Of these projects, I most enjoyed The Wire. But it's worth evaluating each of these projects in terms of what they were trying to accomplish, since they all had different goals.

1. Homicide: Life on the Street
   
   This was adapted from Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, but I don't know how much Simon worked on the show day-to-day.
   
   This show is much more of a crime procedural than any of the other works here. And with a few notable exceptions—e.g., Luther Mahoney or Brodie—the near-exclusive default point-of-view is that of the police.
   
   The show was groundbreaking for network TV at the time. For one thing, at least one of the main-cast characters was a cop who was an asshole and basically corrupt. This show also demonstrated that the bosses and their subordinates do not always see eye-to-eye, and not just in the "crusty-but-benign" way described in the movie Network, either. Most cop shows at the time didn't just show cops, but they identified with the cops' perspective. (This is still pretty common today.) This is legitimate, but showing that cops have human foibles which have on-the-job repercussions was taking a chance, especially for a network show at that time. And, like The Wire, it got critical acclaim but relatively small (but devoted!) audiences.
   
   The show's style was very different from that of, say, The Wire. For example, it had a non-diegetic score and camera moves that were more likely to draw attention to themselves. H:LotS also included collaborations with Baltimore native Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana. The latter went on to create HBO's Oz, and you can see plenty of influence there from Homicide.
   
   H:LotS was also able to attract high-level talent throughout its run. Not only was the regular and recurring cast very strong (as you'd likely expect, even without having seen a single episode), but it attracted a number of actors best known for their film work. As just one example, Robin Williams appeared in the second season premiere, playing the husband of a crime victim. Steve Buscemi played an odious racist. Arguably, though, the most memorable guest appearance was Moses Gunn as Risley Tucker, the sole suspect in the homicide of 11-year old Adena Watson. Gunn may not be a household name, but he's been in projects from the original Shaft to Roots to stage performances.
   
   Homicide was also remarkable, especially at the time, in that it shot on location in Baltimore. (For context, consider that Vancouver (almost) never plays itself; typically, a show at the time would be shot in New York or Los Angeles, even it it's set in another city.) It also helped establish some of the vocabulary familiar to those who've watched The Wire: "the box", "the board", etc.
   
   
2. The Corner
   
   This was a six-part miniseries for HBO based on David Simon's book about real-life addicts and dealers. If Homicide was primarily a show from the perspective of the cops, The Corner introduced what life was really like for those who lived in places like West Baltimore.
   
   For me, Homicide was always more stylized in its aesthetic, but more traditional in the types of stories it tried to tell. It was groundbreaking relative to other cop shows, but it still chose the cops' vantage points as the default. The Corner inverted this.
   
   A lot of the content from The Corner will be familiar to those who've already seen The Wire. (And, conversely, those who've seen The Corner would have some useful frame of reference for the events depicted in The Wire.) One attribute The Corner clearly focused on was authenticity. Homicide was a solid show, but The Corner felt real. Much of the cast of The Corner reappears in The Wire, too. And some of the real-life people whose lives Simon chronicled in his book played minor characters on The Wire. One of the most notable examples was the late DeAndre McCullough, who played Brother Mouzone's assistant Lamar.
   
   Again: a killer cast. A good story, well-told. And, for a change-of-pace: even some Emmy nominations and wins!
   
   
3. The Wire
   
   I trust you're all familiar with this, right? :)
   
   I think having laid some groundwork with the reporting which underlay Homicide and The Corner, The Wire had the basis to be incredibly ambitious. It told stories from the perspectives of cops and dealers and dope fiends and stevedores and City Hall and newspaper newsrooms. It also had a definite point-of-view, and it was unafraid to advocate for its argument, but by showing and not merely telling. Yes, it's about all the conflict between characters on all sides of the law. But it's also making some very important arguments: the drug war is unwinnable, and the consequences of that gratuitous futility are disastrous for countless people. Deindustrialization of big cities leaves the corner as the only employer in town. Actual reform that will have any kind of substantive effect will require something other than the standard bromides that have typically gotten politicians elected and re-elected. And so on.
   
   
4. Generation Kill
   
   This is a seven-part HBO miniseries based on the book Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Ice Man, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright, documenting those American Marines who were the tip-of-the-spear in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As with The Corner and The Wire, this goes out of its way to convey authenticity, especially in the context of the military jargon. Oh, and you get to see Baltimore native James Ransone, who played Ziggy, as a Marine, too.
   
   
5. Treme
   
   This is Simon's love letter to the city of New Orleans, set in the immediate aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. Again: a killer cast, including everyone from Clarke Peters (who played Lester) to Khandi Alexander (who played Fran Boyd on The Corner) to New Orleans native Wendell Pierce (Bunk Moreland) to John Goodman (in damn-near EVERY movie) to Stephen Colbert's bandleader Jon Batiste (as himself).
   
