Reddit mentions: The best afghan war biographies

If you want to understand the nature of the war and the strategy used to fight it from the surge (2007) onward I recommend David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War by Fred Kaplan. This book will describe all the big names and texts that helped formulate modern counterinsurgency doctrine and will give you plenty of authors and publications to further explore. To further understand counterinsurgency, I recommend The Accidental Guerilla by David Kilcullen (this link downloads the file, it does not open it a new window) that has a great chapter on Iraq since he was the senior COIN advisor for a few months into the surge. You can also read FM3-24 the original 2006 version, but its a dense read and I recommend you familiarize yourself with the doctrine through other publications before tackling the field manual itself.

Fiasco by Thomas Ricks is a decent history of the run up to the Iraq war and the first years, I would say 2002-2005 is where it is strongest although it does discuss important history prior to 9/11 in the containment of Iraq and some detail into 2006.

From the Surge onward I recommend Ricks' follow on book The Gamble, and The Surge by Peter Mansoor. These books will detail the important changes and in strategy and operational practices that characterized the Surge and the post 2006 war effort.

These are the books I have personally read that best address your questions. Books that are more tactically oriented instead of focusing on the big picture include The Forever War by Dexter Filkins, which is a morbid book that does justice to the horror of the Iraq's sectarian civil war. Thunder Run by David Zucchino is worthy of being a masterpiece in terms of how well the author constructed an incredible narrative on the tank forays into the heart of Baghdad in the early weeks of the war. My Share of the Task by Stanley McChrystal is a great read on McChrystal fomented a significant evolution in JSOC's intelligence culture and operational tempo. This book is of value specifically to what you asked because his men were the ones that were tracking Abu Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and was the first iteration of what is now known as ISIS. McChrystal describes the structure of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and much of ISIS's organization and methods can be traced back to Zarqawi's leadership.

I don't think you will find any books that will do justice to your interest in terms of recent events however I have some advice that I feel will help you immensely. Simply type in (topic of interest) and end it with pdf into google. This cuts out brief news articles and wikipedia entries and leaves you with top notch reports published by peer reviewed journals and think tanks. This is all free, and its very well researched work.

A report I'm currently reading that I'm sure you will find interesting is Iraq in Crisis by CSIS. It's of course long for a think tank report, but it has a lot of information and great statistics and charts that help the reader better understand Iraq's trends in violence and other challenges. Here are two more interesting reports by well known think tanks that pertinent to what you are looking for.

On the evolution of Al Qaeda and other salafi jihadists by RAND

Iraqi politics, governance and human rights by the Congressional Research Service

Okay, so I will try to post something here that I haven't already posted (also because my sim doesn't start for another 2 hours and I'm bored).

These two posts sum it up pretty good I think (http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2jex7k/teenagers_of_reddit_what_is_the_biggest_current/clbbw4l) and here (http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2jex7k/teenagers_of_reddit_what_is_the_biggest_current/clbbdcb).

But here's something I didn't post yet. In my humble opinion, the key to human happiness is two-fold: creativity, and human relationships.

1. Creativity. One of the hallmarks of human behavior that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is creativity. Every culture on Earth has some form of artistic expression, such as music, painting, cultural dances, festivals, or food presentation or what have you. Even black slaves at the height of the slave trade still found ways to express themselves creatively through keeping secret journals, risking severe punishment and even their lives. Hell, even cavemen--the earliest human beings--expressed themselves through cave paintings. So I think in order for someone to be truly happy, they should have a creative outlet. That could be something like playing guitar, water color painting, writing poetry, designing a sky scraper, writing a mobile app, designing and building a deck for your house or a deer stand for hunting--or even starting a family and making it the best possible family you can. For me, I put my creative power into my sailboat and have all these projects--varnishing, painting, sanding, cleaning, maintenance--all those kinds of things actually become a creative expression of my mind. And it makes me happy.
   
   
2. Human relationships. There is a book call The Mission, The Men, and Me (which is a great book about leadership, found here: http://amzn.com/B003XQEVWQ). One of the military lessons learned there is that "Nothing is a reality unless it's shared." The Author was referring to battlefield intel, in that if you know something about the enemy, it might as well not even be true if only you know it. You need to disseminate that intel to everyone else, otherwise if you're the only guy who knows it, it effectively becomes useless information. Well, I took that a step further and realized that it applies to human relationships as well. Nothing is a reality unless it's shared. That's why social networks are so popular: everyone wants to share their reality with other people, otherwise it doesn't feel as real. There could be a lot said about keeping things private (like mental snapshots instead of instagramming everything), but the point I'm trying to make is that we, as humans, are social creatures. And if we try to isolate ourselves from other humans, we can't share our realities with them and it begins to feel like we're not real. You ever read or watched the book/movie "Into the Wild"? It's a true story what happened, and as that kid lay dying in the Alaskan Wilderness, he wrote in his journal: "Happiness is only real when it's shared." (http://youtu.be/x2k-oo2TT-0?t=2m3s). Sharing experiences with someone else makes it warmer, partly because I think that's hardwired into our DNA.
   
   So really, I think the key to happiness revolves around creativity (something that you focus your own energy into, and you do yourself) and human relationships (something that requires human interaction and you participate in with others). And if you combine the two, it's pretty much a guaranteed life of happiness.

Hey, you're welcome! I'm glad to see this strike a chord w/ someone else.

Thanks for the encouragement, it is nice to hear from another person that is in a similar situation. Do you have a "time-line" for how you plan on joining?

