Reddit mentions: The best military leader biographies

Note: I am not an engineer, but I do have some suggestions of things you may like.

Books:

• Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Krantz: Great book about the beginnings of the NASA program, Gemini, Mercury, Apollo, and later. Gene Krantz was a flight director and worked as a test pilot for a long time, and his stories are gripping. Beyond engineering and space, it's a pretty insightful book on leadership in high-stress team situations.
  
  
• Kelly: More Than My Share by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson: This is on my shelf but I haven't read it yet. Kelly Johnson was a pioneer in the world of flight, leading the design and construction of some of the most advanced planes ever built, like the U2 and the SR-71. Kelly's impact on the business of aerospace and project management is immense, definitely a good guy to learn about. Plus he designed the P38 Lightning, without a doubt the most beautiful plane ever built ;)
  
  
• Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of my Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich: A fantastic look at the inside of Lockheed Martin's advanced projects division, the Skunk Works. Ben Rich succeeded Kelly Johnson at Lockheed, so this one is going to overlap with the book above quite a bit. I loved the pace of this one, and it covered a lot more than just the F-117, as the cover would suggest - cool info on the SR-71, U2, F104, the D21 supersonic drone, and stealth technology in general. Beyond that, it provides an inside look at the intricacies of DoD contract negotiation, security/clearance issues, and advanced projects. Awesome book, highly recommend.
  
  
• Elon Musk's Bio by Ashley Vance: A detailed history of all things Musk, I recommend it for the details about SpaceX and the goal to make humans a multi-planetary species. Musk and his (now massive) team are doing it: thinking big, getting their hands dirty, and building/launching/occasionally blowing up cool stuff.
  
  Videos/Games/Blogs/Podcasts:
  
  
• Selenian Boondocks: general space blog, lots of robotics and some space policy
  
  
• Gravity Loss: another space blog, lots about future launch systems
  
  
• The Age of Aerospace: Boeing made a cool series of videos last year for their 100th birthday. Great look at the history of an aerospace mainstay, though it seems a bit self-aggrandizing at times.
  
  
• If you want to kill a ton of time on the computer while mastering the basics of orbital mechanics by launching small green men into space, Kerbal Space Program is for you. Check out /r/kerbalspaceprogram if your interested.
  
  
• Subreddits like /r/spacex, /r/blueorigin, and /r/ula are worth following for space news.
  

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.

What everyone said is correct: math, math, math, and enjoy your last summer ;) You may also want to learn how to code in C++ or Fortran (yes, yes, it's ancient, but pretty much all NASA codes are written in C++ or Fortran) or even Matlab, if you have access to it.

Also, if you want to read some inspirational type books: Kelly Johnson's Memoir, the man basically invented Skunk Works. I also loved Flying the SR71, which is all about the Blackbird. It may sound corny, but Rocket Boys is my go-to book and/or movie when I feel discouraged and like I can't hack it as an engineer. And Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" was really interesting to me.

What I found pushed me through the grueling classes, assignments, 50% on a test... was my passion for space exploration and propulsion methods. So I suggest in addition to the math and enjoying the free time you have left that you find what makes you passionate to be an engineer :). Because sometimes, at 2 am in a computer lab, after staring at the same chunk of code for 3 hours and not understanding why it doesn't seem to friggin work out... passion is all you have!

Best of luck to ya!

Your protocol is quite different than what I've seen in the past. Normally I've seen that the MDMA session is supported by therapy for a while beforehand to allow the person's issues to be front and center, and then a handful of sessions to work through the issues, normally three or four in the matter of a month or so. The therapy is there to get the ball rolling for the patient on their way to healing and to remind them how much in control they are over their own actions, beliefs, perceptions, and reactions, and so on.

The sessions are done for one person at a time, blindfolded, where the therapist is more of a sitter than a guide. The idea here is to let the MDMA do most of the work, not to treat it as a therapy session. The patient (one patient at a time) takes the MDMA puts on blindfolds, and sits in silence until they are ready to talk. The patient will inevitably bring up issues of their own, and often go through a psychedelic style internal journey as they work through their issues. The sitter is there to reassure the patient that they are safe and loved and to keep the patient on track if they get off course. The sitter also is responsible for the music because the music helps set the tempo, feel and can guide the patient deeper as needed. Music tends to be music without lyrics so as to let the patient go where they need to go on their own, without the external influence of ideas and notions. Music also tends to not be very popular or recognizable so the patient doesn't have preconceived notions and attachments. This is all to eliminate any outside stimulus and really be able to go into themselves smoothly.

