and Air Force will all guarantee you a specific job of your choosing in a written contract.
The Marines will guarantee only that you WILL be personally challenged by your experiences. They will assign you whatever job they want you to have.

I joined the Marines back in 1989, when I was 17 years old. My parents had to co-sign my enlistment papers since I wasn't 18 yet.
I learned a lot about myself, and I had a completely new and vastly more focused view of the world when I got out.

The GI Bill will pay for 36 months of university (which covers 4 full educational years) including room & board in most cases.
The GI Bill grants you in-state consideration for all public universities in the nation. So you can attend any school anywhere you want to go to, assuming you have the academic record to be accepted.


...Just an alternate approach to your situation for you to think about.

u/jdubb26 · 6 pointsr/CCW

[Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin] (https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1501607776&sr=8-3&keywords=Jocko+willink)

[Heart for the Fight: A Marine Hero's Journey from the Battlefields of Iraq to Mixed Martial Arts Champion by Brian Stann] ( https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Fight-Journey-Battlefields-Champion/dp/076033899X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501607842&sr=1-1&keywords=brian+stann+book)

I would also highly recommend subscribing to [Jocko Willink's youtube channel] (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkqcY4CAuBFNFho6JgygCnA)

He has amazing podcasts with combat veterans and it's really interesting to hear the tactics/mindset. On a side note there's not many people that can motivate me like Jocko can. You could send me those pictures of a landscape with inspirational words on them and it wouldn't do shit for me...However there's been many days where I was being lazy/feeling sorry for myself and not wanting to work out...
thats when I watch this video

I shit you not there have been many days where that video alone has gotten me to nut up and grab my bag to go train jiu-jitsu when I didn't feel like it...or go to the range and get some practice in when I would rather stay home get cozy and watch netflix.

u/LigmaActual · 6 pointsr/army

Push to/Battle of Badhdad: Generation Kill (The book), written by a reporter assigned to Marine Recon: https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Kill-Captain-America-American/dp/0425224740

u/WasteAmez · 5 pointsr/MensRights
  1. CIA drone strikes: 4000 killed over 10 years.

    Civilian casualties Iraq over 10 years: No less than 200 000

    Civilian casualties Afghanistan over 10 years: No less than 60 000

  2. I'm assuming those military officers are stupid based on the number of people they shot. Here's >0 evidence.

  3. Having served in Iraq you should know the National Guard is not controlled by the President. Nor is local police departments; and contrary to what you desire to believe the FBI and DHS are micromanaged by the President.

  4. Having taken accounting in school, I can tell you being an armchair economist just makes you look stupid.

    Regardless of what merit Obama may have or may lack, you do not speak the truth.

    Judging by your unsupportable opinions I'm going to say whatever Confederate state you hail from is a greater threat to your liberty than the federal government.
u/762mm_Labradors · 5 pointsr/Military

Jaeger: At War with Denmark's Elite Special Forces dudes book brought down the head of their ministry of defense and a few other officials.

Also there is a shit ton on individuals/units/battalions on Rhodesia and South Africa.

Portugal’s War in Angola is the best overview of Portugal’s Colonial War in Africa.

Counterinsurgency in Africa: The Portuguese Way of War 1961-74 by John Cann An excellent book on counter insurgency. Cann also has quite a few books on Africa.

On YouTube search for Al J Venter’s South Africa Border War docs, he did quite a few. Venter is probably the best military journalist in regards to all the wars in Africa since the 1960’s. He written like 20 books on the subject.

u/MickChicken2 · 4 pointsr/business

If you were given the job because your director thought you were the best for it, then you were the best for it. Proving yourself will happen best with long term consistent results. Don't get caught up on dealing with what doesnt really matter. Stick to impressive everyone with high quality work.

I am curious about where you are located? Could this be a cultural thing?

Last, i think that its worth noting that being the new guy coming in and trying to change the status quo is always going to cause friction. This is just a fact. So don't loose sleep over it.

This is the book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Ownership-Jocko-Willink/dp/1250067057/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458749634&sr=1-1&keywords=extreme+ownership

u/lurking_quietly · 4 pointsr/TheWire

Of these projects, I most enjoyed The Wire. But it's worth evaluating each of these projects in terms of what they were trying to accomplish, since they all had different goals.

  1. Homicide: Life on the Street

    This was adapted from Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, but I don't know how much Simon worked on the show day-to-day.

    This show is much more of a crime procedural than any of the other works here. And with a few notable exceptions—e.g., Luther Mahoney or Brodie—the near-exclusive default point-of-view is that of the police.