What does your wife think about the prospect of you joining Pararescue?

I really like the idea of going ANG/Reserve, been thinking about either Patrick AFB or the ANG unit on Long Island, active duty has a strong pull for me though as my wife and I want to raise our kids in that lifestyle (we were both AF brats).

I was an EMT for a few years and loved the work, I'm considering getting my NREMT-P while I'm prepping for Indoc so I could knock 6 months off the pipeline...

I yearn for this career as I believe it to be one of the most noble professions out there that isn't as influenced by politics like other SOF groups (if you have the chance, in the book "None Braver" by Michael Hirsch, a PJ summed it up perfectly when he explained why he chose Pararescue versus Seals, Army SF, etc...)

I really want to earn my spot amongst other elite, to have honor, to be like my role models, and most importantly be someone/something that I know my kids would be proud of.

I look forward to hearing more from you, keep us updated on your progress and let's get it man.

Honest question. Not intended to offend you.

Do you have a learning impairment of some kind?
Or are you just lazy?

If you have some kind of an issue that makes it difficult for you to grasp and embrace somewhat advanced academic topics, but you really want a college degree to help you go somewhere in life, then we can help you.

But I keep reading your responses in the thread and you come across as unmotivated, disinterested and, well, lazy.

I ain't yer daddy. I'm not here to fuss at you. Actually, I'm willing to help find you an answer to your question if I can.

But my approach to trying to help will depend on your response to my question.

Before you respond though, I have a second question.

You don't seem to have the slightest idea what you want to do with your life, but you seem fairly interested in doing it with some assistance from the military.

Please permit me to offer you a suggestion that might help you stall for time before you have to answer these questions.

-----

The ROTC program has strict standards and some fairly lofty requirements. The military cannot tolerate junior leaders that do not have their act together.

Junior leaders are in fantastic positions with excellent opportunities to get a lot of people killed or injured in seconds.

For a good example of good v/s not-good leadership I emphatically encourage you to consume this entire mini-series Generation Kill. It's on HBO and I think Netflix. Or just get the book from the library Generation Kill or something.

Lieutenant Fick (the real person) attended Dartmouth and later wrote the book One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer. This is what a good officer looks like.
Captain America is what a bad officer looks like. He isn't completely bad. He didn't get any of his men killed directly, but it came close from time to time.

I AM NOT suggesting you might be a bad officer. I am trying to explain why ROTC and Officer Candidate School is as tough as it is.
They are working very hard to weed out and otherwise discover good v/s bad officers.

There is another path. A path with fewer risks, that might enable you to observe personal growth and self-discovery at a different pace.

The enlisted path.

Take the SAT. Take the ACT. Keep those scores in your permanent CollegeBoard profile. But take the ASVAB and enlist in the service of your choosing. Pick a job that helps provide you some useful skills. Go see the world. Go meet some new people. Then let your GI Bill pay for college after you've had 4 years of active duty service to figure out what you want to do for a living.

The Army, Navy and Air Force will all guarantee you a specific job of your choosing in a written contract.
The Marines will guarantee only that you WILL be personally challenged by your experiences. They will assign you whatever job they want you to have.

I joined the Marines back in 1989, when I was 17 years old. My parents had to co-sign my enlistment papers since I wasn't 18 yet.
I learned a lot about myself, and I had a completely new and vastly more focused view of the world when I got out.

The GI Bill will pay for 36 months of university (which covers 4 full educational years) including room & board in most cases.
The GI Bill grants you in-state consideration for all public universities in the nation. So you can attend any school anywhere you want to go to, assuming you have the academic record to be accepted.


...Just an alternate approach to your situation for you to think about.

I came across this book titled "Thank you for my service" by a guy called Mat Best who was wearing an American flag. It was a ridiculous cover and I thought "wow, what a toolbox." I laughed a good laugh, confident I knew that the title and cover photo were typical justbootthings. I walked away feeling pretty damn good about myself. I even stopped to smell one of my own farts in smug self-satisfaction, but as I took it in, the thought occurred to me that if I really wanted to enjoy the smell of my own fart, I ought to at least make sure I wasn't misinterpreting it. I went back and read the inside of the jacket. As I understood it, the author was actually saying that his service was the greatest experience of his life, and that he wanted to thank citizens and generally for putting him in a position to serve in a way that was meaningful for him. I felt pretty darn foolish. That seemed like a generally laudable perspective and something the opposite of what I assumed he meant by "Thank you for my service."

In my defense, the guy's name is Mat with only one T, like doormat and so his name and the cover picture worked to confirm my existing bias.

https://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Service-Mat-Best/dp/1524796492

I've used BUDS as a good goal and motivation for my running (been running for years, just now getting into lifting/bulking). Probably watched every BUDS video on the interweb. A couple notes:

• Sounds obvious, but the minimum standards are a bare minimum. You have to be able to laugh at them if you have any chance of surviving more than a week at BUDS. Take your hardest training day, triple it, add a 5 mile conditioning run, take a long freezing cold shower, and THEN see if you can meet the PFT standards. I had a friend in the military who trained for years to get on a very high end specops course, and they ran the full PFT test within 5 minutes of him stepping off the bus. He failed (some leg cramp apparently), couldn't re-apply. Was literally on a bus off the base 3-4 hours after stepping off the bus. Apparently there's a lot of BUD/s pre-qual courses to help filter these guys out though.
  
