What Are You Currently Reading?

Gunz said:
Crusaders--the Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands by Dan Jones, 2019.

Great read, impeccable research, heroes, villians, lotz o' slaughter.
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Got this on audible based on this reccomendation. Absolutely fantastic, I've never really paid attention to the Crusades but this is enthralling right now.

Can't reccomend it enough.
 
Burned thru Level Zero Heroes in 2 days.

What an amazing glimpse at the JTAC world; crazy the responsibility they carry with them.

The idea of being directed to drop a bomb off target as a warning shot? In the middle of a fire fight? It legit saddens me that so many of our officers are no better than average politicians.

It also makes me value even more the officers who “get it”; we are fortunate that a number of them frequent this very forum.
 
"Death Waits in the Dark: Six Guns Don't Miss" by Gregory Coker.

Stories of a pilot with the 160th SOAR and his JTAC counterpart in a certain SMU. Not far in, but fascinating thus far. Including a story of a young SEAL officer getting put in his place by a CWO3 who almost bombed said unit.
 
Recently finished Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II. Fascinating book, diving more into the personalities and traits that made some GOs effective and some not. And I learned a lot about Marine Corps history. My dad retired from the Marines, my adopted grandmother was in during WW2, and I have about a dozen other relatives who were in. I thought I knew the history. What I learned was just fascinating.

16460914127236087382570766928850.jpg
 
Ooh-Rah said:
Even though I long sold my soul to Apple, I recently purchased a Kindle for reading.

Currently I am on an Eric Blehm kick. Finishing up By Eric Blehm The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Fought for a New Afghanistan

Then moving on to The Last Season

I’ll work my way through his catalog from there.
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The Last Season, about a ranger (Forest) who was a top SAR person, disappeared himself, and the Forester’s coordination in an attempt to find him. The protagonist, not a perfect person, but a damn good one, reminded me a lot of myself in some ways. (Minus the affair).

Currently halfway into Fearless, the story of SEAL, Adam Brown. This is the antithesis of your typical “I was there” book. Brown (now deceased) was a man with many demons, demons that possessed him long before joining the Navy. It was a path through God that led him to the SEAL’s.

Blehm writes this story in a way that is so powerful, I actually found myself laying my Kindle on the table for a few minutes because I could see coming the next self-destructive thing Brown was about to do.

ETA -

I feel like I am underselling this book and man. SEAL Adam Brown was one very tough man. The injuries and adversity that he pushed through to keep driving forward are only more impressive because he didn’t write the book about himself, someone else wrote it about him, and people lined up to make sure they could get a personal Adam Brown story on the record before they deployed again.
 
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Devildoc said:
That's a good question. Certainly worthy of the award. My guess would be there was only one American who could verify what he did, an army advisor who helped him.
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There is at least one with zero witnesses, Bud Day. He’s the only author of his trek across the DMZ. I’m sure there are others with only one witness.

Ripley was robbed.
 
AWP said:
There is at least one with zero witnesses, Bud Day. He’s the only author of his trek across the DMZ. I’m sure there are others with only one witness.

Ripley was robbed.
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I don't disagree (that Ripley was robbed). Honestly, I never thought about it and that was the only reason I could think of. But your comment makes me wonder... when did they start requiring all the research and affidavits and witnesses to get the MoH? Is that a modern phenomena?
 
billbrasky86 said:
The Terminal List by Jack Carr
True Believer by Jack Carr

Non-fiction at the moment, both really good reads though. Actually getting in the way of my college homework somewhat.
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I was able to read The Terminal List over Christmas and I wasn't really impressed. I get the feeling that Carr wanted to focus more on the action and revenge fantasy rather than getting into a real conspiracy thriller. I guess part of the thrill for me is trying to piece everything together and in my opinion Carr felt that it was pretty unnecessary to build a case around actually learning about the targets and went for a straight up rampage instead.

I still feel that it's better than Savage Son though. The amount of name checks and the fact all of the villains in that book were all insane and depraved doesn't help when it comes to selling the believability of the world that Reece lives in.
 
Ooh-Rah said:
The Last Season, about a ranger (Forest) who was a top SAR person, disappeared himself, and the Forester’s coordination in an attempt to find him. The protagonist, not a perfect person, but a damn good one, reminded me a lot of myself in some ways. (Minus the affair).