    The show was groundbreaking for network TV at the time. For one thing, at least one of the main-cast characters was a cop who was an asshole and basically corrupt. This show also demonstrated that the bosses and their subordinates do not always see eye-to-eye, and not just in the "crusty-but-benign" way described in the movie Network, either. Most cop shows at the time didn't just show cops, but they identified with the cops' perspective. (This is still pretty common today.) This is legitimate, but showing that cops have human foibles which have on-the-job repercussions was taking a chance, especially for a network show at that time. And, like The Wire, it got critical acclaim but relatively small (but devoted!) audiences.

    The show's style was very different from that of, say, The Wire. For example, it had a non-diegetic score and camera moves that were more likely to draw attention to themselves. H:LotS also included collaborations with Baltimore native Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana. The latter went on to create HBO's Oz, and you can see plenty of influence there from Homicide.

    H:LotS was also able to attract high-level talent throughout its run. Not only was the regular and recurring cast very strong (as you'd likely expect, even without having seen a single episode), but it attracted a number of actors best known for their film work. As just one example, Robin Williams appeared in the second season premiere, playing the husband of a crime victim. Steve Buscemi played an odious racist. Arguably, though, the most memorable guest appearance was Moses Gunn as Risley Tucker, the sole suspect in the homicide of 11-year old Adena Watson. Gunn may not be a household name, but he's been in projects from the original Shaft to Roots to stage performances.

    Homicide was also remarkable, especially at the time, in that it shot on location in Baltimore. (For context, consider that Vancouver (almost) never plays itself; typically, a show at the time would be shot in New York or Los Angeles, even it it's set in another city.) It also helped establish some of the vocabulary familiar to those who've watched The Wire: "the box", "the board", etc.

  2. The Corner

    This was a six-part miniseries for HBO based on David Simon's book about real-life addicts and dealers. If Homicide was primarily a show from the perspective of the cops, The Corner introduced what life was really like for those who lived in places like West Baltimore.

    For me, Homicide was always more stylized in its aesthetic, but more traditional in the types of stories it tried to tell. It was groundbreaking relative to other cop shows, but it still chose the cops' vantage points as the default. The Corner inverted this.

    A lot of the content from The Corner will be familiar to those who've already seen The Wire. (And, conversely, those who've seen The Corner would have some useful frame of reference for the events depicted in The Wire.) One attribute The Corner clearly focused on was authenticity. Homicide was a solid show, but The Corner felt real. Much of the cast of The Corner reappears in The Wire, too. And some of the real-life people whose lives Simon chronicled in his book played minor characters on The Wire. One of the most notable examples was the late DeAndre McCullough, who played Brother Mouzone's assistant Lamar.

    Again: a killer cast. A good story, well-told. And, for a change-of-pace: even some Emmy nominations and wins!

  3. The Wire

    I trust you're all familiar with this, right? :)

    I think having laid some groundwork with the reporting which underlay Homicide and The Corner, The Wire had the basis to be incredibly ambitious. It told stories from the perspectives of cops and dealers and dope fiends and stevedores and City Hall and newspaper newsrooms. It also had a definite point-of-view, and it was unafraid to advocate for its argument, but by showing and not merely telling. Yes, it's about all the conflict between characters on all sides of the law. But it's also making some very important arguments: the drug war is unwinnable, and the consequences of that gratuitous futility are disastrous for countless people. Deindustrialization of big cities leaves the corner as the only employer in town. Actual reform that will have any kind of substantive effect will require something other than the standard bromides that have typically gotten politicians elected and re-elected. And so on.

  4. Generation Kill

    This is a seven-part HBO miniseries based on the book Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Ice Man, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright, documenting those American Marines who were the tip-of-the-spear in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As with The Corner and The Wire, this goes out of its way to convey authenticity, especially in the context of the military jargon. Oh, and you get to see Baltimore native James Ransone, who played Ziggy, as a Marine, too.

  5. Treme

    This is Simon's love letter to the city of New Orleans, set in the immediate aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. Again: a killer cast, including everyone from Clarke Peters (who played Lester) to Khandi Alexander (who played Fran Boyd on The Corner) to New Orleans native Wendell Pierce (Bunk Moreland) to John Goodman (in damn-near EVERY movie) to Stephen Colbert's bandleader Jon Batiste (as himself).

    For me, Treme was solid, but it was less compelling than The Wire. A lot of the goal of Treme was to show the importance and centrality of New Orleans to American culture, in everything from music to food. For me, that case seemed secondary to the lives of the characters themselves. Many of the themes from The Wire are familiar: indifferent institutions, crime and violence, etc. But it also has some ferociously good performances, amazing music performed live, and an important reminder that life for so many in New Orleans still wasn't really "after Katrina" yet, even years after the storm, because of just how much destruction was caused all around.

    Oh, and like The Wire (among others), Treme cast a lot of local New Orleans natives who lived through the storm, as well as musicians who hadn't grown up with training as actors.