• A lot of guys like Richard Machowicz mention it's vital to get used to training and working out in the cold. Stretch, take a 10 minute freezing cold shower, and THEN go for your runs. I read somewhere he credits that for one of the only reasons he made it through BUDS, is having taken 6 months of cold showers before coronado.
  
• Brandon Webb has a great book, about half of it being about his BUD/S experience. Obviously it's all a mind-fuck. He mentions everyone comes in to BUDS more than capable from the neck-down. These guys are out to mind-fuck the shit out of you and get you to quit. The PT just passes time.
  
• On the running side, it sounds like you want to be at AT LEAST 60-70mpw. Running about 15-20 miles throughout the day, every day is apparently the norm. They also recommend spending a lot of time running on sand and on trails. Needless to say they're pounding out miles on coronado beach.
  
• If you haven't seen it, search for 'buds class 234' on youtube. About 15 years old, but the most comprehensive BUDS video on the interweb. They used that footage for the opening of Lone Survivor.

This is a book. Dear God.

> The unapologetic, laugh-your-ass-off military memoir both vets and civilians have been waiting for, from a five-tour Army Ranger turned YouTube phenomenon and zealous advocate for veterans
>
> Members of the military’s special operations branches share a closely guarded secret: They love their jobs. They relish the opportunity to fight. They are thankful for it, even, and hopeful that maybe, possibly, they’ll also get to kill a bunch of bad guys while they’re at it. You don’t necessarily need to thank them for their service—the pleasure is all theirs.
>
> In this hilarious and personal memoir, readers ride shotgun alongside former Army Ranger and private military contractor and current social media phenomenon Mat Best, into the action and its aftermath, both abroad and at home. From surviving a skin infection in the swampy armpit of America (aka Columbus, Georgia) to kicking down doors on the outskirts of Ramadi, from blowing up a truck full of enemy combatants to witnessing the effects of a suicide bombing right in front of your face, Thank You for My Service will give readers who love America and love the good guys fresh insight into what it’s really like inside the minds of the men and women on the front lines.
>
> It’s also a sobering yet steadying glimpse at life for veterans after the fighting stops, when the enemy becomes self-doubt or despair and you begin to wonder why anyone should be thanking you for anything, least of all your service. How do you keep going when something you love turns you into somebody you hate? For veterans and their friends and families, Thank You for My Service will offer comfort, in the form of a million laughs, and counsel, as a blueprint for what to do after the war ends and the real fight begins.
>
> And for civilians, this is the insider account of military life you won’t find anywhere else, told with equal amounts of heart and balls. It’s Deadpool meets Captain America, except one went to business school and one went to therapy, and it’s anyone’s guess which is which.

Yeah, it is a particularly interesting statistic, but all MoHs are given for sacrificing oneself to save others. If you'd like to read more amazing stories about amazing people, this is a great book about recent MoH winners from Afghanistan and Iraq that I think everybody should read.

None Braver by Michael Hirsh is another one of the few books on pararescue I've come across. I haven't had a chance to read it yet though. There are also several pararescue related videos on YouTube and Netflix such as Inside Combat Rescue if you have some down time, they're mostly just for entertainment.

I've seen specialtactics.com and this 'How Can I Prepare for PJ Indoc?' pdf from AFSOC reccommended to those interested in AF Special Operations/Special Tactics. I'm not sure how much they may help you. I remember having a hard time finding anything but the most basic information on pararescue when I was considering entering the pipeline, especially when compared to the SEALs.

As /u/TheJackOfAllShades said, being confident in the water is really important, but you seem to know that. I always hear stuff along the lines of "become a fish", "be comfortable with drowning", and anything beyond exceeding the physical standards prior to joining is just extra.

I wish you the best of luck.

I suppose that depends on when you "don't make it."

If you drop out of OCS, or get injured at PLC/OCS, I'm not sure how willing they are to take a chance on you again, but they might if it's medical.

If you decide the USMC isn't for you, or fail out of school, you have to pay the gov't for the loans. I'm pretty sure they make this very clear when you accept your NROTC scholarship. In fact, I'm extremely sure you have to sign an agreement to pay the loans back, barring any extraneous circumstances.

And I really would like to think that NROTC scholarships are rare and exclusive enough that they are not handed out like candy.

Are you interested in Air, Ground or Law?
Please do yourself a favor and read One Bullet Away.

Sorry I can't remember exactly which one, but I'm pretty sure it was one of these:
http://smile.amazon.com/Seal-Team-Six-incredible-operations-ebook/dp/B004OA63JE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397330250&sr=8-1&keywords=seal+team+6

http://smile.amazon.com/Warrior-Soul-Memoir-Navy-SEAL-ebook/dp/B000FC0XZK/ref=pd_sim_kstore_10?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DMA7D0QB52DR9XKD9P3

http://smile.amazon.com/The-Finishing-School-Earning-Trident-ebook/dp/B001RLTFDO/ref=pd_sim_kstore_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DMA7D0QB52DR9XKD9P3

http://smile.amazon.com/Inside-SEAL-Team-Six-Missions-ebook/dp/B005HFNK28/ref=pd_sim_kstore_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DMA7D0QB52DR9XKD9P3

EDIT: Or this one. http://smile.amazon.com/The-Red-Circle-Americas-Deadliest-ebook/dp/B0071NMCKA/ref=pd_sim_kstore_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=01PHG2R9GTTNCCKK7Y60

By the way, all of these are excellent books (in my opinion), if you're interested in this kind of stuff they make a great read.