   For me, Treme was solid, but it was less compelling than The Wire. A lot of the goal of Treme was to show the importance and centrality of New Orleans to American culture, in everything from music to food. For me, that case seemed secondary to the lives of the characters themselves. Many of the themes from The Wire are familiar: indifferent institutions, crime and violence, etc. But it also has some ferociously good performances, amazing music performed live, and an important reminder that life for so many in New Orleans still wasn't really "after Katrina" yet, even years after the storm, because of just how much destruction was caused all around.
   
   Oh, and like The Wire (among others), Treme cast a lot of local New Orleans natives who lived through the storm, as well as musicians who hadn't grown up with training as actors.
   
   
6. Show Me a Hero
   
   The title comes from an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote: "show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy". Like The Corner, this is another six-part HBO miniseries adapted from a nonfiction book. It's about a huge fight that the city of Yonkers, NY had with federal courts by resisting efforts to remedy housing segregation.
   
   Some of the themes should be familiar: a stellar cast including Oscar Isaac, Winona Ryder (in a role I wouldn't have expected for her), Catherine Keener, Alfred Molina, and Clarke Peters (again). As you might have guessed from the quote, this story doesn't have a happy ending for everyone. The main theme is about how to do the right thing, especially as an elected official, in the face of violent opposition from much of the city, and what cost doing the right thing will entail.
   
   
7. The Deuce
   
   This is a forthcoming David Simon series about the world around Times Square in the 1970s: pornography, just as it was becoming legalized, HIV/AIDS, drug use, and the economic conditions of the city at the time. Even if the whole team totally dropped the ball here, I'm sure this will be better than HBO's 1970s music drama Vinyl, at a minimum.
   
   The cast includes James Franco (playing twins), Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anwan Glover (Slim Charles), Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. (D'Angelo Barksdale), Chris Bauer (Frank Sobotka), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow). Oh, and the pilot is being directed by Michelle MacLaren, whose directing credits include Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Westworld, among others.

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

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.

Here it's spammable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plY9hpA_Nbg

Seriously though, start reading books about modern warfare and the men who deal with high pressure situations; learn how they are able to deal with all the shit life throws at you. This is a good one to start out with: http://www.amazon.com/Joker-One-Platoons-Leadership-Brotherhood/dp/0812979567/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278777167&sr=8-1. Other than that, start an intense physical training regime. Crossfit.com is the ultimate fitness site for anyone sick of the "normal workout routine." Plus, they have a ton of free information and videos for anyone starting out; not to mention they usually post an intelligent article that doesn't have anything to do with fitness. Speaking of interesting articles, check out this one by soon to be retired General Stanley McChrystal. If you want to be a man, and don't want to listen to anything else I said, just read that nytimes article. Lastly, look into purchasing a rowing machine. Concept II is the best one on the market, and it's grueling workout. After all, rowing is the only sport to start out as a form of capital punishment.

Good luck, and stay thirsty my friends!

Edit: sorry the link to the General's article doesn't work. Type this into google: general mcchrystal+nytimes article"asceticism" and you should be able to find it. Definitely worth the quick read.

In the United States, air power advocacy meant a singular devotion to the cult of strategic bombing, a cult that would hold sway in the USAF into the 1960s. Strategic bombing was useful to air power enthusiasts because it separated aviators from their colleagues in armies and navies; if bombers could deliver victory by destroying enemy cities, there would be little need for close collaboration with soldiers and sailors — and no need at all for the subjection of aviation to the whims of generals and admirals.

But air power, now and in 1917, works best in conjunction with the application of land or sea force. From the great campaigns of World War II to operations such as the Vietnam War’s Linebacker I, Desert Storm in 1991 and Enduring Freedom starting in 2001, air power has excelled in the location, interdiction and destruction of fielded enemy forces.

These campaigns bear little resemblance, even conceptually, to the expectations of the men who most strongly advocated for independent air forces in the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s. The big strategic campaigns, including the Combined Bomber Offensive in World War II and Rolling Thunder and Linebacker II in Vietnam, witnessed the expenditure of tremendous sums of men, money and aircraft to limited and ambiguous strategic effect.

It would hardly be news to influential military thinker Carl Von Clausewitz that the tactical destruction of fielded enemy forces has strategic effect, leaving the enemy unable to resist the application of further force. But the same news challenges the assumptions of the planners and practitioners of strategic air power.

Even in the 1991 Gulf War, the most important air power theorist of recent decades argued that the USAF should avoid Iraqi fielded forces, instead concentrating on “strategic” targets that might bring down the regime without the need for breaking the Iraqi army.