  6. Show Me a Hero

    The title comes from an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote: "show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy". Like The Corner, this is another six-part HBO miniseries adapted from a nonfiction book. It's about a huge fight that the city of Yonkers, NY had with federal courts by resisting efforts to remedy housing segregation.

    Some of the themes should be familiar: a stellar cast including Oscar Isaac, Winona Ryder (in a role I wouldn't have expected for her), Catherine Keener, Alfred Molina, and Clarke Peters (again). As you might have guessed from the quote, this story doesn't have a happy ending for everyone. The main theme is about how to do the right thing, especially as an elected official, in the face of violent opposition from much of the city, and what cost doing the right thing will entail.

  7. The Deuce

    This is a forthcoming David Simon series about the world around Times Square in the 1970s: pornography, just as it was becoming legalized, HIV/AIDS, drug use, and the economic conditions of the city at the time. Even if the whole team totally dropped the ball here, I'm sure this will be better than HBO's 1970s music drama Vinyl, at a minimum.

    The cast includes James Franco (playing twins), Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anwan Glover (Slim Charles), Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. (D'Angelo Barksdale), Chris Bauer (Frank Sobotka), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow). Oh, and the pilot is being directed by Michelle MacLaren, whose directing credits include Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Westworld, among others.
u/Tyrfin · 4 pointsr/mildlyinteresting

It hooked your sucker ass!

Basically they have been around for a while and they train a lot but basically didn't do shit, real-world, until the GWOT.

I think this was it: https://www.amazon.com/Jaeger-Denmarks-Elite-Special-Forces-ebook/dp/B00UPKQGOY

u/AsongofBronzeandIron · 4 pointsr/MilitaryPorn

The man on the left is Thomas Rathsack, who wrote a book on his time and experience with the unit.

http://www.amazon.com/Jaeger-Denmarks-Elite-Special-Forces-ebook/dp/B00UPKQGOY

u/Onuma1 · 4 pointsr/KotakuInAction

> And I'm actually obese myself, I am not healthy. I own up to that

This is what we lack, as a society; accountability for one's own behaviors. If we owned up to our actions, not even to the degree of Extreme Ownership, we'd be much better off as human beings.

u/WWHSTD · 4 pointsr/CombatFootage

Definitely Generation Kill, to look into the dynamics of modern war. It's a seriously good, impartial, truthful and entertaining account of the first stages of the second Iraq war seen from the eyes of a battalion of first recon marines. Very well written, too.

War Nerd. Gary Brecher is a tongue-in-cheek military amateur analyst. His views on modern and past warfare are very lucid, albeit controversial and leftfield. His writing style is pretty original, kinda like the Hunter Thompson of war pundits. A backlog of his articles is also available online.

Making A Killing. It's the first person account of a British private security contractor in Iraq. I was expecting the worst when I read it, but it's actually very well written, informative and entertaining. Some of the lingo and drills described in the book actually helped me understand a lot of these videos.

Das Boot is my favourite war book, and it's an embedded reporter's account of a year in a german U-boat during the second world war.

u/OnlyBoweKnows · 4 pointsr/serialpodcast

Maybe there's something to being separated by the Atlantic. I'm not really interested in other American experiences with GWOT, but I read Sniper One to see what some of you guys have been up to over there.

u/HenSica · 3 pointsr/LifeProTips

If you found these helpful, I'd definitely recommend checking out the source. I'm mostly parroting what Jocko's described or explained in his book/podcasts.

https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057

u/dahappybanana · 3 pointsr/MilitaryPorn

I just got done reading this book Warthog: Flying the A10 in the Gulf War and I highly, highly recommend it. Great book and gives a lot of insight into what the A10 was tasked to do.

u/Pretendo · 3 pointsr/Military

Generation Kill by Evan Wright

u/EveryFkinNameIsTaken · 3 pointsr/AskMenOver30

Yeah.

​

Not going to lie, I didn't really read a whole lot but the title says it all and /u/cyanocobalamin sums it up.

​

Circumstances suck but happiness is really condensed to taking ownership of those circumstances. Sometimes things are beyond our control but overall they are a byproduct of what situations we allow ourselves to get into.

​

I recently read a book called Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink. It's about how you pretty much need to take responsibility for everything in your life even when you think it has nothing to do with you. I'm also reading Everything is Fucked: A Book About Hope - Mark Manson right now. I'm about 4 chapters in and it talks a lot about having something to really believe in even though everything in the world is fucked.

​

  1. Find something to research that excites you and makes you money if you want to keep going.
  2. Relationships come and go. Someone worth keeping will be patient with you and understand that you're working hard to build a sustainable lifestyle.
  3. You can really do whatever the hell you want my friend, you just have to accept the consequences of whatever you do, good or bad.

