My job requires me to do a LOT of traveling, so, accordingly, I read a lot to help pass the time while doing so. I read mainly military tomes, concentrating mostly on aircraft stories, but anything military is fine with me. What can you guys recommend for my perusing pleasure?
The latest book I’ve read is titled “Taking Fire”. It’s about the true exploits of the supposedly shortest (5’ 4") Army Huey pilot in Vietnam, written by Ron Alexander (autobiographical). Great reading.
I’ve also read the entire “Corps” series (9 books so far, with another one due Jan 2004) by W.E.B. Griffin. Good stuff.
I look forward to reading what you folks recommend here. Semper Fi!!
We Were Soldiers, Once and Young.–Awesome
Blackhawk Down–Awesome
Into the Storm By Tom Clancy-- Good
Every Man A Tiger by Tom Clancy-- Good
By Any Means Necessary by William Burrows-- Good
The Price of Vigilance by Larry Tart & Robert Keefe–Good
Crusade by Rick Atkinson-- Decent
Storm Over Iraq by Richard Hallion-- Decent
Company C by John Sack-- Great
Warthog by William Smallwood-- Good to Great
Strike Eagle by William Smallwood-- Excellent
Vipers in the Storm by Keith Rosenkranz-- Good
Sled Driver by Brain Shul-- Fantastic Awesome
The Untouchables by Brain Shul-- Fantastic Awesome
Lockheed SR-71 by Paul Crickmore-- good
Lockheed SR-71 New Edition by Paul Crickmore
– good
Sky Spies by Anthony Thornborough-- Great
SR-71 Revealed by Richard Graham-- Excellent
Blackbird Rising by Donn Byrnes & Ken Hurley-- Great
Going Downtown by Jack Broughton-- Great
Fast Movers by John Sherwood-- Good
Hunters & Shooters edit by Bill Fawcett–Great
Skunk Works by Ben Rich & Leo Janos-- Great
I Came Back From Bataan by James Gautier Jr.-- Great.
Speaking of Carlos Hathcock, I have an autographed picture of him. A friend of mine who lives in northern Virginia is a good friend of Carlos, and he was able to get the photo for me. I, too, had read “93 Confirmed Kills”, and thought that it was an excellent read. The USMC has it on their required reading list as well. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Sniper”, with Tom Beringer, then you know what the book is about. What I didn’t like about the movie was that at the end of the it, there was a disclaimer that all events in the movie were purely fictional, which is just a load of !@#$%$#!!! The whole movie, except for the setting, was from “93 Confirmed Kills”. But, overall, the movie was pretty good.
Back to subject of books. Anything, and I mean ANYTHING, by Stephen E. Ambrose, is a must-read. I’ve read “Band of Brothers”, “Citizen Soldiers”, and “The Wild Blue” by him, and I could hardly put them down long enough to eat. He was one great historian. Too bad he passed away last year.
“Punk’s War”, by Ward Carroll, is a good read. It’s about the modern Navy, with an attitudinally-challenged F-14 pilot, as the setting.
Also, anything by Dale Brown or Stephen Coonts I’ll read.
Thanks for the list!!! I don’t think I’ve read any of the books that you’ve listed. I’ll have to rush down to the bargain book store and see what I can get. If you can think of any others, please list 'em here.
As for shermanfreak, how posts does he have? I only have about 50, and I’ve been a member of this forum for about 6 months now. It amazes how some of these guys have thousands of post already, and this forum hasn’t been in operation for a year yet. How do they get any MODELING done???
Larry Bond spins some great military yarns, very similar to Tom Clancy’s books (I personally believe Larry Bond and Tom Clancy are the same guy) but with more action.
No they’re two seperate writers. They collaborated on Red Storm Rising. Larry Bond is one of my favorites. So is Stephen Coontz. Anything by these two is guaranteed to be good. Flight of the Cannibal Queen is VERY HIGHLY recomended. Its the story of his flight to the lower 48 in a Stearman. I couldn’t put it down!!!