We created the Air Force at a moment in which policymakers believed that the next war would involve a nuclear strategic bombing campaign, largely in isolation from the contributions that the Army and Navy could make. These assumptions, obviously, no longer hold.

But once created, institutional lines acquire gravity and solidity. Since the 1960s the Army, Air Force and Navy have achieved an uneasy peace by coming to agreement on the percentage of the defense budget that each would enjoy. As the strategic, technological, fiscal and social environments have changed, the ratio has remained essentially the same; land power, sea power and air power are, in fiscal terms, to be treated as roughly equal in importance to the security of the United States.

This situation produces strategic and military incoherence. The hallmark of modern military operations is cooperation between assets operating across space and media. The idea that air power can be profitably separated from sea or land power is a dangerous fiction, but for the United States Air Force it is a necessary fiction.

If aerial military assets represent but one facet of a land or sea combat team (as they are treated in the Navy and Marine Corps), then there is no more need for an independent Air Force than an independent artillery service.

Thus, even as technological and strategic reality demands that the Air Force work closely with the Army and Navy, bureaucratic interest will invariably push it to claim the capacity for independent strategic effect. These claims will necessarily interfere with the Air Force’s ability to make its contribution to the land, sea and air team.

Rebalance

The issue, then, is less the specific balance of air, sea and land power at any given time, but rather the establishment of institutions with sufficient flexibility to manage the various strategic challenges that the United States faces, and take advantage of technological, social and economic opportunities.

While naval and land warfare have become considerably more integrated with one another than they were at the beginning of the 20th century, they remain sufficiently distinct that we can still imagine an Army and Navy developing (if in consultation) separate and coherent strategic organizational visions. This is not the case with the Air Force, which will remain locked in an uneasy, distant embrace with its parent services.

In brief, the United States needs air power, but it does not need an Air Force. Folding the assets and missions of the USAF back into its parent services would enhance the flexibility of the United States, releasing U.S. military planning and procurement from the institutional rules that invariably bring air, land and naval power into conflict, and that make aligning military tools with political ends nearly impossible.

Image: Wikimedia

Is that Private Beharry?

... Yup, that it is!

Y'all, if you wanna know the full story of the siege where this guy earned his cross, I really strongly recommend that you check out the book "Sniper One; On Scope and Under Siege with a Sniper Team in Iraq" by Sgt. Dan Mills. It gives an amazing account of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment's deployment to Al-Amarah during the Iraq war, and is probably one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read. Every single person in that book had balls the size of fuckin' Jupiter. Great great read, and Sgt. Mills can be pretty funny, too.

Hardcovers start at a penny on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sniper-One-Scope-Under-Siege/dp/0312531265/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1406087473

If you were given the job because your director thought you were the best for it, then you were the best for it. Proving yourself will happen best with long term consistent results. Don't get caught up on dealing with what doesnt really matter. Stick to impressive everyone with high quality work.

I am curious about where you are located? Could this be a cultural thing?

Last, i think that its worth noting that being the new guy coming in and trying to change the status quo is always going to cause friction. This is just a fact. So don't loose sleep over it.

This is the book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Ownership-Jocko-Willink/dp/1250067057/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458749634&sr=1-1&keywords=extreme+ownership

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.

My Favorite Book! ... is the Steve Jobs biography. I'm sure you have already heard about it and maybe you have already read it. But if you are into Apple products or technology at all, I highly recommend it. It's pretty long, but I was surprised how quickly I read through it and I am not that much of a reader. The book makes you appreciate technology on a whole new level. Nevertheless, hope you find a good book to read next!

And I am a non-fiction kinda person so here is a book I would like.

Hammer From Above:Marine Air Combat Over Iraq - Jay Stout

USMC Hornets, Harriers and Cobras during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Really nice details of CAS missions, F/A-18D doing FAC for F/A-18Cs, Harriers landing on an LHD during a sandstorm, Cobras landing on a Highway to get fire directions from Marines on the ground and plenty of other great stories!



Loud and Clear: Memoir of an Israeli Fighter Pilot - Iftach Spector

Memoir of an Israeli pilot from the 1960s to 2000s flying Mirage IIIs, Phantoms and F-16s, he took part in the infamous Operation Opera bombing of the Iraqi nuclear plant. A really excellent book, head and shoulders above most military aviation memoirs writing wise.

I'll add others when I can look at my shelves!

[Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin] (https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1501607776&sr=8-3&keywords=Jocko+willink)

[Heart for the Fight: A Marine Hero's Journey from the Battlefields of Iraq to Mixed Martial Arts Champion by Brian Stann] ( https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Fight-Journey-Battlefields-Champion/dp/076033899X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501607842&sr=1-1&keywords=brian+stann+book)

I would also highly recommend subscribing to [Jocko Willink's youtube channel] (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkqcY4CAuBFNFho6JgygCnA)

He has amazing podcasts with combat veterans and it's really interesting to hear the tactics/mindset. On a side note there's not many people that can motivate me like Jocko can. You could send me those pictures of a landscape with inspirational words on them and it wouldn't do shit for me...However there's been many days where I was being lazy/feeling sorry for myself and not wanting to work out...
thats when I watch this video

I shit you not there have been many days where that video alone has gotten me to nut up and grab my bag to go train jiu-jitsu when I didn't feel like it...or go to the range and get some practice in when I would rather stay home get cozy and watch netflix.

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.
  
  
  
  
  

I quite enjoyed War Reporting For Cowards

You can either start working for a wire or large organisation that has correspondents and get sent abroad, or go abroad and get work for an organisation once you're out there. A language would help, or a regional specialisation at best.

I had a brief chat with Robert Fisk before I moved to the Middle East and it gave me a couple of good pointers. Try getting in touch with some journos you admire, give them a call, see if they can give you any tips.

I can think of a few off the top of my head but in the interest of keeping this short:

Generation Kill by Evan Wright. If you're even remotely interested in military-type things, this is a really great read.

Not trying to sell anything here but read this book. One of the most amazing pilots and warriors in the US Military ever. He gives you great insights into taking out air defenses.

http://www.amazon.com/Viper-Pilot-Memoir-Air-Combat/dp/006213034X

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

Rage Company by Thomas Daly. It's the best book written about the Iraq war, and, in the humble opinion of this connoisseur of military history, one of the best books ever written in the field.

Why? Most military history falls into one of two traps - 1) it's either an ant's-eye view of the day to day grind of an individual in combat, with no reflection of the larger scheme of things, or 2) it's written by someone in the higher command, giving a good overview of the strategies involved, but with no feel of the struggles and hardships of the individual soldiers involved.

Rage Company bridges these two perspectives very nicely. Lt Daly was an FO assigned to a detached Marine company operating with the Army in Ramadi. Since artillery wasn't really being used in counterinsurgency operations in the city, he sort of fell into the ad-hoc role of company intel officer. As such, he was involved with both the day-to-day operations and the planning of such operations at the battalion and regimental level. He does really just an excellent job giving you the nitty gritty details of daily patrol and clearing operations, and, more importantly, placing those operations in the operational scheme of maneuver.

The Anbar Awakening happens during his tour. The first Ex-Iraqi army folks show up and start to work with the Marines. There's mistrust and miscommunication. And results. Spectacular results.

The last 20 pages or so are AQI's retaliation. There's a car chase, surveillance by drone and Apache, and a surprise twist that beats anything I've ever read in a Tom Clancy novel. It had me up reading until 4:00 AM.

Came here to suggest Dan Hampton. Ive read and loved all his books. His newest one, The Hunter Killers, was a great read.

Viper Pilot, is a great account of his time in the F-16.

The Long Walk

I don't like war books or autobiographies that much but this was a really great read. I would have never read it but it was given to me by a friend.

Thanks for the question. This is an important one. Gulab is a tragic case because of his falling out with Luttrell, but compared to others, he was really really really lucky. If he hadn't saved Luttrell, and saved someone random instead, he'd likely be dead. There are tons of other Afghans (and many Iraqis) who worked for the U.S. and saved American lives who are on a years long waiting list to come to this country. Read Kirk Johnson's "To Be a Friend is Fatal" https://www.amazon.com/Be-Friend-Fatal-Iraqis-America/dp/1476710481

or a this 2007 New Yorker article by George Packer: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/26/betrayed-2

Again, we're not talking about Syrian refugees or refugees from elsewhere. We're talking about people who worked for the U.S. military and risked their lives.

Likewise, I'd like to add that in all my reporting, I've found that the security checks refugees go through are no joke. This is a good thing, but without taking a stance on Trump or any of his policy positions, we should remember that we are not just arbitrarily letting random people into this country. It takes years and a whole lot of vetting from multiple agencies. Does that mean that someone from ISIS couldn't sneak in? Well, no. There is no 100 percent certainty. But we're doing an awful lot...and prob all we can. Read a great piece by my colleague Emily Cadei on this matter: http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/02/donald-trump-syrian-refugees-baltimore-492590.html

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the book Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton. An amazing book by a Wild Weasel pilot who flew the F-16CJ. Although it is packed full of information from how one becomes a pilot in the Air Force, the Wild Weasel mission, to fighter pilot culture, it reads just like a novel. The audiobook is also excellent - the recitation of some of the comms on the 1st night of the Gulf War is alone worth the price of admission. I can't recommend either highly enough.