    Don't overthink it. Things are only as good as you let them appear to be.

    ​

    Comparison is the thief of joy, but it is also a humbling endeavour.
u/Some_guy_called_andy · 3 pointsr/worldpolitics

I was going to say "this happened again!?" But then saw that this article was from 2006. If you want to read a book about this, as well as the general mess that their platoon went through, read The Black Hearts.

u/rocknrollchuck · 3 pointsr/marriedredpill

> brought up my a single mother for the most part.

​

I'm a victim. It's my mom's fault.

​

>An on off relationship with my father for the past 25 years majority off/zero contact.

​

I'm a victim. It's my dad's fault.

​

>because I resented her for keeping me In a relationship I didn’t want

​

I'm a victim. It's my plate's fault.

​

>(long story short she trapped me)

​

I'm a victim. It's my LTR's fault.

​

>always thought I was just a good dad but now realise I was trying to be the opposite of my dad

​

I'm a victim. It's my dad's fault.

​

>Feel free to abuse me where ever necessary I know I deserve it

​

I'm a victim. It's my fault.

​

Dude, look at what you wrote here. The first step is working to erase this victim mentality. Go read Extreme Ownership. Accept that it's all your fault. Only then can you move forward.

​

>no map or long term plan I’m going to set some short term goals

​

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Here's a good post to get you started.

​

>Me and LTR spend the weekend together atm as things were rocky there but since starting to unplug I feel like I want to see how things are with a new RP mindset.

​

And for now, when you meet up with her just STFU and dive into the Sidebar like your life depends on it.

u/doskey123 · 3 pointsr/syriancivilwar

Please don't treat this as if the west was not capable of the same crimes. It's quite the opposite and a lie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haditha_massacre

There, brave US serviceman killed 24 civilians. All murderers of the Haditha massacre walked. None were convicted. If the US is any good at anything, it is at covering up war crimes. And if you could stomach that, have a look at the next one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings

And if you want to find people justifying this rape and killing of a 14y old girl by talking about how stressful these poor soldiers were, just have a look at the comments of this book on amazon, :

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Hearts-Platoons-Descent-Triangle/dp/0307450767

u/angrycook · 3 pointsr/Chefit

It's not a culinary book, but I am almost finished with Exctreme Ownership which gives some great insight on team building and leadership.

u/docsquidly · 2 pointsr/video

Generation Kill. Its an HBO mini-series based on the book by Evan Wright.

I highly recommend it.

u/Scofflaw_Bob · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

"House to House" by David Bellavia. More recent history, 2004 Fallujah, didn’t care much for the style of the writing, but still intensely captivating.
http://www.amazon.com/House-David-Bellavia/dp/1416574719

u/dvsdrp · 2 pointsr/ifyoulikeblank

Yeah it's pretty good.

Here's the Rolling Stone article by Evan Wright that started it all.

Here's the book Wright wrote.

FYI, the guy that plays Rudy, is the actual Rudy in real life. Other core members of the story also worked as consultants on the TV series. There was also some controversy later as several other people involved wrote of their own experiences and points of view.

u/Cwellan · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

Also a vet:

If you want to at least get an idea of what these wars have been like..I suggest you read The Last True Story Ill Ever Tell.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-True-Story-Ever-Tell/dp/157322314X

u/DrMarianus · 2 pointsr/ProjectMilSim

After loads of reading on the bus to work every day, here follows my reading list for military aviation:


Modern

  • Viper Pilot - memoir of an F-16 Wild Weasel pilot who flew in both Iraq Wars
  • A Nightmare's Prayer - memoir of a Marine Harrier Pilot flying out of Bagram.
  • Warthog - Story of the A-10C pilots and their many varied missions in Desert Storm
  • Hornets over Kuwait - Memoir of a Marine F/A-18 pilot during Desert Storm
  • Strike Eagle - Story of the brand new F-15C Strike Eagle pilots and their time in Desert Storm

    Vietnam

  • The Hunter Killers - look at the very first Wild Weasels, their inception, early development, successes, and failures
  • Low Level Hell - memoir of an OH-6 Air Cav pilot

    WWII

  • Unsung Eagles - various snapshots of the less well-known but arguably more impactful pilots and their missions during WWII (pilot who flew channel rescue in a P-47, morale demonstration pilot, etc.)
  • Stuka Pilot - memoir of the most prolific aviator of Nazi Germany (and an unapologetic Nazi) who killed hundreds of tanks with his cannon-armed Stuka
  • The First Team - more academic historical look at the first US Naval Aviators in WWII