Hi Gary, three books that spring instantly to mind are I DESSERTED ROMMEL by CORPORAL GUNTHER BEHNEMANN, his story of how he (as he put it) cancelled his employment with adolph hitler. and the other is ENEMY COAST AHEAD by WING COMMANDER GUY GIBSON, VC. the book by Guy Gibson has recently been de-classified by the MoD so the unedited version has been published and last but not least CHICKENHAWK by ROBERT MASON, a look at the Vietnam war through the eyes of a Huey pilot. what ever you decide to read, hope you enjoy it. Greg
Thanks for the list. I’ve read the “Chickenhawk” book, and it’s a great read. I had to read it - my last name is Mason. 8-)) I will definitely check out the other books that you mentioned. Thanks again.
Ambrose was a great writer for sure. What really kills me is that he was working on a book about the 1st Marine Division in the PTO when he was diagnosed with cancer. The book was never finished, really a shame. Those guys never got the recognition they deserved and I’d have loved to see the Corps come to life the way that the Army did from Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan.
Both Hathcock bios are excellent, also, Marine and Chesty are required reading. About face by Col. David Hackworth is great. Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. Guadalcanal Diary is excellent. Samurai by Saboro Sakai is very good, as is Thunderbolt! by Robert Johnson. Flags of our Fathers is great as well. Pappy Boyington’s book is good too, but I can’t think of the name right now. Catch 22 is fantastic, The Thin Red Line is good. Pathfinder! is a very good book as well, can’t think of the author just offhand though. Dear Mom is another very good sniper book by a guy named J.T. Ward. That’s just bout all I can think of off the top of my head just now, but there are many many more really great books to read. Someone should ask about Science Fiction next, I love that stuff too!
For something up to date, highly recommend “The March Up: Taking Baghdad With The First Marine Division”. Authors are Bing West and MajGen “E-Tool” Smith. USMC(ret) I worked for Gen Smith in Beirut and Grenada and this book is honest and Tell It Like It Is. Semper Fi!
Can I assume that you’re a former Devil Dog? Sure sounds like it from that reading list you just gave. I’ve read quite a few of those books that you mentioned, by the way. All are outstanding reading!! Thanks for your input on this. I’m glad that I posted this question. I’ve gotten some really great input for all of you so far.
If you want to try Science Fiction Military, I recommend the “STARFIST” Series by David Sherman and Dan Cragg. It’s about a Marine Corps (traces its lineage back to the USMC and Royal Marines) set in the 25th Century and the story line for the first three books are based off “real world” events (Somalia, Kosovo, etc.) Both authors are Vietnam Vets (Sherman-USMC, Cragg-US Army). I usually don’t read Sci-Fi but this series is a good read.
I’m actually not, I have bad ankles and knee, prevented my doing a lot of running. I do come from a Corps family though, and love the Corps like nothing else in the world. Chesty puller is my hero. My dad, and brother were both in the Corps, and my grandfather and his father and so on back to Stephen Decateur or thereabouts. Check out my website, I’ve got an Iwo Jima picture and a Chosin reservoir pic there as well.
I like reading about WWII, the best book I’ve read was the Ragged, Rugged Warriors, it auther wrote about all the great aviation battles in the early years of the war it started out with the Spainish Civil war and ended on Midway there was some really intresting information about WWII Aviation that I didn’t know
Another great book to read is the P-38 Lightning(the Forked Tail Devils) it talks about from concept to reallity of the great fighter and all of her misgivings on teething problems and it was the only fighter that was empolyed and produced through out the entire war for the U.S.
Some of the most everlasting books on military issues
Art of War Sun Tzu
Herodotus on Persian Wars
Thoucidides on Peloponesian War…The chapters on Pericles speeches, and especially on the Pathology of the Civil War and the Milian Incident are among the greatest works ever… highly recommended.
Xenophon The Descend of the Ten Thousand
Just finished The Mighty Eighth about the air war in Europe. Also recently finished, and would recommend, The Jolly Rogers (VF-17), Blind Man’s Bluff (great read), The Blond Knight (Hartmann), The Battle of Leyte Gulf, Wildcat (Tillman)…could go on and on. Just picked up The Fleet the Gods Forgot for some cold weather reading. HTH
Madda, FWIW, My next door neighbor was with the 1st marines at Peleliu