Modern Day Battles can be won with overwhelming success
929308
Brilliantly written! The intimate and personal stories woven in with the truths and principles laid out ever so clearly in this book have breathed fresh life into a familiar topic...the Armor of God.

The Action points and prayers that Jane Huff painstakingly shares with her readers -- are practical, as well as powerful.

Prepare to experience major victory in areas you've been stuck in for weeks, months, perhaps even years.

Kudos to Jane Huff for shedding light to an underutilized NUCLEAR weapon from God!
2665216
From the moment I began reading 1SG Steen's story, I found it hard to put the book down. This book almost puts you in the middle of the battles the soldiers of Black Knight Alfa fought and there were many. Despite being out numbered on most missions, the soldiers of Black Knight Alfa fought bravely, courageously, but most of all they fought wisely. Using their enemy's tactics against them, the men of Black Knight Alfa outfoxed and defeated their enemy. The speed at which they humped the bush, the mountains and flatland in order to ambush their enemy was superhuman. Their patrol of the Ay Shau Valley was nothing short of a miracle. A miracle that they could bring so much death and destruction to the enemy while keeping their movements secret. One can almost feel the heat and humidity of the jungle as 1SG Steen tells his soldier's story in that God forbidden valley.
1SG Steen truly loves his brave soldiers. He is certainly an NCO who who knows what it means to be an NCO. Never an easy job but a job that is very rewarding if done correctly always placing the soldiers first.
God Bless you men of the Black Knight Alfa (alpha and omega) wherever you might be today. You were victorious! Thank you for your service.
2363470
This book is splendid. It is the model of what contemporary history should be. Oberdorfers achievement is all the more impressive in that it tackled a huge controversial topic of the day, and did what books should do. It left its readers knowing more about Vietnam, and able to ask questions about where America was going in its involvement. To do this in 1971 was stupendous. To do it today would still be an achievement.
 Oberdorfer gives a brief background leading up to the Tet offensive, then a detailed picture of the battles. Given that fighting erupted all across South Vietnam, this is a great accomplishment. Oberdorfer is not shy about showing the atrocities the Viet Cong inflicted on Vietnamese, a notable feat for a journalist in 1971. But he also doesnt flinch about showing the deficiencies in South Vietnams military forces and, worse, its political class. Finally Oberdorfer surveys the battles impact on American opinion, paying close attention to the effects television had on the coverage and on opinion.
 The one thing I might have wished for is more history on the war, but after all, theres a reason Oberdorfer called the book TET: he thought it was a milestone, and wanted to concentrate on it. He succeeded, and history readers are in his debt. However painful reading this book can be to Americans, Oberdorfer did his damnedest to get to the truth, even while events had not finished. Its a great achievement
 Why, then, is the book relatively forgotten today? It is because David Halberstam, not content with poisoning American opinion with his writing, read the book first. What a shock it must have been to Halberstam, the Vietnam reporting hotshot, to see that Oberdorfer got there first, and without all the meretricious tinsel Halberstam had accumulated by showboating. If the truth, carefully sourced by Oberdorfer, had already been done, what was Halberstam to do? Easy: be the anti-Oberdorfer, use smears, change your mind without acknowledging it (compare the portrait of Robert McNamara in THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST, with McNamara Mark II in THE RECKONING), get even with all the people who disagreed with you (and to be fair, took a lot of undeserved shots at Halberstam while he was reporting from Vietnam) and above all, get the I told you so! attitude in the books. Compared to that, Oberdorfers calm, well-sourced digging for the truth wasn't going to get a big sale, nor any tinsel compared to Halberstam the Christmas tree on the rubbish heap got.
4103764
A Great book which takes you through all of the major battles of the Civil War.  He worked through the archaic military system to get the right people in place. More importantly, his unique organizational skills revolutionized how the military functioned on a day today basis regarding command-and-control and supplies.  He was extremely hardheaded and tenacious and as a result He did not have a lot of admirers at the time. However he was right 90% of the time. A remarkable person.
210175
From this book you can learn how and what it takes for building strong teamwork, because in football only teamwork gets the job done. To illustrate this, the author has chosen at least two dozen famous and less famous football managers, dwelling on their achievements and principles they had adhered to, to achieve greatness measured by something more than medals and trophies.