    Overall/Other

  • Skunk Works - memoir of Ben Rich, head of Lockeed's top secret internal firm and his time working on the U-2, SR-71, and F-117 including anecdotes from pilots of all 3 and accounts of these remarkable planes' exploits.
  • Lords of the Sky - ambitious attempt to chronicle the rise and evolution of the "fighter pilot" from WWI to the modern day
  • Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs - the story of the long-top secret group of pilots who evaluated and flew captured Soviet aircraft against US pilots to train them against these unknown foes.
  • Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage - story of the US submarine fleet starting at the outbreak of the Cold War and their exploits



    Bonus non-military aviation

    I highly second the recommendations of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age. I would also recommend:

  • Neuromancer - defined the cyberpunk genre
  • Ghost in the Wires - memoir of prolific hacker Kevin Mitnick
  • Starship Troopers - nothing like the movie
  • The Martian - fantastic read
  • Heir to the Empire - first of the Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy and the book that arguably sparked the growth of the Extended Universe of Star Wars
  • Devil in the White City - semi-fictional (mostly non-fiction) account of a serial killer who created an entire palace to capture and kill his prey during the Chicago World's Fair
  • Good Omens - dark comedy story of a demon and an angel trying to stop the end of the world because they like us too much
  • American Gods - fantastic story about how the old gods still walk among us
  • Dune - just read it
u/Dogwithrabiez · 2 pointsr/writing

Plenty. Check this book out. Also, this. You just need to look for them. There are plenty out there.

u/levgl · 2 pointsr/cscareerquestions

Extreme Ownership - Navy SEAL officers who led a special operations unit demonstrate how to apply war-related leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life

u/genida · 2 pointsr/videos

I... think that Evan Wright actually did that in real life. It's been a while since I read the book, but I seem to recall it being in there.

Edit: Sure, it might also be a reference. I'm going with both.

u/PrivateCaboose · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Band of Brothers and Generation Kill were both good books that made for great mini series, I'd check them out.

u/picatdim · 2 pointsr/pics

I'm a 19-year-old boy from Ottawa, Canada (you may have heard of our little country :P ). While I was not homeschooled per se during my public school years (I went to regular English schools), I definitely learned more quickly, more thoroughly and more widely due to my parents' constant efforts to teach me things that went way above and beyond what I was "learning" at my high school.

My parents are both high school teachers, and have each spent roughly 30 years teaching their respective subjects.

My dad actually just retired last year, but he taught most of the Social Studies curriculum during the course of his career (History, Philosophy, Psychology, World Religions, etc.). He is a bilingual Francophone from Ottawa, so he taught at one of the French Catholic high schools in our area. He also happens to be somewhat skeptical of religion (not an atheist, but damned close). Odd combination, yes, but it has resulted in him introducing me to
military history, everything from the Roman legions to the Knights Templar to the Taliban.

My mother was born in Ottawa, to Greek parents who had left Greece after the Second World War; my grandparents are from a village about 20 minutes away from the modern city of Sparti (Sparta). During the war, the village was at some point occupied by Axis forces (I'm not sure when or to what extent, because my grandparents' English is not great and only my mother speaks Greek).

I decided to include a list (below) of works that I've found particularly interesting (I've never actually written down a list of my favs before, so this may be somewhat... sprawling and will be in no particular order :P ). Depending on the ages of your kids, some of this stuff might be inappropriate for them right now, but they can always check it out when they're older. It's mostly military/wartime history that interests me (it's what I plan on studying in university), but I've learned so many little tidbits about other things as well from having access to these works. Since your kids are all boys, I hope they'll find at least some of this stuff to be interesting :) .


Books

u/64bitHustler · 2 pointsr/The_Donald

And centipedes, I'd like to plug Jocko's book Extreme Ownership. I HIGHLY recommend it to all centipedes. Excellent lessons on leadership, toughness, self reliance, and taking ownership in life and business.

u/oi_nihonjin · 2 pointsr/CredibleDefense

> From personal experience military intelligence is an oxymoron.

Unfortunately, anecdotally this is too true for most military's. Information in the modern world changes so rapidly that the military bureaucracy and chain of command tend's to do nothing more then to just slow down the rate at which accurate info is provided to front line troops.

A great example is in the now famous Generation Kill and One Bullet Away. The unit is constantly supplied with FRAGO's and new mission objectives based on faulty and outdated information that time and time again places them in ambushes, traps, and situations where the only reason they leave alive is because of the ineptitude of the enemy, not their own skill.

u/TenebrousClarity · 2 pointsr/Divorce

Not specifically tailored to divorce, but were helpful to me in general reorientation of approaches to life:

"Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Willink

"A Guide to the Good Life" by William Irvine

u/chad2261 · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

I can think of a few off the top of my head but in the interest of keeping this short:

Generation Kill by Evan Wright. If you're even remotely interested in military-type things, this is a really great read.

u/cbb002 · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

My Favorite Book! ... is the Steve Jobs biography. I'm sure you have already heard about it and maybe you have already read it. But if you are into Apple products or technology at all, I highly recommend it. It's pretty long, but I was surprised how quickly I read through it and I am not that much of a reader. The book makes you appreciate technology on a whole new level. Nevertheless, hope you find a good book to read next!