The MDMA environment/setting is far more forgiving than other psychedelics. A comfortable place that feels safe, is clean and free of negativity in whatever form might upset the patient. Most of the sessions I've seen have been on a that curvy psychiatrist's chair or a couch.

After the sessions, the therapy is resumed to work through what came up during the session. The work needs to continue. The MDMA is not a magic bullet that will cure you. It's a tool to get you places so you can heal more directly.

It's not to say your protocol wont work, but I've just never seen it before. There is merit to taking it with that person and just talking. If you're not in a party setting you'll likely have a very good heart to heart. Through this method I was able to identify a deep loneliness I was experiencing and began a path to healing it. It's definitely healing, but a different beast than the prior described method, and far more gentle, but perhaps not as effective for really getting in there and pulling things up. The healing process of that particular wound took at least a year afterward and involved several sessions of different substances without a particular protocol. Here is the gist of my story specifically from the drug angle.

You can get really good examples of therapy sessions in TIKHAL chapter 14 - "The Intensive" where Ann Shulgin goes over her protocols for MDMA therapy, and in Acid Test which is a history of psychedelic therapy in the US and the story of MAPS. In the later chapters, I think around chapter 43, there is a really good narrative of a session, but I recommend the whole book since it all supports how the patient and therapist got to actually running the session and the reasoning behind it. You can read all of Tikhal/Pikhal, but there are only a few chapters that deal with therapy directly.

Also consider a psilocybin session, it can work very similarly. If nothing else research their protocols, which are again very similar, to understand what they are doing.

Some authors/notables to look up are Roland Griffiths and Stanislav Grof. Griffiths is currently conducting research at John Hopkins in MD with psilocybin, and Grof is a transpersonal psychologist who's done a lot of work in non-ordinary states and their healing potential.

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.

Excellent write-up but missed a few things. The first (minor one) is losses to transmissions; the more fancy the transmission the more likely it is to steal some of that sweet, sweet horsepower on its way to the wheels. CVTs are nice for the obvious benefit of infinitely variable ratios, but they lose a fair amount in the process.

Transmissions aside, the main factor you excluded was the ratio speed per energy used rather than power per energy used. The easiest example of this for ELI5 is the SR-71. They found that it was most efficient at max throttle, it would be burning twice as much fuel but it would be going more than three times as fast. Pointing out the integral of distance vs speed is probably above the ELI5 level but power per gallon per hour isn't the measure of automotive efficiency over MPG for a reason. If you make 200 hp at 8 gallons per hour, but can make 180 at 9 gallons per hour going 30% faster (perhaps losing the 20 hp to drivetrain at speed) you are still going to go further with the same gas. The most efficient RPM/throttle at the highest point on speed per fuel is going to give you the best MPG.

Airplanes have a lot of great data that shows all the variables if you really want to geek out about it. PDF page 132 of the Cessna 172 POH has some great tables showing all the variables of altitude, temperature and RPM setting with % maximum power, air speed and fuel used. Ben Rich's book [Skunk Works] (https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003) also dives into great detail on the efficiencies at high mach.

It's interesting that you point this out at this time. I'm currently going through some lessons at https://www.khanacademy.org/ and some apps brushing up on Algebra because I want to learn Calculus and Calculus because I want to learn Physics. Now... I wasn't good in math. I'm still not but Algebra I was decent at and have forgotten tons of stuff. But the reason for learning is maps, models, realities, ideas, etc.

> When you're a hammer everything is a nail.

We are in a bit of a Hammer/Nail situation here on /r/TheRedPill and this place was where my first version of reality dropped. You see TRP is our hammer and sluts/feminism/beta is our nails. We see the confirmation of our theories everywhere, but we're looking for them. If you're a feminist that's your hammer and the patriarchy is your nail, the evidence is everywhere. If you think you're beautiful then you'll find evidence of that.