Currently halfway into Fearless, the story of SEAL, Adam Brown. This is the antithesis of your typical “I was there” book. Brown (now deceased) was a man with many demons, demons that possessed him long before joining the Navy. It was a path through God that led him to the SEAL’s.

Blehm writes this story in a way that is so powerful, I actually found myself laying my Kindle on the table for a few minutes because I could see coming the next self-destructive thing Brown was about to do.

ETA -

I feel like I am underselling this book and man. SEAL Adam Brown was one very tough man. The injuries and adversity that he pushed through to keep driving forward are only more impressive because he didn’t write the book about himself, someone else wrote it about him, and people lined up to make sure they could get a personal Adam Brown story on the record before they deployed again.
Click to expand...

Everyone I know who knew and worked with Adam loved him. Some year I plan to dive on his memorial site.
 
Here's my list (more or less, there may be a few omissions) since the site went down awhile back.

Dead Men Flying, A Remembrance : Going to War in the A-4 - Rolling Thunder over Hanoi
Mullane, Michael

Bush War Operator: Memoirs of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, Selous Scouts and beyond
Balaam, Andrew

Florida's Seminole Wars: 1817-1858 (Making of America)
Knetsch, Joe

The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
Taraborrelli, J. Randy

Phoenix Rising: From the Ashes of Desert One to the Rebirth of U.S. Special Operations
Nightingale, Keith

White Devil: A True Story of War, Savagery, and Vengeance in Colonial America
Brumwell, Stephen

Shadows of a Forgotten Past: To the Edge with the Rhodesian SAS and Selous Scouts
French, Paul

The Operators: On The Street with Britain's Most Secret Service
Rennie, James

How Can Man Die Better: The Secrets of Isandlwana Revealed
Snook, Mike

The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War
Mendez, Antonio J.; Mendez, Jonna

The Bleed: With the Marines in Vietnam and the RLI and Selous Scouts in Rhodesia
Cronin, John R.

Three Sips of Gin: Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia's famed Selous Scouts
Bax, Timothy

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Philbrick, Nathaniel

Nancy Wake: World War Two’s Most Rebellious Spy
Braddon, Russell

The Bluegrass Conspiracy: An Inside Story of Power, Greed, Drugs and Murder
Denton, Sally

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
Schreier, Jason

The Longest Campaign: Britain's Maritime Struggle in the Atlantic and Northwest Europe, 1939–1945
Walter, Brian

Jayhawk: Love, Loss, Liberation, and Terror Over the Pacific
Stout, Jay A

Where Divers Dare: The Hunt for the Last U-Boat
Peffer, Randall

Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of the Epic Series
Hibberd, James

Catching Hell: A True Story of Abandonment and Betrayal
Dobyns, Jay

RatSnakes: Cheating Death by Living A Lie: Inside the Explosive World of ATF's Undercover Agents and How We Changed the Game
Cefalu, Vincent A.

A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca
Reséndez, Andrés

Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Apollo Moon Landings
Shepard, Alan; Slayton, Deke; Barbree, Jay

Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
Fey, Peter

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
Isaacson, Walter

Tinman's Tale: Flying Air Force Heavy Iron in the 60s, 70s and 80s
Goebel, Gary

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob
English, T. J.
 
@AWP if you liked Moonshot, read Andrew Chaikin's A Man on the Moon.

My list is not quite as long, and really mainly when I was down and out with the cancer BS and I could not do anything else.

Coffin Corner Boys: One Bomber, Ten men, and Their Harrowing Escape from Nazi-Occupied France (Carole Engle Avriett)

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy (Ian W. Toll)

A Most Fortunate Ship: A Narrative History of Old Ironsides (Tyrone G. Martin)

The Demon in the Freezer (Richard Preston, also wrote The Hot Zone, et al., about smallpox)

Warrior's Creed: A Life of Preparing for and Facing the Impossible (Roger Sparks)

On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War over Vietnam (John Nichols)

...and a handful of Tom Clancy.....

@AWP if you are ever interested in a book exchange, I'd love to read a couple of those, especially Dead Men Flying....
 

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