And I am a non-fiction kinda person so here is a book I would like.

u/brinstar117 · 2 pointsr/AskHistorians

Even Wright, an embedded combat reporter during Operation Iraqi Freedom and author of Generation Kill brandished a rifle while on patrol at the request of the marines he was riding with.

It is mentioned in a Huffington Post interview:

>Did you feel useless because you couldn't fire a gun?

EW: On a human level it would have been really exciting to shoot a gun over there. I can hit a target with a rifle generally but that very different from what they do.
There's one moment that's not in the show where they handed me a weapon in the vehicle. We were rolling through a sketchy town. Everyone was like, "You're occupying a seat; you're useless, take a gun." The enormity of the responsibility you have -- it sounds corny here back home -- but if you're really out there with these Marines and you're holding a weapon ... I was like, what if I hear an engine backfire and I pull the trigger? It wasn't [so much the fear] that I'd kill an innocent Iraqi -- that was a problem -- but if I fuck up, I'll get kicked out of the embed. That was my practical reason. When Geraldo was in Afghanistan and he was like, "I'm packing a .45," I was like, "C'mon dude."

I read his book and if I remember correctly it was a short lived occurrence as the author did not maintain proper gun discipline. He unintentionally swept the barrel of the rifle at the marines which is a big no no. The author never fired a weapon while embedded, but I don't recall if the gun was loaded or not. I don't think that it was.

u/audaxxx · 2 pointsr/hoggit

http://www.amazon.com/Warthog-Flying-Potomac-Books-Warriors/dp/1574888862/

In the Gulf war, they had to fly them. It wasn't a pleasant experience apparently.

u/ZebraBalls · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death was written about those murders. I got it after Justin Watt did an AMA. I couldn't get past the first chapter, it was so brutal. I think the media that shows as honest a rendition of what's going on is out there, it's (the honesty) just not in the forefront that it was during the Vietnam war.

u/Gafontino · 2 pointsr/The_Donald

No worries, man. Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were both major studs that disobeyed orders to do the right thing... Saving dozens of lives. May they rest in peace... Anyways I recommend everyone to check out Jocko's book called Extreme Ownership. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1250067057/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1464285041&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=extreme+ownership&dpPl=1&dpID=41cmM6UedGL&ref=plSrch

It is a great read and I got a LOT out of it. The podcasts where he was a guest on the Joe Rogan show and on the Tim Ferriss show are also definitely worth checking out. He has his own podcast now too and so far I've also gotten a lot of value from that as well.

I want this man to become President someday. Cannot speak highly enough about him. His experience and leadership... And perspective, is quite humbling to say the least.

u/SteveMcBean · 2 pointsr/CombatFootage

Stryker: The Siege of Sadr City by Konrad Ludwig is pretty good.

u/Slartibartfastthe3rd · 1 pointr/TheWire
u/TeAmFlAiL · 1 pointr/explainlikeimfive

Not trying to sell anything here but read this book. One of the most amazing pilots and warriors in the US Military ever. He gives you great insights into taking out air defenses.

http://www.amazon.com/Viper-Pilot-Memoir-Air-Combat/dp/006213034X

u/routemypacket · 1 pointr/sysadmin

Great feedback from /u/volci - I would take heed.

Along with that, buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469622981&sr=8-1&keywords=extreme+ownership

Listen to these podcasts:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jocko-podcast/id1070322219?mt=2


I usually don't say "buy a book and do X" but these two things have given me more insight on leadership than anything else in my 30 years on earth. I have a management degree that cant hold a candle to this stuff.

u/squinkys · 1 pointr/hoggit

If you're the reading type, check out Dan Hampton's "Viper Pilot." He flew the F-16C/J in both Gulf Wars, which is the Air Force's dedicated SEAD/DEAD airframe. He talks at length about the Wild Weasel mission, and emphatically states his disdain for the AGM-88. Their Pk is very low in real life (not quite the death laser that BMS makes it out to be...although that's probably more on BMS' unrealistic SAM radar behaviors more than anything else) and the author much preferred going in with CBU's or dumb iron and making sure the threat was really dead and no longer a threat.

