only those who experience combat know
341015
War is senseless. There are no winners, only survivors. And those who cause them are rarely held accountable.
For the uninitiated, I'll add to this excellent summary of close infantry combat, an observation of my own, from the Nam and the middle east: war is butchery. There are no rules but to win by any useful means. And humans are capable of acts of horror beyond imagining.
There's just the living with it afterwards...
Better not to go to war in the first place, except in self-defense. There's no other reason.
303232
The book is short, and a pretty quick read (although the power of the book makes it tough to read through in one sitting), but packs a wallop of reality. I didn't know about the cadre of men and women whose job it is to scrape the human remains off the insides of bombed vehicles, of trying to fit legs and arms to the correct torsos, using DNA. I didn't know the number of men returning from combat in this war who murder the women in their lives and the totally inadequate military response (a domestic violence issue, as opposed to damaged vets who act out the violence they experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan).

Like most interested people, I have read statistics on returned vets and general information on dysfunction. But this is the first book which clearly describes what this war does to the human beings we send to fight. Taken with the statistics and stories of damage this war imposes on the people who actually live there, one has to ask how we can allow this to continue. Ever.
4230595
I don't recommend it if one is looking for insight as to the battle decisions etc.,  however, it does take one into the tortured mind of one traumatized by war and especially in the aftermath in dealing with the horror of death, injury and loss of relationships.
3034562
With WWII and Korea combat veterans passing away, it becomes vitally important to capture their experiences.  This book does just that, focusing on their experiences with the weapons they used.  The hard-earned techniques of employment, strengths, and weaknesses of each weapon are described by the actual users.
Whether you are interested in just the historical combat experiences or the information on the firearms, this book is a valuable resource and makes easy, but thrilling reading.
3197081
Great read.  Not a lot of actual combat stories, but still interesting.  Going out on a lot of ambushes with little results.
1975823
We have met the enemy and he is us.
  Pogo, by Walt Kelly (1912-1973)

Sebastian Jungers central theme is the epidemic of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) suffered by returning American war fighters that is exponentially higher than any previous conflict in world history.

The root cause, according to Sebastian Junger, is not war, violence, death and destruction overseas. It is not the VA back home. It is us.

Junger opens with a brilliant narrativefootnote free and wonderfully informativeof how primitive tribes, societies and communes through history waged wars and successfully dealt with the aftermath.

Then he cuts to the chase. A quick sampling:

The vast majority of traumatized vets are not faking their symptoms, however. They return from wars that are safer than those their fathers and grandfathers fought, and yet far greater numbers of them wind up alienated and depressed. This is true even for people who didn't experience combat. In other words, the problem doesnt seem to be the trauma on the battlefield so much as reentry into society.

Todays veterans often come home to find that although they're willing to die for their country, they're not sure how to live for it. Its hard to know how to live for a country that regularly tears itself apart along every possible ethnic and demographic boundary. The income gap between rich and poor continues to widen, many people live in racially segregated communities, the elderly are mostly sequestered from public life, and rampage shootings happen so regularly that they only remain in the news cycle for a day or two. To make matters worse, politicians occasionally accuse rivals of deliberately trying to harm their own countrya charge so destructive to group unity that most past societies would probably have just punished it as a form of treason. Its complete madness, and the veterans know this.

Before casting a vote November 8, 2016, I urge you to read TRIBE: On Homecoming and Belonging. And give it as a gift to everyone you care about.