My second drop in reality was from reading The Gervais Principle.

Then we have a conglomerate of things that started making me change how I view things in quick succession. Prometheus Rising, Be Slightly Evil, Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art Of War and I'm sure there were a few more in there. Texts from John Boyd prove useful and tie into the other books and brings us back to models of our reality.

OODA Loop and at Art of Manliness -- At it's basic you may already be doing this. But at it's most complex you're probably not. It's not just about building a snowmobile either but that's a good way to explain it. And while we're on the subject of snowmobile this is the reason I want to learn Calculus and Physics and Transactional Analysis and Psychology and ... you get the point. I may find pieces of my snowmobile in one that I can use in another. Ideas that I can rip apart from Physics and use in Psychology or whatever.

This can be useful in that maybe a hammer is not the best tool for the job. Maybe you need a ruler. Which brings me to my point.

Intelligence

> Intelligence has been defined in many different ways such as in terms of one's capacity for logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, learning, emotional knowledge, memory, planning, creativity and problem solving. It can also be more generally described as the ability to perceive and/or retain knowledge or information and apply it to itself or other instances of knowledge or information creating referable understanding models of any size, density, or complexity, due to any conscious or subconscious imposed will or instruction to do so.

It's not so much that you know more about what is being debated it's that you can use information about things you do know to refute the debater. For this you're going to use all of your intelligence. Emotional, Academic, Social and whatever else. Sometimes having Social Intelligence means just shutting up and not debating.

Nowadays most competent spy agencies don't even need this type of device, regardless of how freaking amazing it was at the time. These days, they can use special microwaves and point them at your window from anywhere with a direct line of sight. The microwaves can pick up the most minute of vibrations on the glass from any voices on the inside and translate them back into sound on the other end.

It's been rumored that this was among the technologies used to positively identify that bin Laden was at his compound in Abottabad.

Another fun fact: because of such technology (as well as the aforementioned passive bugs), in every sensitive (and perhaps all) US embassies these days, there exists an empty, completely see-through room within a room, slightly elevated on special springs (edit: as some have pointed out to me, we don't actually know what the room is supported by) that is completely and totally soundless. It is used by Embassy personnel and any embedded CIA case officers when they need to discuss sensitive matters.

Source on the fun fact: The Master of Disguise by former CIA Master of Disguise Tony Mendez. Amazing book and entirely worth a read if you are into Cold War spy craft. Some of the stories within are amazing. By the way, this is the same fellow who Ben Affleck plays in the movie Argo. He even has an exceptionally brief cameo when Ben arrives at Dulles airport (Ben stares him down briefly as he walks by him on the outside of the airport)

Edit: source on the contents of the earlier post follows:

> “But the Tchaikovsky Street embassy was an ideal site for electronic eavesdropping. Embassy and Agency security officers estimated that the KGB’s ubiquitous local employees had seeded the entire building with hard-wire and wireless bugs. The windows were silently scanned with microwaves that could reproduce the vibration of conversations into usable recordings at the numerous KGB listening posts ringing the embassy. Between the overtly inquisitive UPDK local employees and the hidden bugs, Americans, from the ambassador to the lowest-ranking Marine security guard, were subject to audio surveillance during every moment they spent in the U.S. Mission, including in their apartments.
But there were important exceptions."

> "Because American officials in many embassies needed a secure area to discuss sensitive cases, they usually went to “the Bubble”—the generic term for a clear plastic-walled enclosure, raised from the floor on transparent Plexiglas blocks and meticulously cleaned only by American hands, so that none of the local staff, no matter how ingenious they were, could attach miniature listening devices to the structure without being detected.”

Excerpt From: Antonio J. Mendez. “The Master of Disguise.” HarperCollins. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=360633124

Final edit: I should mention that this is 70s technology, so I'd hardly be surprised if there haven't been advancements made since.

I'm going to throw out something that is not typical for this sub. Check out the book Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet.

Basically it's a book anybody in here who is in a leadership role could benefit from. I've been using the principles in my marriage and raising kids. Basic tenet is the best captain (Marquet was a nuclear sub captain) is the one who is able to lead their team to think and act knowing they have the captain's support.