u/abednego8 · 1 pointr/todayilearned

For a good read on these crazy bastards, I recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Viper-Pilot-Memoir-Air-Combat-ebook/dp/B007HBTAP6

u/multypass · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton is a great read about F-16s on Wild Weasel missions in both Iraq Wars. These guys had balls of steel.

u/dooster · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Everyone who found this TIL interesting should read the book Viper Pilot. It is truly one of the best and most entertaining books I've ever read. It blows every other military / combat book I've read out of the water. His stories are so epic, I read the book in two sittings...

u/mbran · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Check out the book Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton. Story of F-16 Wild Weasels in Iraq in 2000s.

u/Kniucht · 1 pointr/todayilearned
u/therealderka · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Viper Pilot is a great read about the Wild Weasels. http://www.amazon.com/Viper-Pilot-Memoir-Air-Combat/dp/006213034X

u/QQMF · 1 pointr/todayilearned

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the book Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton. An amazing book by a Wild Weasel pilot who flew the F-16CJ. Although it is packed full of information from how one becomes a pilot in the Air Force, the Wild Weasel mission, to fighter pilot culture, it reads just like a novel. The audiobook is also excellent - the recitation of some of the comms on the 1st night of the Gulf War is alone worth the price of admission. I can't recommend either highly enough.

While looking up the book again, I discovered that the author also released a new book, The Hunter Killers, last year about the original Wild Weasels in Vietnam. I obviously have not read it yet, but I bet it is excellent if you want to dive into the history of the mission.

u/Binkleberry · 1 pointr/pics

Looks like we all read the same books. I know Donovan Campbell's Joker One has already been mentioned, but if you enjoyed Fick's writing you might like The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney and The Heart and the Fist by Eric Greitens. Also, an honorable mention for Paul Rieckhoff's Chasing Ghosts.

u/druziil · 1 pointr/trees

Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell

Dexter Series

Dark Elf Trilogy and then all of the subsequent books in the Drizzt line, there are like 14 or so maybe

With Liberty and Justice for Some

and always some green reading

Cannabis A History

Why Marijuana Should be Legal

u/mcrumb · 1 pointr/AskReddit

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell

> A tremendous book ... incredibly gripping and incredibly well-written... It's a remarkable story... I urge everyone to go...grab it. -- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Its a very short, very illuminating insight into one soldier's experience in Iraq.

EDIT: Fixed link

u/ApprovalNet · 1 pointr/dataisbeautiful

> the mainstream consensus now is that it was a failed war

Hindsight is funny like that.

>non-existent WMD

Not according to Iraqi General Georges Sada He publicly admitted that he (and others) were ordered to move chemical weapons to across the Syrian border before the coalition forces attacked. And of course, we now know what happened to those chemical weapons.

> the US: invaded illegally

The invasion was backed by the international community, and it wasn't just the US it was an international coalition of forces.

u/ang29g · 1 pointr/army

The book he mentions in his AMA, Black Hearts, shines some light on the subject. It was in one of /r/army's professional development threads a few months ago.

u/AustinRivers25 · 1 pointr/PKA

I am reading American Sniper (which has a movie adaptation coming out). It is the autobiography of Chris Kyle, a sniper with the most confirmed kills in US Military history (150), he talks about his childhood, and his missions in Iraq. He shots he has had to take, the friends he's lost...

I read and definitely recommend A Brief History of Time: The Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition by Stephen Hawkings. As you can tell by the name of the book it talks about the universe, black holes, the possibility of worm holes/white holes. Stephen Hawking really knows how to write a book.

I have yet to get to it, but I recommend The Divine Comedy (written in the 1300s). It is an Epic Poem about Dante Alighieri travels through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Heaven (Paradiso).

Edit: Does someone hate these books?

u/WolfhoundCid · 1 pointr/BattlefieldV

I'm nearly sure I read a book by a sniper from the Princess of Wales regiment, or something like that. That said, I don't claim to be an expert. I was just floating the possibility.

edit link to book's page on publisher's site https://www.amazon.com/Sniper-One-Scope-Under-Siege/dp/0312542429

u/PhotonDota · 1 pointr/DotA2
u/bitternmanger · 1 pointr/OkCupid

Literally finished 'The Angel' about ten minutes ago; it was pretty good. I read 'Debriefing the President' last month. Great book as I don't remember ever hearing that much about what ever came of the Saddam interviews. I'm currently 50 pages into 'A Divided Spy'.

u/Bocephuss · 1 pointr/nfl

This is starting to make sense. You aren't willing to hold Baker more accountable for his poor play in much the same way that you refuse to hold yourself accountable for your own poor spelling and grammar.

You say that Baker's focus can't be taken away by external factors like his tweeting and at the end of the day he is just a bad QB.

At the same time, your grammar and spelling can't be controlled by you because it's an autocorrect problem.