Denny Hatch
dennyhatch@yahoo.com
1182397
As a self defense instructor with over 25 years of experience, I gave this book a four star rating because it covers topics that most people are oblivious to let alone are trained and prepared for. However, with that being said, you have only scratched the surface of becoming an aware and responsible defender. Most people in a home defense/active shooter scenario would jump from unaware to panic. This is great for both, stimulating the minds of those just starting the journey to becoming a warrior as well as a stimulus for those seasoned warriors out there who need to "sharpen the saw". You should publish a follow up. Great job!
1691603
This is why we are all safe here at home in the United States of America- we are protected by the most heroic men on earth. Indeed, these selfless group of warriors seek no special recognition, just support from the American people. One special fact not readily known, is that there are a large group of Tribal people in Afghanistan who are opposed to the Taliban, and risked their lives to save the author. I strongly recommend this book for all who wish to know more about this theater of the War on Terror, which is largely overshadowed by the military involvement in Iraq.
1384100
U.S. Army SOG teams carried on a secret war in the NVA sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia.  It took daring and skilled warriors to carry out and survive these missions so far from friendly forces.  Many did not.  John "Stryker" Meyer is one of those who did.  He tells his experiences in a way that will make you feel that you are walking his slack.  Don't miss this one.
3290625
On Killing read more like a study of a subject in need of research, but On Combat is much more developed and geared towards preparing the reader for how his mind and body will react to a combat environment both during and after the crucible of battle. This book should be required reading for law enforcement and the armed services.
3680058
With little background in martial art, I believe I am not the right person to judge whether or not the concept described here is really work in real combat situation. But I can tell you how this book impacted me as reader.
While talking about the simple no-nonse way of surviving a fight, this book is difficult. I need to re-read most of the chapters (even pages) many times, and still get confused.  And it does not have enough pictures to illustrate the concepts explained there. I need to consult some friends, black belts in their own respective martial arts, to gain some understanding.
From what they explained to me, this is a great martial art book (they borrowed it for few weeks and I understand that they practice it in their schools). It contained many sophisticated concepts from various martial arts like Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Aikido and those I never heard about... It is a great book to learn about real martial art or to uncover some "hidden" concept behind traditional practices.
However, in my opinion, newbie like me will need advice from experts since this book is far too difficult. So, I would recommend this book only if you have good background in martial art, or have a "master" to supervise your training. Also, you will need some equipment and equally committed partner(s) to practice some important drills.
Overall, great book, but it requires commitment. Not an easy how-to book.
1646478
Hold your breath-hide in the shadow, don't move, this book feels real enough to be true.

A mix of martial honor code from ancient Japanese traditions, gang wars for territory, border wars over drugs and human trafficking,and a struggle to stay human in an evil world. How does one train to be a master of killing arts without actually becoming a killer? The struggle in the dojo to handle the sword, knives, sticks and various tools of destruction is small compared to the internal struggle not to kill when you know you can, you know you should and you know the world and your loved ones will be safer if you do.

Yamashita is a Master of long lineage. His protege is Burke Sensei. The new students are waiting in the training hall to see the real deal. Waiting for Yamashita to prove his powers. A hardened warrior from the outside sets up the challenge to Burke using his body language and eye contact. Burke beats him into submission. Yamashita tells the class, "What we have seen here is a lesson with two aspects. Like a sword blade, there are two sides, omote and ura, the front and the back, the obvious and the hidden."  "---technique you began to train this morning can be finished in a match. ----certainly effective." "The hidden lesson? He looked around, "You spent all your time waiting for me. Doing what Burke Sensei said, but waiting for me.  The wise warrior keeps himself hidden in the shadows.  Kage. You know the word?" "My pupil keeps himself in shadow.  Like most people, there is more to him than meets the eye."

For me, this book is about the dark side of the conscience. Will a man kill if he feels he has enough reason? Will he kill if he knows he can get away with it and maybe even be thanked by the public for ridding the world of a terrorist? Will his life's work, training and loyalty to his teacher be wasted if he doesn't follow through with his mission?

Does he hold his breath, hide in the shadow and hope that he is doing the right thing?