I've been looking for a good series like this too.
The best option I've found so far was autobiographical books about real operators and their stories. The comic I link to below is pretty good too.

This is the comic, obviously it isn't a true novel, but it's still a good series.

https://www.amazon.com/Activity-1-Tp/dp/1607065614
The series focuses on the Intelligence Support Activity and their covert ops, but there's some joint Delta, SAS, CIA, etc stories in there too.

As for more proper novels, 'No Easy Day' has some good stories in it. It's an autobiography though.

https://www.amazon.com/No-Easy-Day-Autobiography-Firsthand/dp/0525953728

Looks like we all read the same books. I know Donovan Campbell's Joker One has already been mentioned, but if you enjoyed Fick's writing you might like The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney and The Heart and the Fist by Eric Greitens. Also, an honorable mention for Paul Rieckhoff's Chasing Ghosts.

Hey man, that’s a really unfortunate accident and I wish you all the best in your recovery. There is a book I think you should read. It’s about a Canadian sniper by the name of Jody Mitic who lost both legs in Afghanistan and the trials and successes he faced after the fact.

I had a surgery in 2008 and he was in the bed next to me. He was having one of his legs reshaped to fit the prosthesis better. We talked for a good portion of the day but what I remember the most was his supremely positive attitude. He faced a lot of trials but he is now an Ottawa City Councillor. It’s definitey worth a read.

Here is the amazon link https://www.amazon.ca/Unflinching-Making-Canadian-Jody-Mitic/dp/147679510X/ref=nodl_

Thanks man. I appreciate that and love not being dead as well. At the time, I was sure I was gonna be a grease spot on that dusty, narrow road in eastern Afghanistan.

https://www.amazon.com/Blindsided-Taliban-Journalists-Story-Trauma/dp/1510729682

Take care,

Carmen

I'm a 19-year-old boy from Ottawa, Canada (you may have heard of our little country :P ). While I was not homeschooled per se during my public school years (I went to regular English schools), I definitely learned more quickly, more thoroughly and more widely due to my parents' constant efforts to teach me things that went way above and beyond what I was "learning" at my high school.

My parents are both high school teachers, and have each spent roughly 30 years teaching their respective subjects.

My dad actually just retired last year, but he taught most of the Social Studies curriculum during the course of his career (History, Philosophy, Psychology, World Religions, etc.). He is a bilingual Francophone from Ottawa, so he taught at one of the French Catholic high schools in our area. He also happens to be somewhat skeptical of religion (not an atheist, but damned close). Odd combination, yes, but it has resulted in him introducing me to
military history, everything from the Roman legions to the Knights Templar to the Taliban.

My mother was born in Ottawa, to Greek parents who had left Greece after the Second World War; my grandparents are from a village about 20 minutes away from the modern city of Sparti (Sparta). During the war, the village was at some point occupied by Axis forces (I'm not sure when or to what extent, because my grandparents' English is not great and only my mother speaks Greek).

I decided to include a list (below) of works that I've found particularly interesting (I've never actually written down a list of my favs before, so this may be somewhat... sprawling and will be in no particular order :P ). Depending on the ages of your kids, some of this stuff might be inappropriate for them right now, but they can always check it out when they're older. It's mostly military/wartime history that interests me (it's what I plan on studying in university), but I've learned so many little tidbits about other things as well from having access to these works. Since your kids are all boys, I hope they'll find at least some of this stuff to be interesting :) .


Books

• http://www.amazon.com/Apache-Inside-Cockpit-Fighting-Machine/dp/0802144780/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375711529&sr=1-4&keywords=apache
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/American-Gun-History-U-S-Firearms/dp/0062242717/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375712862&sr=1-1&keywords=american+gun
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Gun-C-J-Chivers/dp/0743271734/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375712990&sr=1-1&keywords=the+gun+cj+chivers
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Kill-Evan-Wright/dp/0425224740
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618773436/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Fist-Education-Humanitarian-Making/dp/B0098RLDT8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375713827&sr=1-1&keywords=the+making+of+a+humanitarian
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Shake-Hands-Devil-Failure-Humanity/dp/0786715103/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375713894&sr=1-1&keywords=shake+hands+with+the+devil
  
  
  Movies and TV
  
  
• http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/lovehatepropaganda/
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Military-Combat-Megaset-Dogfights-Seasons/dp/B002D1XJUW/ref=sr_1_6?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1375714091&sr=1-6&keywords=dogfights
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Tank-Battles-N/dp/B0055HK6V6/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1375714235&sr=1-1&keywords=greatest+tank+battles
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Deadliest-Warrior-Season-Geoffrey-Desmoulin/dp/B0037TPIAI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
  
  
  This is all non-fiction. If you like this list, let me know, and I can expand on it further, and also include my favourite works from other genres, as well as my favourite fiction books as well :) . I left out tons of stuff that I'm too much of a lazy teenager to type in here, lol.
  
  
  
  
  

Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell

Dexter Series

Dark Elf Trilogy and then all of the subsequent books in the Drizzt line, there are like 14 or so maybe

With Liberty and Justice for Some

and always some green reading

Cannabis A History

Why Marijuana Should be Legal

A great book to read -

http://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618556133

A Marine Officer's accounting of his experience in Marine Officer's Boot Camp. (I know you're thinking Air Force, but it'll give you a great day to day example of US Military officer school expectations) He was nearly done with Boot Camp when 9/11 happened, and he then found himself on the bleeding edge of the USMC Recon assault. Fascinating book for anyone who wants an insiders view of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. (And he's very non-political about it. Sticks to the facts and honest no-BS opinions.)

