What Are You Currently Reading?

Their life expectancy over the course of a 20 year career wasn't "Formula 1 driver in the 50's and 60's bad," but it was not good.
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Linebacker by Karl L. Eschmann which covers the Linebacker I and mostly Linebacker II series of strikes on North Vietnam in 1972. A summary:
SAC: Let's send our B-52's to Hanoi and Haiphong.
7th Air Force: Uh, those areas are packed with SA-2's, SAM's designed to shoot down B-52's. You sure you want to do that?
SAC: These are our bombers. STFU.
Aircrew: Yeah, we have nothing planned today, so dying or becoming a POW sounds good.

If you're on a bit of a Vietnam Air War bent at the moment I'd recommend either of these two books:

Amazon.com: Clashes: Air Combat over North Vietnam, 1965–1972 (9781591145196): Marshall L. Michell III: Books

That's a very academic bit of prose but very interesting. He makes the point that the war in Vietnam was basically how the air war against the Soviet Union would go, except on a smaller scale. We might not have won if it had all kicked off around that time. Well, if nukes were involved noone would have won.

Amazon.com: The Vietnam Air War: First Person eBook: Ridnouer, Col. Dennis: Kindle Store

This one is a series of stories from the pilots. Needed a bit of editing here and there but nothing major.
 
For some reason I'd never read John Stryker Meyer's Across the Fence, an oral history of MACV-SOG. I'm only 1/4 or so into the book, but really like the story of John Walton, an SF medic who earned a Silver Star when his team was attacked, took over the team when the others were wounded, called in airstrikes on his position, etc. Arriving back at the FOB he accompanied a teammate with a leg amputation to the ER. A surgeon couldn't start an IV, so Walton stood there and told him to do a cutdown, not leaving until his guy was treated.

Before his death in 2005, John Walton was one of the richest men on the planet...as the heir to the Walmart fortune.
 
A Drop too Many by John Frost. He was the battalion commander for 2 PARA during Market Garden. His BN secured the "bridge too far" in Arhem and held it against incredible odds before being overwhelmed. Great book focusing on his very remarkable career. Currently available for the Kindle for $2.99.
 
First In:

A insider's account of how the CIA Spearheaded the war on terror in Afghanistan

Gary C Schroen.

Also look at "Jawbreaker" both books came out in 2005 about the same operation.

Jawbreaker: The Attack on bin Laden and al-Qaeda
Book by Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzullo

I wonder how they compare, I need to read First In.
 
Also look at "Jawbreaker" both books came out in 2005 about the same operation.

Jawbreaker: The Attack on bin Laden and al-Qaeda
Book by Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzullo

I wonder how they compare, I need to read First In.

Well read and well done. I have been on a kick about reading what our various forces such as the CIA have done to kill the enemy


How accurate is JawBreaker?
 
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. Amazing author, his other books are standouts and higly recommended. The book chronicles Churchill's first year as PM during WWII. 50 pages in it is a great book.
 
Mort by Terry Pratchett, since always can use the laugh.

Not very topical I know. But very recommend, if the humor jibes with you. Some find it just annoying, so guess it's bit of an acquired taste.
 
It’s a 2019 collection of research and interviews done by Annie Jacobson. She lays it out chronological WWII forward. The book focuses on CIA paramilitary history.

I picked it up because it contains recent history from SF legend Billy Waugh. I’m only 5 chapters in, but here’s a real gem:

Billy Waugh served with Larry Thorne in 10th SF in Germany! I had never put 2+2 together with it before, but the timelines make sense.

Responding to you here since this is our book thread.

It's a decent read, but some of his stories read as possibly a bit more embellished than they actually were. That's the only little thing about it I wasn't too fond of.
 
“Mans Search for Meaning”. Victor Frankl. Great insight into the mentality of surviving Nazi concentration camps. Great insight into life in general.
 
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Demons was pretty good so I figured I’d check out his other works. Anyone know of any of his other books that were a pretty good read?
The Gambler. Short novel but powerful story about addiction
 
Read it a long time ago, but a couple of exchanges here led me to believe it still has merit...Inside the Green Berets: The First Thirty Years by Colonel Charles M. Simpson III (former commander of 1st SFGA in the late 60s, early 70s)...provides insight into the early staffing of SF...a good deal of the book owes its existence to Colonel Bob Rheault, a former commander of the 5th Group in Vietnam...his command tenure was interrupted by a murder accusation (I believe the book relating to that is called A Murder in Wartime or something like that)...anyway, he lost interest, gave the notes and all of the unedited transcripts. Simpson finished the book and it was released in 1983. A side note, his son was an A-10 pilot in the wing I was attached to as a Ground Liaison Officer, but he abandoned his upbringing to fly planes...it's available on Amazon for $11.78...ISBN 0-89141-163-1
 
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