Being in charge doesn't mean being controlling and demanding. My wife would tell yo that my leadership empowers her, and she appreciates my support. That's because she trusts and respects me, so when I show her she can be trusted with making decisions, she doesn't have to worry about my support.

Think of it this way: how do you treat her when she does go out on her own limb? They need our encouragement and guidance, not fear of failure and directives (except when necessary).

Read this and this

I'm not an officer, but I have a good idea of what you guys go through, and as a SNCO I get to see and try to positively mentor a lot of new 2Lts. You're going to see lots of literature regarding how to lead and how to "Air Force", but the best things you can internalize to be a good leader are 1) Take care of your people. Airmen aren't your buddies, and you don't need to coddle, but have understanding and common sense and know that things that happen in their lives are sometimes more important than things that happen at work 2) Use common sense. When you have to make a judgement on a situation, you should use the AFIs and go by them to the maximum extent possible. However, remember that AFIs are not people, and can't make judgements so you ultimately have to determine the right thing to do, which is often not black and white.

Good luck in COT!

What a wonderful contest! it's hard to pick my favorite book. I'd say it's a tie between Into the Wild and Unbroken. They're both non-fiction (which isn't generally what I prefer, strangely enough).

Into the Wild is a story about a young man who abandons everything material in his life and goes to live in the Alaskan wild. It's wonderfully captivating. I highly recommend it. There was a movie based off of the book, as well.

Unbroken is a story about a WWII POW (who is still alive!) and his experiences. It reads like a fiction book, which makes it even more amazing that it's all true.

Good luck finding a new book, and thanks for the contest! And if reddit raffle sees me fit, my WL is at your disposal :)

When I was at ASU, my boss told me how he was a super cocky guy, but then again most ASU jocks were. I also went to school with James Harden. That guy could ball! I just wish he hadn't left after sophomore year to OKC.

Check out Where Men Win Glory. It's a good book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman https://www.amazon.com/dp/030738604X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_uPC3AbBCFP55Z

I forgot, I have also started Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Read by Stephen Fry), and it is well done as well.
I remembered a couple more that I liked:

Unbroken - good (true) story about WWII pilot who was captured by the Japanese

Water for Elephants - Good book (fiction) about a circus in the depression era

Anathem - I really like Neal Stephenson, and this was a good book, but it was very long, and I'm sure I would have had a much harder time if I had to read it, instead of just listen to it

Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Book 1) - Good book, but very long and if it weren't for the different voices by the narrator, I would have gotten lost pretty easily.

Hope this helps, and hope you find some good ones!

Short answer: no.

Slightly longer answer: The radicalization of Islam in the Middle East ties into the division of the region by the western powers after WWI, and further during the Cold War, when the U.S. (not only, but in particular) supported the rise to power of radical religious figures in opposition to communist/leftist parties & figures who might be sympathetic to the Soviet Union, and therefore potentially threaten U.S./U.K. access to oil in the region. This included aiding in the over-throwing of democratically elected governments in favor of autocratic but U.S./U.K.-favored leaders - most notably the U.S.-led 1953 coup d'etat in Iran, when Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown. The 1978 Iranian Revolution began as a popular uprising against the Shah who replaced him.

For more extensive reading on the subject:

Inventing Iraq by Toby Dodge (I have some major issues with Dodge's conclusions post 9/11, but the historical analysis that makes up the majority of the book is solid)

Spies in Arabia by Priya Satia, and Lawrence in Arabia are good histories of imperial ambition during the WWI period and its after-effects

Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan for the political maneuvering of the Western powers

A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

I also recommend Edward Said, if you're looking for cultural analysis as well as history

My mind is filled with factoids like this, but they tend to just flow out when I read something that works as a trigger. :-P

I do highly recommend reading the books I mentioned above. (Sled Diver is a bit overrated, though it does have a few fascinating stories. Skunk Works however is brilliant if you like technical factoids like this.)

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.

The U-2 was an amazing airplane.

At cruising altitude of 70,000 feet (over 13 miles) nothing else in the world at the time could even get close to touching it. When the US started using the U-2 to fly over the USSR the Russians were able to track the flights, but even their highest performance jets and surface to air missiles were unable to take out the U-2. Russia spent a considerable amount of time and money working on a way to stop these flights. For 4 full years the US was able to photograph any part of Russia with amazing resolution before the Soviets managed to shoot one of the planes down with their newly developed SA-2 missiles. According to people who worked on the U-2 program around 90% of US intelligence information for those 4 years was provided by the U-2.