Buy the book, it's a good one on all levels.
4839865
What an interesting memoir; fascinating personalized take on combat and its larger role in a Western society. Marlantes is at his best describing his own experiences and the conflicts that combat decisions created for him. He obviously suffered more returning to civilian life than when he was in Nam; in country he clearly was drawn to the perverse thrill of combat that many have described before and since. Unfortunately (and he can be forgiven for this) Marlantes' struggles to make sense of the trauma and its aftermath sends him on a path through history and mythology. This side trip through Joseph Campbell is less convincing and does not add much to the central problem of how advanced western countries send their young men/women to kill the enemy and feel OK about it. Marlantes' solution is to create a "conscious warrior" that is self-aware of the actions he's taking and its consequences on other humans. I liked the sound of this, but as he repeats the mantra over and over it begins to sound contradictory and religious in nature, with recommended ceremonies, etc. Certainly give him credit for opening up in this memoir to some painful images; his trauma is not more or less severe than thousands of others have struggled through the perverse contradictions of combat. His suggestions, again not unique, for how to handle returning combat veterans has been seconded by many professionals and is sadly only partly in place now for recent veterans. In the end this is a personal memoir and stands up nicely; but its a memoir of Karl Marlantes and not easily meaningful as a solution for so many other combat vets. Am reminded of a Joseph Campbell quote that may summarize Marlantes' struggles: "It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure."
391421
The only negative related to this work is that it was limited in scope to the few German Soldiers that were interviewed. The book provides a very good picture of combat at the very basic level not only from the standpoint of the German Soldier, but their observations of the allied personnel in the initial waves at Normandy. My only regret is that I did not have access to it  fifty years ago!!
3648721
This progressives at the minimum 5Stars . It takes you into the mind of a PTSD VET and the minds of people from two previous wars that also sufferers from this INSIDIOUS Disorder that affects so many.
The idea of Spiritual transference from a firing body is Widely held in many cultures and is very much feared by most(precludes the ideas of fearing only the Dead).
1869066
It is one thing to meet the qualifications to be called a United States Marine. Then to master the skill and experience the exhilaration of flying a high performance jet fighter airplane is quite another. And to take this rare combination into the circumstance of mortal combat is yet another thing known to only a special few. In many ways having men of this caliber will be necessary to the very survival of civilization as we know it.
 Marcia Jones Sargent is of course none of the above. But by virtue of her position as the wife of one Marine fighter pilot and the sister of another, she is an intimate part of what these special people represent and is also of a class necessary for our survival.
 Fortunately Marcia is willing and astonishingly able to share her experience through her book, Wing Wife-How To Be Married To A Marine Fighter Pilot, published in 2010. Coming of age during the Vietnam era, she had the opportunity to be acquainted with, and apparently awed by Marine fighter pilots through her older brother before she, at age twenty-two, married a thirty year old senior captain. Her brother and future husband had been roommates through four and a half years of flight training and during their first overseas deployment.
 Applying the unique jargon and special nicknames found in the rarified atmosphere of a Marine fighter squadron, she takes her readers on a rare and singular tour of life as a fighter pilots wife. She takes readers with her to officers wives meetings, change of command ceremonies, officers club parties, and the loneliness of deployments, birth of children, waiting for news, even Tupperware parties, and the mundane things of daily life. But this is not a sanitized, high altitude tour. Marcia takes her readers directly into the thick of things, sometimes in shocking detail, revealing the antics and ribald humor as well as some of the serious side of life in the squadron family.
 (Here we will pause to remark that holding up Marine fighter pilots and their wives for special recognition takes nothing away from the many others who have done honorable service in their own way in support of our country.)
 At times and places in Wing Wife the impression of receiving more information than is needed emerges, but in continuing the reader will come to realize that it is useful, maybe even necessary, for understanding what these special people with unique experience mean to the rest of us who depend on them.
 Thank you Marcia for helping us understand your slice of life. There may be some adults who shouldn't read Wing Wife but I cant think of any now.

Norb Plassmeyer
Brother of a Marine fighter pilot lost in Vietnam
4900483
Pure distilled violence. It doesn't care who's right, who's wrong, who's the good guy, who's the bad guy. It favors only the person who wields it best.

A refreshing and much needed insight into pure distilled violence. Modern martial arts / combat sports are sports with rules and contain a lot of misconceptions and bad practices that can get you killed. The junky in the street who's high on meth with a knife in their pocket or the violent sociopath is neither a trained martial artist nor does he/she care about any rules. They want what you have and/or they enjoy the process of hurting you. Tim Larkin, and also Tony Blauer with his SPEAR System have finally demystified the misconceptions about violence that have been so pervasive in our society for so long.

This is an epic book. On my shelf next to Gavin DeBecker's "Gift of Fear", Rory Miller's "Facing Violence", Dave Grossman's "On Combat", and Van Horne/Riley's "Left of Bang", among others.

Every responsible adult citizen in our society should should read this and know the content. Being trained to defend in the face of violence is as important as knowing how to do CPR, First Aid, and how to use a fire extinguisher. Our society would be a much safer place. You can and should live a peaceful life by always avoiding avoidable violence. But when violence finds you, you need to understand it and know what to do. Studying it doesn't make you paranoid; it's akin to studying how to put out a fire, apply a tourniquet, or do chest compressions.