For anyone who would like to know, the following books I've read are my favorite and I'd really recommend them to anyone: The Martian by Andy Weir, Gerald's Game by Stephen King, The Panther by Nelson DeMille, Unflinching by Jodi Mitic, American Sniper by Chris Kyle, and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

EDIT: Oh, and Blackwater - The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill.

EDDIT 2: Oh, and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card which is so much better than the movie. The movie does not do this novel justice. And Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly.

? What? That book is awesome! And so's the one Fick wrote

Edit: Fick's book: https://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618773436/

The TV show is pretty good too!

I suggest reading One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer; it's an autobiography that gives a lot of insight into the sort of path you want to take, as well as the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions (the author is the Lt. Fick depicted in Generation Kill). Someone who is actually in the military would be able to better vouch for the accuracy of the book, but my impression is that it's a pretty solid account.

Thanks so much for doing this. Though [this comment] (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/yp545/im_kim_barker_a_campaign_finance_reporter_at/c5xlcnv) paints a pretty bleak picture about our efforts to halt unlimited fundraising, I'd really like to know what is realistically within the reach of private citizens. What can we redditors do to affect transparency within our districts? In another vein, why isn't free political advertising a condition of broadcasting licenses?

And I'll admit that I am much more familiar with your work through having read your book (The Taliban Shuffle, which everyone should read) and some of your correspondence pieces with the Chicago Tribune. Are there any unexpected ways that those two bodies of knowledge have overlapped?

Not part of the army at all but can recommend you read: Junior Officers' Reading Club - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Junior-Officers-Reading-Club/dp/1594484791 Great book about being an officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and insight into Sanhurst (If you are planning as joining as an officer).

If you liked American Sniper (which is honestly mediocre in terms of story telling and book flow) then I suggest Outlaw Platoon. It is written by an infantry platoon commander about his units tour of duty in Afghanistan. Its action packed and well written, so you get a great story along with the combat.

http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Platoon-Renegades-Brotherhood-Afghanistan/dp/0062066404

Are you looking for pulse pounding, believable-but-still-inventive enough, hardcore mercenary action? Well look no further.

Direct Action - Written by a former Ranger/SF guy, this is the first in a set of (so far) 3 books featuring Deckard as the main character. Deckard is a former SF and CIA SAD guy who ends up getting contracted by a shady cabal to form a PMC for them to use in their attempt to bring about a NWO. He says "fuck that." This is honestly some of the best in the genre of military fiction. Written by a dude who has been there and done that, it's well written and believable enough, and the action...gritty, hardcore, doorkicking, operating action. It does not stop once it starts, and neither do the sequels, Target Deck and Direct Action. They're a blast to read and I can't recommend them enough.

Task Force Desperate - America's dollar has collapsed. The military is incredibly underfunded and no longer has the ability to project power. This all comes to a head when an American military base in Djibouti is attacked and taken over. With the US no longer able to respond to events such as these, Jeff's PMC, Praetorians, are contracted to handle the situation. The guy that wrote it is a former Recon Marine, so similar to Jack Murphy, he's been there, done that, and it shows. If you want hardcore action, this is another solid book for you. The plot is a bit out there, but hey, fuck it, it's fun.

Moving away from fiction...

Level Zero Heroes - Written by one of the first MARSOC dudes that went into Afghanistan when MARSOC was first stood up. He's his MSOC's forward air controller, and it's just a pretty cool and interesting look into the special operations world from a new (at the time) SOF unit.

Horse Soldiers - About the first ODA that went into Afghanistan within weeks of 9/11. They worked really closely with CIA SAD, and it's an incredibly interesting write up on what these guys managed to do in incredibly austere conditions. They rolled around the country on horseback. That's bad ass.

First In - Similar to Horse Soldiers, but written by one of the CIA paramilitary officers that coordinated with the Northern Alliance and the SF ODAs when they first came in country. A bit dry, but if you're interested in this sort of thing, it's one of the best (and only, from its perspective) accounts of the early parts of the Global War On Terror.

Now for some non military stuff.

Dune - The best sci-fi novel ever written, bar none. It has political intrigue, an oppressed people against an overwhelmingly larger force, oh, and giant sandworms. It's hard to describe just how rich the world of Dune is in a simple paragraph, so I won't even try. If you're into sci-fi and you haven't read Dune, you owe it to yourself. You're in for a treat.

The Road - The bleakest thing I've ever read. It takes place after some type of apocalyptic event in the US (which is never detailed), and is the story of a father and his young son attempting to survive in the wasteland amongst cannibals that keep their "livestock," chained in a basement, roving bands of marauders, and other horrors. It's written in an incredibly minimalist style which adds to the tone and atmosphere so much. If you want something heavy, this is your book.

I'll probably add more but here are my recommendations for now.

Start with these two:
https://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Graveyard-Empires-History-Borderland/dp/1605981893/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1496177236&sr=8-5
https://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Dexter-Filkins/dp/0307279448/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1496177260&sr=8-3

Read this one to understand America's behavior: https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Great-Power-Politics-Updated/dp/0393349276/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496177330&sr=8-1

Update with a simple read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2015%E2%80%93present)

End with this: https://www.amazon.com/Our-Latest-Longest-War-Afghanistan/dp/022626565X (on my kindle TBR list, but it's gotten good reviews from reputable publications, which is key when reading any sort of history, unless you're interested in becoming one of those looney right-wingers or bat-shit lefties).