The central premise in this narrative is that good footballers don not necessarily make good players. The brain of a manager constantly competes with the infinite possibilities of eleven thinking brains on the pitch. Choosing a right formation for a team is one of the manager's concerns and embracing a right one, the manager is able to achieve multiplying effect of the player abilities. The book also highlights how the modern game has been turned into a modern celebrity show, where almost every player is fit and powerful and there is less and less demand for players who offer little beyond their physique or their engine.

I read the book voraciously. The author occasionally uses the persuasive power of metaphors to make his point. Especially I enjoyed reading about historic football games, where, as it occurs, cart horses have played against race horses; Rommel v. Montgomery and bullfighters against bulls. Recommended.
2377601
Steven Pressfield does an excellent job of bringing the terror and  exhilaration of close quarters combat to life.  He does an especially good  job of detailing the afermath of such moments.  As a martial artist, former  police officer and soldier I have experienced such moments.  Mr. Pressfield  uses what might be 'modern' terms and expressions to help bring the life of  the Spartan soldiers closer to the modern reader.  True, some of the  brutality of Spartan life is skimmed over.  However, the story is told from  the view point of one born into brutality.  Such conditions are alien to  most modern readers.  Mr. Pressfield focuses on the warrior and his craft.  Outstanding job, Mr. Pressfield.
639772
Lions Of Kandahar takes you into the action with a US Army Special Forces Unit on the ground in Afghanistan and nothing is left out. This awful war has been going on since 2001 with U.S. troops on the ground and for over ten years prior with CIA and U.S. support to indigent units when they were fighting the Russians.  The reporting in the news media does not depict the truth of the difficulty of the battle action and the tenacity and cleverness of the Taliban or Al Qaeda.  The U.S. Government has not given the American citizens enough information about the difficult enemy that we face and the challenges of trying to help the Afghanis put their country back together after so many years of war. So few Afghanis have lived in a peaceful time that they face great difficulty when they try to adjust to peace. But, to have a chance at a governmental form that approaches at least some sort of oligarchy or semi democratic structure, there first needs to be security from theocratic domination, tribal domination and a near constant state of war. To that end, dedicated leaders like the author, Major Rusty Bradley of Special Forces and his men and other units, other leaders, have placed their lives on the line and teamed up with the Afghanistan Army to fight together as a team. Frankly, I was surprised that the U.S. Army would give the Ok to release so much factual information about small unit tactics, equipment, training methods, battlefield savvy, types of munitions, weapons, communications, medical support, and the mentality of the fighters. All of this information can be useful to the enemy, but it helps American citizens to appreciate just how deadly and ruthless a foe we face and to realize how fortunate we are to have fighting forces who sacrifice beyond what should be expected. You cannot order men like Rusty Bradley and his unit to do what they do. They truly exceed expectations: fighting when wounded; eager to return to the unit after medical aid is provided to them; placing their lives on the line 24/7; taking the fight to the enemy; adapting and applying tribal cultural and language skills with their Afghani Army counterparts. The Special Forces does the USA proud.
After reading this book, I will look upon news media reports about battlefield conditions with a very wary eye. Once you get into it, this is a hard book to put down. You are in the battlefield picture - with maps, images, narration of the action - but most importantly - the mindset and thought process of the author and others in his Special Forces family. This book lets us know what Valor looks like for real. If you like a good military small unit combat story about a tough, pitched battle with close quarter fighting, close air support, push back against senior leadership that is trying to catch up to modern fighting methods and trying to manage a battlefield from a distance - all this plus the relationship between US Forces and NATO forces when strained by high risk - then this is your book. Thank you Major Rusty Bradley for sharing and Godspeed.
3914267
Craig Symonds' "Battle of Midway" is the definitive modern account of the American side of the battle.  Using both his own, significant primary source research from survivors of the battle as well as including what's been learned in 70 years worth of scholarship, he tells a gripping story that at times turns conventional wisdom about the battle on its head.  Just as importantly, he does so in a way that is accessible to readers who might not be history buffs.  5 stars.

The story of Midway has been told over and over in various forms since the late 1940s, and rightfully so; as Symonds notes, it was probably the single most significant naval victory since Trafalgar.  Symonds correctly decides to start far earlier, though, with a detailed walk through the major naval actions of 1942 that preceded Midway.

Adding this to a very accessible layman's walkthrough of the armaments and strategic issues involved makes the book far more accessible to non-expert readers. One example: most readers who aren't military historians will be unaware that the deadliest part of the Zero's arsenal, the 20 mm cannons, were limited to a stunningly sparse 60 rounds.  That in turn makes much of the fleet action later far more understandable, and he makes another critical point about the Japanese tendency to build for quick offense rather than survivability that ended up having disastrous consequences later.