I highly recommend Skunk Works by Ben Rich. He worked on the U-2, SR-71, F-117A, and several other top secret aircraft. His book is probably the best I've ever read. https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486248583&sr=8-1&keywords=skunk+works

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

You're going to ruffle some feathers and your going to run into bigger fish that will put you in your place as well. But people forgive charisma and boldness all the time, so it will balance itself out. Look at Pat Tillman. Gentle, down to earth alpha and amongst his special forces team I'm sure he was just one of the guys. Of course you can be 100af and still be respectable. Maybe try reading No More Mr. Nice Guy. Or read up a bit more on Tillman. Jon Krakauer has a good book on him; It's called Where Men Win Glory.

The short answer is yes, it could really help. However the long answer is: it's complicated--especially for someone in your situation.

To get the best effect you shouldn't be on certain medications. Many meds will dull a psychedelic experience. Some mix badly and can make you feel very sick. It's tough to know how you will respond.

The tricky part is that off your meds, you are more susceptible to mania/depression anxiety, etc., which itself might complicate your trip.

In an alternate reality someone like you should be evaluated by a doctor who can determine what meds you are taking may interfere, or should be removed due to improvements from the LSD, and work with you to step down. You should have counseling before you trip, a trained professional present to guide you, and counseling sessions in between. You should have several trips at building intensity over the course of several weeks or months.

Psychedelics are a tool, a catalyst, a teacher. But you have to do the inner work. The learning and the healing. That's why sick people need a program of healing, therapy, diet/exercise, carefully controlled meds, etc to get the most out of psychedelic medicines.

This is the safe way to do psychedelic therapy with people with pre existing mental illness and a history of medication.

I treated my bipolar with psychedelics and it helped a lot, but I wish I had more guidance and structure. Doing it on your own might really help you, but it also might not.

My advice is if you are interested, go to Amazon and look up some books. Do research. You have to be your own shaman and psychiatrist with this stuff, so learn as much as you can.

LSD Psychotherapy https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0979862205/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506105089&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lsd+psychotherapy&dpPl=1&dpID=512SI51Jk3L&ref=plSrch

Psychedelic Healing https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1594772509/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_15?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VZ888GJ11QSTBM8B9MTA

Acid Test https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0147516374/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_22?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ABDPQHSAZR5QJA1A02Q0

A Really Good Day is about microdosing https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0451494091/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=H660FJWZ0YXV9CXPRYRW

Hope this helps.

In no particular order but all of the following are great.

• Skunk Works by Ben Rich - I reviewed it here
  
• Ignition! - It's an informal history of liquid rocket propellant and I did a more in depth review of it here
  
• The Design of Everyday Things - A book about how objects are designed. It changed how I look at the world and approach design. It took me few tries to get into it the first time.
  
• Introduction to Astrodynamics by Battin - A great textbook on the basics of astrodynamics that is both easy enough for undergrads to start, and rigorous enough to keep you interested as your math skills improve in grad school and later.

The F117 was designed to be as invisible as possible. When Ben Rich was trying to sell the plane to goverment personnel he would walk into their office and roll a marble across their desk and say "heres your plane", because that represented its radar cross section. That seems pretty damn invisible to me.

I highly recommend the book Skunkworks to anyone interested in first hand accounts of producing some of Lockheed's greatest creations.

EDIT: I was just looking through my copy of Skunkworks to find the passage. Here it is! I found another interesting passage where they were having a F117 model tested by a government official to verify Skunkworks radar claims, and it was virtually invisible.

Since we're on the subject of SR-71 reading material... I give these three my complete and total recommendation.

SR71 Blackbird- Stories, Tales, and Legends by Richard Graham

REALLY good read. Essays and interviews from all kinds of people involved in the program- pilots, RSO, mechanics, crew chiefs, engineers. 11/10 very fun read

Archangel to Senior Crown: Design and Development of the Blackbird by Peter Merlin

More about the technology, history, and politics behind the aircraft. Not as 'fun' as the first one, but very detailed. Also comes with 4gb of manuals for the SR71. Allow me to clarify that, the book comes with a DVD with shitloads of manuals and documents from Lockeed, USAF, NASA, etc. I'd give it a 9/10 based simply on it being a bit dry at times.