While looking up the book again, I discovered that the author also released a new book, The Hunter Killers, last year about the original Wild Weasels in Vietnam. I obviously have not read it yet, but I bet it is excellent if you want to dive into the history of the mission.

Yeah it's pretty good.

Here's the Rolling Stone article by Evan Wright that started it all.

Here's the book Wright wrote.

FYI, the guy that plays Rudy, is the actual Rudy in real life. Other core members of the story also worked as consultants on the TV series. There was also some controversy later as several other people involved wrote of their own experiences and points of view.

Marine Sniper. This is a classic book about Carlos Hathcock, a Marine who served in Vietnam and for many years (1967 to 2002) held the world record longest confirmed sniper kill. There are several famous encounters, including a multi-day stalk through exposed terrain to kill a Vietnamese general, the time he and his spotter pinned down an entire NVA battalion, the time he was being hunted by a counter-sniper and shot the guy through his scope (probably inspiring the similar scene in Saving Private Ryan), and the record-breaking long range shot itself with a .50 cal M2 machine gun modified for single shot and using a scope mounting system of his own design.

For a more modern take, I recently read Sniper One and thought it was pretty good. It's by British Army Sgt Dan Mills, about his tour in Iraq in 2004. I thought it was interesting to see the perspective of a modern sniper in a completely different environment.

And for what I think is the best fictional book I've read about sniping, check out Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. Don't confuse it with the movie "Shooter" staring Marky Mark; the book is actually quite good. The descriptions of long range shooting are excellent, and have matched up well to my own (admittedly limited, strictly at the shooting range) experiences.

No worries, man. Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were both major studs that disobeyed orders to do the right thing... Saving dozens of lives. May they rest in peace... Anyways I recommend everyone to check out Jocko's book called Extreme Ownership. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1250067057/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1464285041&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=extreme+ownership&dpPl=1&dpID=41cmM6UedGL&ref=plSrch

It is a great read and I got a LOT out of it. The podcasts where he was a guest on the Joe Rogan show and on the Tim Ferriss show are also definitely worth checking out. He has his own podcast now too and so far I've also gotten a lot of value from that as well.

I want this man to become President someday. Cannot speak highly enough about him. His experience and leadership... And perspective, is quite humbling to say the least.

Yeah.

​

Not going to lie, I didn't really read a whole lot but the title says it all and /u/cyanocobalamin sums it up.

​

Circumstances suck but happiness is really condensed to taking ownership of those circumstances. Sometimes things are beyond our control but overall they are a byproduct of what situations we allow ourselves to get into.

​

I recently read a book called Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink. It's about how you pretty much need to take responsibility for everything in your life even when you think it has nothing to do with you. I'm also reading Everything is Fucked: A Book About Hope - Mark Manson right now. I'm about 4 chapters in and it talks a lot about having something to really believe in even though everything in the world is fucked.

​

1. Find something to research that excites you and makes you money if you want to keep going.
   
2. Relationships come and go. Someone worth keeping will be patient with you and understand that you're working hard to build a sustainable lifestyle.
   
3. You can really do whatever the hell you want my friend, you just have to accept the consequences of whatever you do, good or bad.
   
   Don't overthink it. Things are only as good as you let them appear to be.
   
   ​
   
   Comparison is the thief of joy, but it is also a humbling endeavour.

And centipedes, I'd like to plug Jocko's book Extreme Ownership. I HIGHLY recommend it to all centipedes. Excellent lessons on leadership, toughness, self reliance, and taking ownership in life and business.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

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Not specifically tailored to divorce, but were helpful to me in general reorientation of approaches to life:

"Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Willink

"A Guide to the Good Life" by William Irvine

I literally just finished reading a book about the unit this guy was in. Although I don't remember reading about him in the book, he was in 2nd platoon, C Co. 1-26 Infantry. The book is They Fought For Each Other and is one of the most heart wrenching books I've ever read. I would definitely recommend it

If you found these helpful, I'd definitely recommend checking out the source. I'm mostly parroting what Jocko's described or explained in his book/podcasts.

https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057

Band of Brothers and Generation Kill were both good books that made for great mini series, I'd check them out.

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell

> A tremendous book ... incredibly gripping and incredibly well-written... It's a remarkable story... I urge everyone to go...grab it. -- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Its a very short, very illuminating insight into one soldier's experience in Iraq.

EDIT: Fixed link

In Viper Pilot Dan Hampton talks about his time in the air directly after 9/11. He does a good job conveying how much confusion there was. He was actually given the green light from the ground to take out a SEAL team helicopter. Luckily he stayed cool and called everyone off before that chopper was downed.