I am reading a book right now I think might benefit you, cheers!

u/camxparks · 1 pointr/hoggit

Hammer From Above:Marine Air Combat Over Iraq - Jay Stout

USMC Hornets, Harriers and Cobras during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Really nice details of CAS missions, F/A-18D doing FAC for F/A-18Cs, Harriers landing on an LHD during a sandstorm, Cobras landing on a Highway to get fire directions from Marines on the ground and plenty of other great stories!



Loud and Clear: Memoir of an Israeli Fighter Pilot - Iftach Spector

Memoir of an Israeli pilot from the 1960s to 2000s flying Mirage IIIs, Phantoms and F-16s, he took part in the infamous Operation Opera bombing of the Iraqi nuclear plant. A really excellent book, head and shoulders above most military aviation memoirs writing wise.

I'll add others when I can look at my shelves!

u/DoctorTalosMD · 1 pointr/neoconNWO

Has anybody read or heard of this book by one of Saddam's early interrogators that claims the Dictator was basically sidelined by 2003?

If so, thoughts?

u/chihirobelmo · 1 pointr/hoggit

Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat

by Dan Hampton

https://www.amazon.com/dp/006213034X

not an English written book but I also like this...

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4871493911

u/volcomsnow909 · 1 pointr/hoggit

Came here to suggest Dan Hampton. Ive read and loved all his books. His newest one, The Hunter Killers, was a great read.

Viper Pilot, is a great account of his time in the F-16.

u/leadfoot323 · 1 pointr/MilitaryPorn

Targets of opportunity (i.e. helicopters). The Warthog actually got a couple of kills during the Gulf War. I'd definitely suggest this book if you're interested in learning more.

u/kcanf · 1 pointr/CombatFootage

Into the Fire is a good book, I recommend Generation Kill as well if you haven't read it, I liked it more than the HBO miniseries.

u/Monty_Brogan · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Here it's spammable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plY9hpA_Nbg

Seriously though, start reading books about modern warfare and the men who deal with high pressure situations; learn how they are able to deal with all the shit life throws at you. This is a good one to start out with: http://www.amazon.com/Joker-One-Platoons-Leadership-Brotherhood/dp/0812979567/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278777167&sr=8-1. Other than that, start an intense physical training regime. Crossfit.com is the ultimate fitness site for anyone sick of the "normal workout routine." Plus, they have a ton of free information and videos for anyone starting out; not to mention they usually post an intelligent article that doesn't have anything to do with fitness. Speaking of interesting articles, check out this one by soon to be retired General Stanley McChrystal. If you want to be a man, and don't want to listen to anything else I said, just read that nytimes article. Lastly, look into purchasing a rowing machine. Concept II is the best one on the market, and it's grueling workout. After all, rowing is the only sport to start out as a form of capital punishment.

Good luck, and stay thirsty my friends!

Edit: sorry the link to the General's article doesn't work. Type this into google: general mcchrystal+nytimes article"asceticism" and you should be able to find it. Definitely worth the quick read.

u/xeusion · 1 pointr/Military

If you want to learn a bit about FARP logistics and operations to add some realism, check this book out:

http://www.amazon.com/Hammer-Above-Marine-Combat-Over/dp/0891418717

u/lighthaze · 1 pointr/MilitaryPorn

I guess more than that. Sadly my kindle isn't charged at the moment, but If you're interested you might want to have a look at this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Warthog-Flying-Potomac-Books-Warriors/dp/1574888862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349002853&sr=8-1&keywords=warthog+flying+a10

They're flying the A-10A (which makes crossing the Atlantic even harder) but the first Chapter describes the ordeal pretty detailed. Including refueling during a Thunderstorm. At night. Under time pressure.

u/drMorkson · 1 pointr/Lightbulb

It's a miniseries by HBO IMDb here it based on a real story about a Rolling Stone Magazine reporter who goes with the First Reconnaissance Battalion of the US Marines while they invade Iraq.

And it is one of my favourite TV series. I hope you have fun watching it.

u/Hotwir3 · 0 pointsr/IAmA

I'd like to see an AMA from Chris Kyle who has killed the most men in US armed forces history and also has the record for longest kill (2100 yards).

u/DoubleStuffedCheezIt · -1 pointsr/pics

Falsified intelligence? Like what? I've heard one of Saddam's generals said that they moved nukes and chemical agents from Iraq to Syria. He even wrote a book on it.

Source

Book

Sure, we have been there way, way, way too long. But I do think they were operating on actual intel.

u/laxt · -5 pointsr/politics

She did cry though. What Happened -- $14.99 on Amazon.

Complainers don't make effective leaders, by the way. Extreme Ownership -- also $14.99 on Amazon.