Enough books and movies have been made about Midway so that large parts of the story have nearly become myth, among them being that the strategic brilliance of commanders won the day.  While giving credit where it is due, Symonds drills into the battle with the help of newer sources and his work draws a slightly different conclusion: that there were some incredible blunders covered up for years, and only some of the sacrifices of men doing their jobs in spite of those decisions proved the crucial factor in turning events.

Symonds' review of the USS Hornet, for instance, is rather devastating to Marc Mitscher and the CAG, Stanhope Ring, who by all reasonable accounts appears to have botched the launch of his planes in a way similar to Miles Browning, deliberately flew 25 degrees off course, sparked a mutiny by almost all the pilots under his command, and who along with Mitscher began damage control the second he became one of the first pilots to return from the battle.  Frank Jack Fletcher and the Yorktown comes off better than in most other narratives, and while nothing is said against Raymond Spruance, he does not play as significant a role here as in most books.  Even the attack on the Kaga and Akagi is reexamined; through a particularly bad misunderstanding, 27 Dauntless divebombers overwhelmed the Kaga and only 3 went after the Akagi.  (Fortunately, the sole bullseye on the Akagi was enough to fatally wound her.)

The most noteworthy of the new narratives, though, is to establish the well known role of the torpedo squadrons as a broader part of the overall story.  John Waldron, who properly holds a place in American history as one of the most valiant of its officers, chose to deliberately abandon Ring once he realized their course was useless and would have likely been court-martialed had he lived instead of receiving the Navy Cross.  (His efforts not only drew down the Zeros to sea level but also largely exhausted their 20 mm cannons, which proved critically important for followup waves.) Jim Gray, CO of the Enterprise fighter squadron, spent an hour over the target and could have provided fighter cover for the torpedo attacks of both the Hornet and Enterprise torpedo planes.  Just as significantly, Symonds establishes how the land based attacks from Midway and the valiant efforts of the USS Nautilus helped create the utter chaos that made the sacrifice of the torpedo planes one of the turning points of the war.

There's much more to be said about the conclusions reached in this book, but the best of all things to say is to simply read it if you want to learn more about Midway than you will elsewhere.  5 stars.
4422614
Phenomenal book about the trials, failures and successes of the human condition.  Victory despite terribly overwhelming odds, love in its truest form and one mans desire to live as goodly and Godly before all men as he can.
779656
In 2004 Major General Jim Molan of the Australian army was sent to assist the US army in Iraq in a senior capacity - much to the surprise of the Americans. Realising that the Americans were leery of coalition generals who were there to fly the flag but not do much else, Molan put himself forward to take control of getting oil through to Baghdad. It was a touch and go thing but he managed to keep things operating. He then turned his attention to pipe, power and rail lines. After proving himself, and in Iraq success was achieved by being able to avert catastrophe daily, he was made Chief of Operations, or third in charge. Initially he served under General Sanchez but spent most of the time reporting directly to Casey. It was in this role that he directed the second battle of Fallujah and the first election of January 2005.

Molan is very clear on what serving in Iraq was like. It was an extremely difficult environment. Aside from the Sunni and Shia's, there were criminal groups and of course the foreign Jihadists. Iraqi institutions were only just being re-established and few local people knew their jobs and they had almost no trust of anyone. Everything was a priority and there were conflicting schools of thought on how to go about things - which all needed to be done straightaway, amidst the most appalling violence.

It was a matter of winning where he could. He writes in glowing terms of the US military, of the professionalism and the incredible performance of turning itself from a conventional army into a counter-insurgency army. He was deeply impressed with his US colleagues and their commitment. He finds fault though with the politicians failing to provide enough troops and failing to prioritise basic infrastructure needs.

The best part is his command of the operations in Fallujah. This followed the appalling episode involving those US contractors being hung up on the bridge. Molan commanded the second battle where everything was planned to precision. He writes of `shaping' the city for the attack and his surprise that the insurgents stayed to fight. This obviously played into his hands. He is also involved in striking at insurgent leaders, usually using precision aerial bombs. The process, including legal assessment he went through each time is amazing. This demonstrates absolutely the principled way that Americans try to fight their wars.

The most stirring part is his involvement in the election. The difficulties in getting everyone to co-operate were mind boggling. So much had to be planned and so much relied on the Iraqies. Despite their best efforts many attacks took place but they were held within bounds. The courage of the voters and the Iraqi police and soldiers was stunning and Molan gives some amazing examples of this. There's stuff here that the Western media, to its shame, never reported.