Lockeed SR71 Owners Manual by Haynes

Yes, the same company that makes the owners workshop manual for your car... Lots of pictures, detailed diagrams and schematics, very informative. Makes a great bathroom reader. Fun! 10/10

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

It depends on your budget. I got this for my dad as a "thank you for helping me fly" present and he loved it. The pictures are what really got me to purchase it. The new edition is available on his website and is slightly cheaper than the original (250ish?). I think it was worth it my dad talked about it for months. Read skunkworks http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316743003/ref=redir_mdp_mobile my dad said if you loved that you would enjoy Sleddriver as well... Ah ur link was cheaper mi scusi! I guess the new ones reached amazon now!

[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.

Yes, they used dummy companies to buy the stuff, which was then turned into super-fast spy planes used to spy on their country. I always thought it was more impressive that the equation for calculating radar reflectivity that allowed for the creation of the F-117 came from a Russian physicist. We took the best they had to offer, and used it to make sure they wouldn't blow us up. If you want more fun, read this.

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.
  
  
  
  
  

This book I just read is amazing. I couldn't stop thinking about it after reading it. An incredibly remarkable and TRUE story. I love reading books!

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372565499&sr=8-1&keywords=unbroken+a+world+war+ii+story+of+survival.+resilience.+and+redemption

You're nervous. Good. That means that you care about getting this right.

Management can be intimidating in the beginning. My greatest fear was to become Dilbert's Point-haired boss -- disconnected from reality and being laughed at for just-not-getting-it.

You've had a taste of it, so I assume that you've started to figure out your weak spots. Since you "work your ass off", maybe one of them is to conflate getting things done (by delegation) and doing them yourself? Or lack of trust? In my experience, your ideal is far from being stressed out as a manager. Instead, you hope to have sufficient slack to notice when things go awry and to have time to (spontaneously) come up with better ways of doing things, rather than spending every free brain cycle on gritty details.

As a manager, you have two functions. First, you multiply your directs. If you hold them back, your factor will be less than one, if you're a good manager it will be more. Your job is to make them better, in particular by making their lives easier. I've found that the best things happen when smart, driven men and women who know what we're hoping to achieve and enjoy doing what they do best, are being allowed to follow their instincts. Eyes on the outcome, not on the output. (This applies in particular to the Cynefin context "Complex problems", but I would guess it applies also to "Complicated" ones).

Your second function is that you set the cap. Your employees will never be better than you allow them. As a manager, your job is not to be the best at what they do. Your job is to make the most of their skills, within the context of your company's strategy and goals. Listen more than you talk. Them being frustrated means that something (you?) is in their way of getting the job done. Figure out what that thing is and work to remove it; they're obviously unable to do so themselves -- otherwise they would instead of being angry.

I'd listen to The Manager Tools Basic podcast, and in particular adopt the One-on-ones for at least five or ten sessions with your new directs. Here's a list of questions (from the book Turn the Ship Around) you can lean on to get the first few awkward meetings going. Take notes.

Don't take this as me advocating the use of drugs, but you and your cousin should look into the MDMA therapy to treat PTSD. I'm not a doctor, nor can I speak for them, but the past trials have had success.

Look into the book ["Acid Test"] (https://www.amazon.com/Acid-Test-Ecstasy-Power-Heal/dp/0147516374) for more info on that. There's a story (one of many) about an Iraqi veteran affected by PTSD, although was not 100% cures, was better able to live life with reduced symptoms.

If enough veterans confirm that MDMA is helping them cope better, compared to already available drugs, the Department of Defence and the Veterans Affairs might consider funding. A solution would be much cheaper than what they're dealing with now.

I might as well start.

Skunk Works -- This is a memoir by Ben Rich of Lockheed's Advanced Development Programs division(AKA Skunk Works). If you're interested in aviation, I'd highly recommend it! Ben Rich lead the Skunk Works during development of the F-117 Nighthawk and the development of stealth technology(including a stealth ship for the Navy that never got the green light). He also worked on the U-2 Dragonlady, and designed the engine inlets for the SR-71 Blackbird.