OP, here's a book you may enjoy and benefit from: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486323161&sr=8-1&keywords=extreme+ownership

It's a miniseries by HBO IMDb here it based on a real story about a Rolling Stone Magazine reporter who goes with the First Reconnaissance Battalion of the US Marines while they invade Iraq.

And it is one of my favourite TV series. I hope you have fun watching it.

Stryker: The Siege of Sadr City by Konrad Ludwig is pretty good.

His mistress, Paula Broadwell, graduated from West Point and was in the United States Army Reserve as a military intelligence officer (and held a Top Secret clearance). She was also Patreaus' biographer; the resulting book was All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. Petraeus shared eight personal notebooks with her. No classified information was in his biography.

Another good book on Petraeus is In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat, by Rick Atkinson. This covers Petraeus' generalship during the 2003 Iraq war.

Mark Hunt: Born to fight

Forrest Griffin: Got Fight?, Be Ready When the Sh*t Goes Down

John McCarthy: Let's Get It On!

Stich Duran: From the Fields to the Garden

Chuck Liddell: Iceman

John Kavanagh: Win or Learn

Brian Stann: Heart for the Fight

Chael Sonnen: The Voice of Reason

Bruce Buffer: It's Time!: My 360-Degree View of the UFC

GSP: The Way of the Fight

Jeremy Stephens: Who the fook is that guy?!

Viper Pilot is a great read about the Wild Weasels. http://www.amazon.com/Viper-Pilot-Memoir-Air-Combat/dp/006213034X

Found it:

http://www.amazon.com/Last-True-Story-Ever-Tell/dp/157322314X


Great book, check it out.

I'm nearly sure I read a book by a sniper from the Princess of Wales regiment, or something like that. That said, I don't claim to be an expert. I was just floating the possibility.

edit link to book's page on publisher's site https://www.amazon.com/Sniper-One-Scope-Under-Siege/dp/0312542429

Do you recall which one it was?

These are some of my favorites...

https://smile.amazon.com/Magnum-Weasels-Desert-Elimination-Defence-ebook/dp/B005D7FLL8/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517679129&sr=1-3&keywords=wild+weasel

https://smile.amazon.com/F-105-Wild-Weasel-SA-2-Guideline-ebook/dp/B01BY34K9I/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517679129&sr=1-12&keywords=wild+weasel

https://smile.amazon.com/Viper-Pilot-Memoir-Air-Combat/dp/006213034X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=006213034X&pd_rd_r=8WMAQ52QBK32SPHVQN6S&pd_rd_w=p2r2i&pd_rd_wg=efvEa&psc=1&refRID=8WMAQ52QBK32SPHVQN6S

and this one is on my wish list...

https://smile.amazon.com/Hunter-Killers-Extraordinary-Maverick-Dangerous/dp/0062375121/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0062375121&pd_rd_r=0MV8ENFG0Q747QE4WRAJ&pd_rd_w=d7Byq&pd_rd_wg=NA79Y&psc=1&refRID=0MV8ENFG0Q747QE4WRAJ

Into the Fire is a good book, I recommend Generation Kill as well if you haven't read it, I liked it more than the HBO miniseries.

It's actually from the title of the book the series is based on, which is surprisingly as nonpolitical as possible. It's a rather good read, if you've got the time. It's simply a first hand account of the author when he was embedded with one of the first Marine units to enter Iraq. The only social/political commentary in it is from the Marines themselves. In fact the primary focus of the book is the Marines themselves, examining them as real people. Not so much on the war really.

Great feedback from /u/volci - I would take heed.

Along with that, buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469622981&sr=8-1&keywords=extreme+ownership

Listen to these podcasts:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jocko-podcast/id1070322219?mt=2


I usually don't say "buy a book and do X" but these two things have given me more insight on leadership than anything else in my 30 years on earth. I have a management degree that cant hold a candle to this stuff.

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

I am reading American Sniper (which has a movie adaptation coming out). It is the autobiography of Chris Kyle, a sniper with the most confirmed kills in US Military history (150), he talks about his childhood, and his missions in Iraq. He shots he has had to take, the friends he's lost...

I read and definitely recommend A Brief History of Time: The Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition by Stephen Hawkings. As you can tell by the name of the book it talks about the universe, black holes, the possibility of worm holes/white holes. Stephen Hawking really knows how to write a book.

I have yet to get to it, but I recommend The Divine Comedy (written in the 1300s). It is an Epic Poem about Dante Alighieri travels through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Heaven (Paradiso).

Edit: Does someone hate these books?

Generation Kill. Its an HBO mini-series based on the book by Evan Wright.

I highly recommend it.