Molan makes the point that counterinsurgency warfare is an ongoing process of winning and loosing. Each side is continually adjusting to the new tactics of the other. He believes that US success in getting three elections held in 2005, resulted in the insurgents trying to create widespread sectarian warfare resulting in the bloodbath of 2006-7. This though worked against them with a backlash from many different Iraqi stake-holders. And it was one of the reasons behind the Sunni change of heart. Molan also attributes this to their realisation that the Americans were not just going to go home, a notion reinforced by `the surge'(so successful on several levels). They were very tired of war and it was the clear US resolve that contributed to their choosing a different track. As Molan says, no one will compromise when they think they can win.

This is a good read. Molan is a soldier and he writes from that perspective. He met many Iraqies that he felt deserved his best efforts to win them peace. He also writes of the absolute barbarity of the Jihadists. It is a very interesting observation of the US army at war.
1152452
Tom RIck's does an outstanding job of opening the door into the highest ranks of Combat Commanders (COCOM's). These men are the equivalent of Napoleon's Field Marshalls and the Roman Imperator. Because they hold vast power over the national treasury of lives and material, Rick's is right to call them to account. They should be judged by their successes and failures. However, to ask the military flag and general officer community to police themselves at the three and four star level is not rational. It is a small group of men (now women), who have known each other for three decades or more. They are a rare group who have dedicated their lives to one career, foregoing the benefits of early retirement and a second income from the civilian world. Mr. Rick's note correctly that General George Marshall got it almost all right. His policy of public firing followed by second chances was the best to render battlefield success and not immediately cashier talent that took decades to develop. His was a policy that often good people are placed in the wrong job. Mr. Rick's did point out that the real check and balance in the American system is the President. He sets the political goals. If in so doing, he choses a military solution, then his top generals in the field must be in accord with his political goals. When they are not and when they are unsuccessful in delivering a military solution, then they should be dismissed. However, the manner of their dismissal should be in accordance with the times they live. In World War II, there was a life and death national struggle with unconditional surrender. That sharp all-or-nothing approach called for the public dismissal and private re-assignment of top officers. Today, although Mr. Rick's feels the same methodology should prevail, a kinder-gentler approach still achieves the same ends: a change in commander is a change in military methods of victory. Finally, Mr. Rick's and I are in agreement that dismissal today almost always denies the nation the re-deployment of the talents built up over decades of professional development of Flag and General Officers, not to speak of commanding officers and command master chiefs,
4781879
Fire Base Illingworth is the story of one of a hundred battles that took place on April 1, 1970. Yet, it is representative microcosm of the experience of the Vietnam War for the men who fought there. From interviews of soldiers from both sides and the after-action reports of the battle, Philip Keith presents the reader with an incredibly rich story of men who fought against all odds, and the men who had to win at any cost.

Men of the 1st Cavalry Division moved out to Fire Support Base Illingworth to as a staging point to interdict North Vietnamese supply lines. Because of the base's close proximity, American leaders suspected that the North Vietnamese would not leave this tempting target alone. On the night of April 1st, the North Vietnamese Army would prove the American suspicions true.

So this understrength company of infantrymen, supported by three broken down tanks, and a few artillery pieces held off more than 450 North Vietnamese Army troops in a pitched battle that lasted almost 3 hours. The reader learns of a Medal of Honor recipient, and the actions of men that earned dozens of other medals for valor.

This book kept my attention from the very beginning. Keith lays out the strategy for the firebase concept at this period in the war; tells the story of the base's namesake; describes the battle; and then provides the reader with an epilogue of where these men are today.  The author did a fantastic job paying tribute to these brave men.
29118
Anyone can get a win here and there, but it takes much more to become a serial winner.  In this book you learn how to make winning a way of life and not just a moment in your life.  A must read.
4414170
In all of recorded history, only two military occupations have been successful: Caesar's occupation of Gaul, and Americas Caesars, Douglas MacArthur, occupation of Japan during 1945-1950.

In this "fascinating book" (New York Times), Seymour Morris Jr. lays out in detail how MacArthur pulled off one of the great leadership triumphs of modern times: transforming a sullen, defeated, militarist nation into a democracy and ally of the United States. You would think, when we invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003, that members of the Bush Administration would have opened a history book to learn how MacArthur achieved the impossible. Yet, obviously, Cheney and large contingent of neo-cons did not.