The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander by Pete Blaber

>As a commander of Delta Force-the most elite counter-terrorist organization in the world-Pete Blaber took part in some of the most dangerous, controversial, and significant military and political events of our time. Now he takes his intimate knowledge of warfare-and the heart, mind, and spirit it takes to win-and moves his focus from the combat zone to civilian life.

>As the smoke clears from exciting stories about neverbefore-revealed top-secret missions that were executed all over the globe, readers will emerge wiser, more capable, and more ready for life's personal victories than they ever thought possible.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425236579/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=81L6TNMLAXFN&coliid=IBUHZCVGIWB98

Critical thinking, small unit leadership,

They didn't "come to America," but yes of course the conflict between the United States and the Islamic world started before the events you outlined. I'll outline the relevant points as summarily as I can. For brevity, I will include history only related to the United States and not broader Western civilization. The case of the United States is salient and representative.

History of Islam: Muhammad to 1776

Muhammad first began teaching among Pagan Arabs who were more or less friendly until he began to teach that there is only one God and all other religions' followers shall burn in hell. When they began to threaten him and his people, he fled to Mecca and Medina, subsequently taking over the western half of Saudi Arabia along with the eastern tip (Oman). Almost all secular scholars of the Qur'an agree that it is as much a political guidebook (how to run a society) as a religious text (how to be a good person). Upon his death in 632, his followers interpreted the book as they did, and a system of Caliphates began to rule the Islamic world. By 661, all of what we call the Middle East and northeastern Africa was under the Caliphate. By the 8th century, the Caliphate had extended to include land from Spain to Pakistan. This was unsustainable militarily (given few people liked being ruled under Islamic law), so it was pulled back. The Turkish peoples were to become the new military force of the Caliphate, and took Constantinople just before Columbus "found" the "New World." When the United States declared independence, Abdul Hamid I was sultan, with even Baghdad under his rule (that article makes him sound friendlier than he actually was -- he was compelled to sign treaties after military defeats).

Barbary Slaves and Pirating

Before the United States had first elected Washington as President, the Congress found itself at odds with the Caliphate controlled lands. At this time, the Muslim world was taking Europeans and Americans as slaves, estimates are that as many as 1.25 million slaves were taken from the Western world (source: Robert Davis). John Adams, America's London ambassador, was sent to the Tripoli ambassador to discuss the matter, and was met with a demand of money for various levels of peace. Terms were set for the release of slaves, short term peace, and even a price for long term peace. The United States argued that it was a new nation. If their military had previously quarreled with Europe, that was of no concern to the United States. Could not peace with a new nation be had?

When Jefferson took the Presidency in 1801, he was immediately met with a demand of $4,000,000 (adjusted for inflation but not %GDP or federal budget) to be paid to the Muslim lands. Jefferson demanded repeatedly to know by what right these demands were made. By what right did they capture Americans as slaves, seize her ships, take her property, and demand payment in exchange?

> The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners.

Thomas Jefferson to Congress and the State Department

Barbary Wars to Usama bin Laden

President Jefferson found himself in the fortunate position of having a capable Navy that he, ironically enough, had fought against funding before being elected. With it, he began the first conflict between the United States and the Caliphate. The second line of the Marine Anthem (To the shores of Tripoli) celebrates the result even today. Congress authorized Jefferson to use the full might of the United States Navy to suppress the military aggression, with permission to seize and destroy property as the Navy was able. The language was quite strong and general.

The modern Islamic revival that began in the 1970s has seen a large surge in the total Muslim population, which we must admit is in some sense responsible for the recent surge of the lower jihad as well (this being the military jihad as opposed to the higher jihad meaning an inner struggle). Al Qaeda's number one demand was restoration of the Caliphate. The crime for which America has been subject to the violence from the radical Islamists was committed after approval by the Saudi royal family to use American troops to free Kuwait from Iraq rather than using their own, limited resources and relying heavily on the local mujahidin. In other words, Usama bin Laden was angry with America because he thought that local insurgents could fight Saddam the same way they had in Afghanistan against the Soviets rather than relying on smart bombs to do the same. (He forgot, or perhaps never knew, that Afghanistan was liberated only through American assistance. People who assert the unsophisticated non-distinction between Al Qaeda and the Taliban forget this. America gave aid to the Taliban, not The Base.)

Also central to crimes committed by the United States in Bin Laden's mind was our admission that we had begun to support the right of East Timor to self determination of government. Here is one of his first speeches after the 2001 attacks.. Ctrl+f "east timor" to see that his complaint is that the Caliphate's maximum extent is no longer in effect, with the world recognizing that the military devastation committed by Indonesia was invalid.

Specific Points: Iran in WWII, The Taliban, Gulf War vs. bin Laden, and Diplomacy

So, yes, the Barbary wars happened before the Iranian coup. Keep in mind also that 1953 is also after 1945 when Nazi Germany surrendered. At that time, Iran was already under the full control of Britain and Russia (mostly the British), essentially a colony like India was. This invasion was necessary because Reza Shah was attempting to play neutral while supplying the Nazi war machine with crude oil necessary for its logistical world domination. "Iran" in Persian means "The Land of the Aryans," which Persia abruptly changed its name to in 1935, just as it was becoming friendly toward the Germans. After the war was over, Britain had a number of privately owned fields, purchased legally from the owners of the land. When Iran elected Mosaddegh to nationalize the oilfields, they did so illegally. Their country or not, the heart of libertarianism is the right to free exchange and free markets. Unless you agree that the United States can simply seize the property of any foreign corporation who operates in any way through the United States, you cannot support the right of anyone, anywhere to loot by law. The course of action taken by the West was perhaps morally wrong. But it was in response to a moral wrong, not the initiation of one. I find that very few internet historians know the history of Iran before 1953. This has always seemed odd to me -- where are you all getting your similarly edited information?