Interesting looking book.

https://www.amazon.ca/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057

Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat

by Dan Hampton

https://www.amazon.com/dp/006213034X

not an English written book but I also like this...

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4871493911

Yeah there was a book written about us. Most of those parts werent in it.

Heres the book

Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton is a great read about F-16s on Wild Weasel missions in both Iraq Wars. These guys had balls of steel.

If you want to learn a bit about FARP logistics and operations to add some realism, check this book out:

http://www.amazon.com/Hammer-Above-Marine-Combat-Over/dp/0891418717

Read Dan Hampton's Viper Pilot: http://www.amazon.com/Viper-Pilot-Memoir-Air-Combat/dp/006213034X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1462823120&sr=8-5&keywords=dan+hampton

Awesome book. 10% of what is written here is folksy bullshit.

> And I'm actually obese myself, I am not healthy. I own up to that

This is what we lack, as a society; accountability for one's own behaviors. If we owned up to our actions, not even to the degree of Extreme Ownership, we'd be much better off as human beings.

Requisite, The book is amazing.

Plenty. Check this book out. Also, this. You just need to look for them. There are plenty out there.

Check out the book Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton. Story of F-16 Wild Weasels in Iraq in 2000s.

Extreme Ownership

Maybe there's something to being separated by the Atlantic. I'm not really interested in other American experiences with GWOT, but I read Sniper One to see what some of you guys have been up to over there.

I read a book called Viper Pilotby a retired wild weasel pilot. They have the latest in countermeasures and are all extremely well trained, he says most of the guys have their masters degree on top of the Air Force level of special forces intensity training. When those guys hear missile lock they react like someone has a gun to their head- they immediately shit pants and evade, evade, evade. Drop everything and pilot like your mother’s life depends on it. It’s terrifying.

After loads of reading on the bus to work every day, here follows my reading list for military aviation:

Modern

• Viper Pilot - memoir of an F-16 Wild Weasel pilot who flew in both Iraq Wars
  
• A Nightmare's Prayer - memoir of a Marine Harrier Pilot flying out of Bagram.
  
• Warthog - Story of the A-10C pilots and their many varied missions in Desert Storm
  
• Hornets over Kuwait - Memoir of a Marine F/A-18 pilot during Desert Storm
  
• Strike Eagle - Story of the brand new F-15C Strike Eagle pilots and their time in Desert Storm
  
  

  Vietnam
  

• The Hunter Killers - look at the very first Wild Weasels, their inception, early development, successes, and failures
  
• Low Level Hell - memoir of an OH-6 Air Cav pilot
  
  

  WWII
  

• Unsung Eagles - various snapshots of the less well-known but arguably more impactful pilots and their missions during WWII (pilot who flew channel rescue in a P-47, morale demonstration pilot, etc.)
  
• Stuka Pilot - memoir of the most prolific aviator of Nazi Germany (and an unapologetic Nazi) who killed hundreds of tanks with his cannon-armed Stuka
  
• The First Team - more academic historical look at the first US Naval Aviators in WWII
  
  
  

  Overall/Other
  

• Skunk Works - memoir of Ben Rich, head of Lockeed's top secret internal firm and his time working on the U-2, SR-71, and F-117 including anecdotes from pilots of all 3 and accounts of these remarkable planes' exploits.
  
• Lords of the Sky - ambitious attempt to chronicle the rise and evolution of the "fighter pilot" from WWI to the modern day
  
• Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs - the story of the long-top secret group of pilots who evaluated and flew captured Soviet aircraft against US pilots to train them against these unknown foes.
  
• Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage - story of the US submarine fleet starting at the outbreak of the Cold War and their exploits
  
  
  
  

  Bonus non-military aviation
  

  I highly second the recommendations of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age. I would also recommend:
  
  

• Neuromancer - defined the cyberpunk genre
  
• Ghost in the Wires - memoir of prolific hacker Kevin Mitnick
  
• Starship Troopers - nothing like the movie
  
• The Martian - fantastic read
  
• Heir to the Empire - first of the Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy and the book that arguably sparked the growth of the Extended Universe of Star Wars
  
• Devil in the White City - semi-fictional (mostly non-fiction) account of a serial killer who created an entire palace to capture and kill his prey during the Chicago World's Fair
  
• Good Omens - dark comedy story of a demon and an angel trying to stop the end of the world because they like us too much
  
• American Gods - fantastic story about how the old gods still walk among us
  
• Dune - just read it
  

Also a vet:

If you want to at least get an idea of what these wars have been like..I suggest you read The Last True Story Ill Ever Tell.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-True-Story-Ever-Tell/dp/157322314X

Eh the Pk would probably be extraordinarily low. Even the actual HARMs that we love in our flight sims are, by every pilot account I've ever read, absolutely useless. The actual Wild Weasels, the F-16CJ's, those guys prefer to carry CBU's to ensure that SAMs are actual dead, as opposed to a missile that most of the time will not hit it's desired target.

