What Are You Currently Reading?

Kraut783 said:
Salafi-Jihadism "The History of an Idea" by Shiraz Maher
Shiraz Maher
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I almost picked this up yesterday, but was waiting to get a chance to read a review of it. I'll have to go grab it.

MikeDelta said:
Ranger Games:
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If you want something that similarly tackles pyschology and awful decisions, check out Blackhearts by Jim Frederick. It details awful leadership and environment that helped create a situation where five soldiers gang-raped and killed an Iraqi girl, and murdered three members of her family. It's a heavy read, but important for learning how to possibly prevent such things from occurring again. Mahmudiyah rape and killings - Wikipedia
 
Devildoc said:
A Pillow for my Helmet by Robert Leckie, one of the books HBO's The Pacific was based upon. Now I want to read With the Old Breed, one of the other books it was based upon.
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You will not be disappointed. With the Old Breed is a fantastic read.
 
Cookie_101st said:
I almost picked this up yesterday, but was waiting to get a chance to read a review of it. I'll have to go grab it.



If you want something that similarly tackles pyschology and awful decisions, check out Blackhearts by Jim Frederick. It details awful leadership and environment that helped create a situation where five soldiers gang-raped and killed an Iraqi girl, and murdered three members of her family. It's a heavy read, but important for learning how to possibly prevent such things from occurring again. Mahmudiyah rape and killings - Wikipedia
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Yes. Ranger Games is quite interesting...boggling really, a different take. This is only the second book I’ve read that details war crimes or criminal activity perpetrated by our military.

The first I read way back in the 80s before I shipped, it was about Lt. Calley and the My Lai Massacre. The lead up to that was quite a story. These instances are an unfortunate by product of war. Even during Desert Storm, after the shooting stopped and we pulled back, there was a rape, a prostitution ring and heavy equipment theft by reservists who owned a construction company. This was just in our AO w/in a months time. The Iraqi Army raped civilians in Kuwaitt, not sure what the motive was. Anger? Doubt it, they invaded. Poor leadership I'd say. Anyway, as you’ve suggested, it’s educational to read on this topic and this material can be analyzed in order to develop an effective and proactive leadership approach in order to prevent this type of misconduct from happening. It’s shocking that these men were only in country (in Mahmudiyah) a few months before the shit hit the revolving ocisllator...ugly stuff. My platoon sergeant gave us a very clear message prior to our 1st date with a C141, “Don’t let me hear about any of you soldiers collecting ears or touching anything on the battlefield that doesn’t belong to you”...and then proceeded to tell us why and what the consequences would be. Anyway, I'm intrigued about this more recent incident in the book you suggested. Its amazing that we're deploying leg infantry for 3-4 combat tours back to back. In my day 89-95, it was often only Rangers and SF you'd here of taking 3 tours in SE Asia. Now it's the norm...It's like putting a kink in a firehose and hoping it doesn't blow. Thanks for the suggestion.

And for those of you reading this that are active and deployed...I'll be 48 this year and I'm still with you everyday, as many vets are. This weekend I'll be going on a 14 mile silkie ruck to raise awareness and funding for PTS(D).

Destroy the enemy with vigor, but stay healthy, that is also part of any mission.
 
Cookie_101st said:
I almost picked this up yesterday, but was waiting to get a chance to read a review of it. I'll have to go grab it.



If you want something that similarly tackles pyschology and awful decisions, check out Blackhearts by Jim Frederick. It details awful leadership and environment that helped create a situation where five soldiers gang-raped and killed an Iraqi girl, and murdered three members of her family. It's a heavy read, but important for learning how to possibly prevent such things from occurring again. Mahmudiyah rape and killings - Wikipedia
Click to expand...

Yes. Ranger Games is quite interesting...boggling really. This is only the second book I’ve read that details war crimes perpetrated by our military. The first was about Lt. Calley and the My Lai Massacre. It’s a tragedy wrapped in a nightmare when these situations occur. However, as you’ve suggested, it’s educational and should be analyzed in order to develop an effective and proactive leadership approach to prevent this type of misconduct from happening. It’s shocking that these men where only in country for a few months...ugly stuff. My platoon sergeant gave us a very clear message prior to our date with a C141, “Don’t let me hear about it panyone collecting ears or picking up anything from the battlefield that doesn’t belong to you”...and then proceeded to tell us why and what the consequences would be.
 
After seeing the movie 75x I am finally reading “No Country for Old Men.” Better than the movie so far.
 
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Wow! That was a really great film. The characters are perfect for a book. Good suggestion
 
Devildoc said:
A Pillow for my Helmet by Robert Leckie, one of the books HBO's The Pacific was based upon. Now I want to read With the Old Breed, one of the other books it was based upon.
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These sound great. Decent series as well.
 
I didn't care for Pillow but I thought Old Breed was excellent. Leckie had too much moralising and whatnot for my taste. Good on detail, but his sidebars turned me off and I never finished the book.
 
AWP said:
I didn't care for Pillow but I thought Old Breed was excellent. Leckie had too much moralising and whatnot for my taste. Good on detail, but his sidebars turned me off and I never finished the book.
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I think he wrote that later in life...therapy perhaps. But I agree, not what I look for in books either
 
Ins something completely, 180 degrees away from my normal reading, I picked up Sharp Objects. Yes, the HBO series of the same name was based on this book. It was very good. If you liked the series, you'll like the book. I typically hate fiction and it's writers, but she is a strong writer and the book is a fast read.

I'm in the middle of Carrier Pilot by Norman Hanson who was a UK Fleet Air Arm pilot in WWII. Something different for me, that's for sure. Good book.
 
Different certainly is good. For years I would only read TMs and business books. I felt that fiction was a waste of time. It is now relaxing and a pleasure to read a work of fiction or an historical account.
 
Me too just started it. Just finished "the only thing worth dying for" by Eric blehm, "one bullet away" by Nathaniel flick, "guerilla factory"by tony schwalm, "the Mission the men and me" by Peter blaber. I read allot so can typically read a book every two days depending on how much homework i have.
 
I'm reading Chopper Down! which is an autobio about a helo pilot working for Executive Outcomes in Angola and Sierra Leone. It's very good and makes you wonder how anything gets down in Africa...

I've also got Whisper In The Reeds coming, which is by a guy who was with 32 Batt in Angola during the first civil war.

Still plugging away at Shogun during my days off too. Great book.
 

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