The military bases in Islamic lands were widely supported at the time by both governments and peoples. They still celebrate it as a national day of pride. Again, bin Laden considers this the great evil of America because he wanted the local mujahidin to fight Saddam rather than bringing in any Western aid. You may freely be against the Gulf War, but you cannot rationalize that the intervention was innately immoral since the United States determined that losing control of the Kuwait and Saudi oilfields would have been damaging to her interests. In other words, the United States did not initiate force but responded to the initiation of force upon a friend.

The United States used the Taliban to fight the Soviet Empire. I fail to see this as a moral evil.

The United States necessarily has diplomatic relations with all countries who are willing, including bad guys. Egyptians and Tunisians far and away have more warm feelings for the United States than ill-feelings. Only with sources such as Russia Today can you attempt to support the notion that we stood between these leaders and their people. The West was crucial to their overthrow, including freezing of their foreign assets.

Recommended Reading

Islamic Radicalism and Global Jihad History of radical Islam and current resurgence. Takes a look at the old scholars and new.

The Looming Tower Everything leading up to 9/11

Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters Details the Barbary coast slave trade

The Trial of Henry Kissinger Outlines US war crimes

Qur'an My English translation.

Instructions for American Servicemen in Iran During World War II Self explanatory.

The Forever War Solidly good book.

The Rape of Kuwait Iraq war crimes in Kuwait


Edits

• Corrected a couple subject-verb agreements.
  
  
• Added section headers.
  
  
• Added recommended reading list.
  
  
• Reworked a paragraph in the last section.

The Taliban Shuffle

http://www.amazon.com/The-Taliban-Shuffle-Afghanistan-Pakistan/dp/030747738X

The romance in this book is amazing.

I read this book a while back. It's got a ton of information about being a good military leader. I highly recommend it if you are interesting in learning some leadership skills.

The Mission, The Men, and Me

Did no one read No Easy Day? It was damn near required reading among 80% of the guys I know the first month it was released. It goes over all this shit in incredible detail.
I'll leave the moral judgement to his community; the book is fantastic.
Clarification: the book was not written by O'Neill, but describes, in great detail, the team's perspective on the operations listed by OP.

The Billion Dollar Spy is a fascinating story of how the CIA ran a Soviet spy while he was working at an advanced radar facility. It is estimated that the intelligence he passed to America ended up being worth nearly one billion dollars.

First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror is about the first Americans to land in Afghanistan in the weeks after 9/11

The Code Breakers One of the most comprehensive anthologies on all forms of cryptology of the past 5,000 years.

Looking at other options after the corporate world. I was surprised at the number of Ivy league graduates in the US military (check out http://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618773436, great read).

I get the whole IBD circlejerk, but there are definitely a host of options after HBA, or down the road as an aspect of your career.

I enjoyed it. From what I've heard, it's pretty accurate. However, I did prefer Nathan Fick's One Bullet Away.

The book fucking rocks. I read it a few years ago,

If you are interested, also check out One bullet away, written by the LT from that platoon, it tells the same story but from an other perspective as well as some other things that weren't in Generation kill.

This ebook is on sale!. That's on my ebooks wishlist. :) Five Below! Thank you for the contest.

Check out the Commandant's Reading list recommendations for Officer Candidates. I'd add One Bullet Away and What it's Like to go to War to that list as well.

How is your general knowledge? Do you know all of your Troop Leading Steps, Leadership Traits, General Orders, and Operational Order sub-paragraphs?

Chris Kyle goes into some detail about his training in his book .

Basically its constant running, swimming and push ups. Endurance cardio seems to be far more important than strength and quick recovery is crucial.

This. And Afghanistan has been the SEALs playground for awhile.

2 great books by Delta Os, BTW:

Kill Bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man

The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander

This guy did it, then led an Infantry platoon in Afghanistan, and wrote a pretty solid book.

try outlaw platoon. awesome and very challenging read. Parnell pulls no punches.

http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Platoon-Renegades-Brotherhood-Afghanistan/dp/0062066404

• Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
  
  
• Inside the Jihad: My Life with Al Qaeda.
  
  
• No True Glory.
  
  
• The Volunteer.
  
  
• Invisible Armies.
  
  
• One Bullet Away.
  
  
• War of the Flea.
  
  
  Also, most senior officers put out public reading lists every year - so you might try searching that way too.

> From personal experience military intelligence is an oxymoron.

Unfortunately, anecdotally this is too true for most military's. Information in the modern world changes so rapidly that the military bureaucracy and chain of command tend's to do nothing more then to just slow down the rate at which accurate info is provided to front line troops.

A great example is in the now famous Generation Kill and One Bullet Away. The unit is constantly supplied with FRAGO's and new mission objectives based on faulty and outdated information that time and time again places them in ambushes, traps, and situations where the only reason they leave alive is because of the ineptitude of the enemy, not their own skill.

That's just based off of a highly regarded book I enjoyed:


The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander

If you want a no-bullshit amazing book about deployment, check out:
This book.

absolutely amazing and dead on.

I see, thanks for the input.