Check out Dan Hampton's "Viper Pilot"...it is an excellent first hand account of performing the Wild Weasel role in both conflicts in Iraq. Very interesting info in there!

This is starting to make sense. You aren't willing to hold Baker more accountable for his poor play in much the same way that you refuse to hold yourself accountable for your own poor spelling and grammar.

You say that Baker's focus can't be taken away by external factors like his tweeting and at the end of the day he is just a bad QB.

At the same time, your grammar and spelling can't be controlled by you because it's an autocorrect problem.

I am reading a book right now I think might benefit you, cheers!

I have a few books collecting dust if you're interested...

Hunting the Jackal
http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Jackal-Soldiers-Frontlines-Terrorism/dp/0060564105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293764592&sr=8-1

Brotherhood of Warriors
http://www.amazon.com/Brotherhood-Warriors-Behind-Commando-Counterterrorism/dp/0061236160/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293764614&sr=1-1

Generation Kill
http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Kill-Evan-Wright/dp/0425224740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293764637&sr=1-1

Legion of the Lost
http://www.amazon.com/Legion-Lost-Experience-American-Foreign/dp/0425210154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293764668&sr=1-1

I'll mail em to you if you want em... I didn't participate in the secret santa so think of it as a late gift. Let me know if you want any of em.

Push to/Battle of Badhdad: Generation Kill (The book), written by a reporter assigned to Marine Recon: https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Kill-Captain-America-American/dp/0425224740

Definitely Generation Kill, to look into the dynamics of modern war. It's a seriously good, impartial, truthful and entertaining account of the first stages of the second Iraq war seen from the eyes of a battalion of first recon marines. Very well written, too.

War Nerd. Gary Brecher is a tongue-in-cheek military amateur analyst. His views on modern and past warfare are very lucid, albeit controversial and leftfield. His writing style is pretty original, kinda like the Hunter Thompson of war pundits. A backlog of his articles is also available online.

Making A Killing. It's the first person account of a British private security contractor in Iraq. I was expecting the worst when I read it, but it's actually very well written, informative and entertaining. Some of the lingo and drills described in the book actually helped me understand a lot of these videos.

Das Boot is my favourite war book, and it's an embedded reporter's account of a year in a german U-boat during the second world war.

I'd like to see an AMA from Chris Kyle who has killed the most men in US armed forces history and also has the record for longest kill (2100 yards).

1. CIA drone strikes: 4000 killed over 10 years.
   
   Civilian casualties Iraq over 10 years: No less than 200 000
   
   Civilian casualties Afghanistan over 10 years: No less than 60 000
   
   
2. I'm assuming those military officers are stupid based on the number of people they shot. Here's >0 evidence.
   
   
3. Having served in Iraq you should know the National Guard is not controlled by the President. Nor is local police departments; and contrary to what you desire to believe the FBI and DHS are micromanaged by the President.
   
   
4. Having taken accounting in school, I can tell you being an armchair economist just makes you look stupid.
   
   Regardless of what merit Obama may have or may lack, you do not speak the truth.
   
   Judging by your unsupportable opinions I'm going to say whatever Confederate state you hail from is a greater threat to your liberty than the federal government.

Even Wright, an embedded combat reporter during Operation Iraqi Freedom and author of Generation Kill brandished a rifle while on patrol at the request of the marines he was riding with.

It is mentioned in a Huffington Post interview:

>Did you feel useless because you couldn't fire a gun?

EW: On a human level it would have been really exciting to shoot a gun over there. I can hit a target with a rifle generally but that very different from what they do.
There's one moment that's not in the show where they handed me a weapon in the vehicle. We were rolling through a sketchy town. Everyone was like, "You're occupying a seat; you're useless, take a gun." The enormity of the responsibility you have -- it sounds corny here back home -- but if you're really out there with these Marines and you're holding a weapon ... I was like, what if I hear an engine backfire and I pull the trigger? It wasn't [so much the fear] that I'd kill an innocent Iraqi -- that was a problem -- but if I fuck up, I'll get kicked out of the embed. That was my practical reason. When Geraldo was in Afghanistan and he was like, "I'm packing a .45," I was like, "C'mon dude."

I read his book and if I remember correctly it was a short lived occurrence as the author did not maintain proper gun discipline. He unintentionally swept the barrel of the rifle at the marines which is a big no no. The author never fired a weapon while embedded, but I don't recall if the gun was loaded or not. I don't think that it was.