Unlike Iraq, we entered Japan with a policy, a strategy, a plan, and a charismatic leader who reached out to the Japanese people and their emperor.  MacArthur convinced them he was working to get them back on their feet and in a better situation than any of them imagined.

Read this fast-paced, engagingly-written book. I bought copies for friends and relatives
4796240
Emotions and thoughts of characters are well developed and graphically presented with a lot of detail. The battles are given in a lot of detail that may not be of a lot of interest to current day readers, because battle strategy has changed so much.
2133138
Dead Men Risen (DMR) ranks with the best campaign military histories published in the past 50 years.  On my list are The Liberation Trilogy (Rick Atkinson) and Hell in a Very Small Place (Bernard Fall).  Toby Harnden's contribution to our understanding of the Afghan war (2001-20xx) in general and the campaign to pacify Helmand Province in particular deserves wide reading by soldiers, civilians, government types, aid workers, political theorists.  The latter especially need to know what real war is like in the 21st Century -- a complex hybrid of battle, sustainment, politics, culture, and character that mesh in a dirty, scary, and physically demanding environment.

DMR is the story of the Royal Welsh Guards, one of the five regiments making up the Household (Guards) division (I'm an American, so hopefully Mr. Harnden will excuse if I get some of the detail wrong), which has both a ceremonial (think Buckingham Palace) and combat mission.  DMR exposes us to the Welsh Guards history (barely a century now) and its proud achievements in WWI, WWII, and the Falklands.  In this latter campaign, the WG's psyche was indelibly seared by the loss of more than 30 guardsmen killed on the Sir Galahad transport ship sunk by an Argentine missile.  A few of the guardsmen deployed to Helmand were survivors of that tragedy.

In Helmand, the WG endured some of the heaviest fighting imaginable in an austere environment that was under-resourced, and not well understood.  As a measure of the brutal combat, the WG had the unenviable distinction of being the first British army battalion-size unit since Korea to lose as killed in action a platoon, company, and battalion commander.  DMR tells the complete story of these incidents, and many more, with realism, humanity, and respect.

DMR analyzes this campaign in many facets, from the high politics to ISAF's vogueish counterinsurgency strategy (known as COIN), to the tactics and techniques of modern "small war."  There are many lessons here, too numerous to indulge in here.  Suffice to say that a thoughtful reading will instruct more than a stack of military field manuals.

Finally, the book itself is beautifully laid out.  Four photo sections depict the soldiers, their environment, fears, elation, success and failure, and home front.  A glossary defines the acronyms and British army cultural terms.  The maps are excellent (a rare gift to history reader).  Each chapter begins with two epigrams that are insightful, instructive, and at times foreboding.  It is a page turner; it is just sometimes the reader knows he/she will regret turning the page.

War is not clean or fun or glorious.  DMR makes that clear.  But the men of the WG are proud and honorable and brave.  They have well preserved the martial memory of their fore-bearers.  As an American with Welsh ancestry, it is my pleasure to endorse such an excellent history of this battle to secure the Helmand Province.

"Cymru Am Byth"
673363
As provocative as the title of this book is - How To Win a Fight - there's so much more to this book than just that.

A key point for me is in the subtitle - "A Guide to -Avoiding- and Surviving Violence."

Kane and Wilder, two of my favorite martial arts authors today, spend the entire first third of the book discussing what happens before violence even occurs. They talk about the importance of awareness, a key word throughout in probably every single chapter. Be aware of what's happening around you, and what you could be doing to add gas or water to the fire.

This collection of chapters is excellently assembled, almost as if the authors had kept a blog and edited that content for this book. The chapters are pretty short and have catchy, "listicle"-style headlines, such as "Know How to Perform First Aid" and "Seven Mistakes to Avoid in a Fight."

Broken into three sections - before the fight, during it, and afterward - How To Win a Fight brings up legal questions constantly, a poignant reminder that, first, we live in a litigious country, and second, the martial arts moves we practice and teach to a fault (meaning we don't fully execute the technique unless we're hitting a pad or performing in the air) actually do have consequences when applied to people. Don't overestimate that.

If the book boiled down to one simple takeaway, though, it would probably be this:

Even though the books were published under different companies, I view this book as a precursor to Scaling Force. That is a much more detailed book discussing each of the levels of force - presence, voice, empty-hand restraint, non-lethal force and lethal force - that are only briefly outlined in How to Win a Fight. (Kane and Miller also add a sixth level in Scaling Force).

I'm happy to add this book to my "Recommended Reading" for my lower ranks.