Say, there’s this guy who’s a journalist on reddit that reminded me of you. I saw he was shilling his book, you might want to check it out!

It’s called “Blindsided by the Taliban”:

https://www.amazon.com/Blindsided-Taliban-Journalists-Story-Trauma/dp/1510729682

Yes, it's called American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. Amazon are selling a trade paperback for $6.45, and the Kindle version for $4.10.

That looks like something out of Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green. In the book, they were under heavy fire in the middle of the night and their CO was walking around yelling at people to be in proper uniform.

If you've never heard of it, the book is hilarious.

If you liked the series read the related books:

https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Kill-Captain-America-American/dp/0425224740

https://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618773436/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9REQB2ZFA33Y0R7C9F58

Looks like it's The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker.

I'd also recommend Junger's book, War, which is incredible.

Now available in paperback at Amazon!

I just googled the title; apparently this is a work of dark humor fiction.

Gotta be Patrick Bishops's 3 PARA (amazon UK, amazon US) or The Junior Officers' Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey (amazon UK, amazon US)

3 PARA is a British journalist's account of the 2006 tour of Afghan, focussing on the operations of the 3 PARA battle group, while The JORC is a semi-biographical account of the early career of Patrick Hennessey, detailing his time in training at Sandhurst and Brecon, going on to multiple tours as a Pl Comd with the Gren Guards.

Both well worth a read.

+1 to the GAP-10. It became one of Chris Kyle (America's most deadly sniper) mentioned in his autobiography that after shooting it after coming back from oversees, he considered it one of his favorite weapons.

At 2,750, it is surprisingly affordable for the level of accuracy.

Check out this vid of a 5" group at 1000 yards.

Mitt was the one who wrote No Easy Day under the pseudonym Mark Owen (obviously because Mark/Mitt, and you owe him more money), and picked Matt Bissonette as his scapegoat! It all makes sense!

I don't think he specifically wrote it for Amazon, but my cousin has a couple books for sale.

Book 1

Book 2

Very much so. The reporter was embedded in a truck with a specific Squad Leader. You end up seeing the whole invasion over-the-shoulder of just that Squad Leader. Gen Mattis is just a cameo and the whole US Army doesn't exist except for a brief mention of Jessica Lynch's convoy getting captured. It's a very narrow (albeit uniquely and redeemingly indepth) view of the invasion.

As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, the Platoon Leader, Nathaniel Fick, published his own account if you want to contrast the view from literally just one echelon higher.

https://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618773436

Don't forget to also read Fick's One Bullet Away.

Generation Kill was written by the embedded Rolling Stone reporter, but One Bullet Away was written by the officer commanding that platoon.

This one or this one?

The Mission, The Men, and Me -Pete Blaber

Bam, hero'd.

his autobiography

It's named after the [autobiography] (http://www.amazon.com/American-Sniper-Autobiography-Military-History/dp/0062238868) he wrote about his experiences.

One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer by Nathaniel Fick

One Bullet Away

Not so much an infantry memoir, but the men, the mission, and me is something every leader should read.

[This] ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0071NMCKA/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1374966522&sr=8-2&pi=SL75)

D

There's a book I really enjoyed in general about the CSAR mission, full of stories from a few different wars. Includes all the major MDS including MC-130, HH-60, MH-60, Guardian Angel, etc... it's called "None Braver".

Avoid treadmills. If you haven't already, read Nate Fick's book 'One bullet away'.
From memory he scored well on the 3 mile run but had to give it 100%.

I liked reading Generation Kill too. With that in mind, I would like to add One Bullet Away By Nate Fick.

Have you read One Bullet Away by Marine Captain Nate Fick? If so, do you think he was honest throughout it in his description of the war and everything else?

Since you asked, I read a book on the raid, and I recommend you read up too before spouting bullshit. It's public information, that's how I know.

The bestselling book: http://www.amazon.com/No-Easy-Day-Autobiography-Firsthand/dp/0525953728/ref=la_B0099F6QS2_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395642062&sr=1-1

I find it hilarious that your only rebuttal to my arguments is that I am employed by the government; even if I was, your arguments have no merit, and my points have yet to be refuted.

Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green by Johnny Rico.

If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tim O'Brien

I also liked Going After Cacciato, by O'Brien.

I read this for the first time today, in this book. Weird coincidence...

Highly recommend the book by the way, it's written by the Lieutenant from the TV series Generation Kill.

Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green.

It's a true story, but it's not as serious as the title makes it sound. A skinny nerd with dual Masters degrees changes his name to Johnny Rico and joins the Army as a grunt. There's a scene where he talks about unplugging the incoming fire RADAR so he can heat up a Hot Pocket. It's just that absurd.

Autogenerated.

IamA Author of critically acclaimed book "Blindsided by the Taliban." AMA!

My short bio: While embedded with US forces in eastern Afghanistan, journalist Carmen Gentile suffered one of the most unusual injuries in the annals of modern warfare when he was struck in the side of the head with a rocket-propelled grenade, shattering bones in his face and blinding him in one eye. His new book "Blindsided by the Taliban" is a dark-humored, self-deprecating account of his injury and effort to overcome his physical and psychological wounds.

My Proof: https://www.amazon.com/Blindsided-Taliban-Journalists-Story-Trauma/dp/1510729682


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If you liked Generation Kill, read the book "One Bullet Away" written by Nathaniel Fick who was one of the officers covered by Generation Kill (which was started from a Rolling Stone article written by Evan Wright.)