The Machine that Changed the World -- I'm currently working on this one, so I don't have a fully developed opinion just yet. So far it's pretty neat. This is an expositional work about the Toyota Production System, and similar aspects of industrial engineering(dubbed Lean Production) that were developed in Japan after WW2. The authors have a tendency to proselytize it seems like, but maybe that's for good reason. It's not my area of expertise.

For biography - Unbroken. For only having two books under her belt Laura Hillenbrand is a great biographer. I also highly recommend Seabiscuit. She does a great job of recreating the time and place. Unbroken is an incredible story about an incredible man's life. Amazing he made it through with his humanity intact.

If you haven't already read it and stuff like this interests you I just finished Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich. Rich was Kelly Johnson's successor and went on to design the F-117. The book was a really good read with a bunch of interesting anecdotes from pilots and engineers involved with all kinds of different skunk works projects.

Unbroken. One of my favorite non-fiction stories about a WWII POW, and his will to live through everything. It really is simply fantastic.

Hope you enjoy it! :)

If you are interested in the history of the Skunk Works, I recommend the book Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich. He worked under Johnson on the U-2 and SR-71; Rich was Johnson's successor and went on to become the father of stealth aircraft with the F-117 Nighthawk.

Johnson was pretty incredible, the F-104 Starfighter was also one of his planes.

How are you marketing your business currently?

Here's some good books to read although they're geared more towards managing and motivating a workforce. Others may have better recommendations for books on growing as a startup or small business. Ultimately, you need to focus on marketing your company and targeting your ideal customer.

Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet
https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Ship-Around-Turning-Followers/dp/1591846404

How to Become a Great Boss by Jeffrey Fox
https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Great-Boss-Employees/dp/0786868236/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484506909&sr=1-2&keywords=how+to+a+great+boss

How to Be a Great Boss by Gino Wickman
https://www.amazon.com/How-Great-Boss-Gino-Wickman/dp/1942952848/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484506909&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+a+great+boss

Good to Great by Jim Collins (I just started this)
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484507074&sr=1-1&keywords=good+to+great

EDIT: Here's another one.

Traction. Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman. I haven't read this but the CEO did and we use the structure and methods from this book to run our company. https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

If you have not read Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer I highly recommend you do. It's an extremely good account of exactly what happened, and why men like Pat were over there in the first place.

It's one of the best books describing the whole war over there I've ever read.

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.

I learned all of this stuff because someone left a copy of the book Skunk Works on a shelf in a storage closet at work. I never was interested in the topic beforehand and didn't expect to be so enthralled but it offers a fascinating insight into the world of US black military programs. I'm not usually one to offer endorsements but legitimately I couldn't put this book down. The matter of fact nature and the first hand account is fascinating.

Here's some interesting trivia. The prototypes of F-16 and F-18 flew in a fly off where the winning design would be awarded the contract for the Air Force's Light Weight Fighter initiative. The Air Force wanted another two engine platform like the F-15 but [John Boyd](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_(military_strategist), the greatest fighter pilot of all time, preferred a single engine design. The prototype YF-16 was unanimously picked over the YF-18 by test pilot group. A group of all fighter pilots. Unfortunately the generals and contractors bastardized the design by adding weight costing features without increasing the surface area of the F-16's wing. The Navy, for unknown political reasons, picked up the F-18 design.

For any military strategy/aviation enthusiast, I highly recommend reading Boyd.

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

If anyone wants to find out just what went into making these amazing machines I highly recommend Skunk Works. Just a fantastic book filled with great stories of the development of the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird and more.

I got this as a birthday present and could not put it down until I finished it.

Has your friend read the book Skunk Works? I'd recommend it. If your friend likes building models, you can also run down to your local hobby shop and buy a plane or spacecraft kit to build one. Some may come pre-assembled if your friend isn't into building them.

I started to read more when I was trying to unplug. TV/Netflix/phones can really pull you out of reality, make your brain weak as you begin to lose control of your thoughts. Just try not watching TV/youtube for 3 days...why is it so hard? Are we addicted to screens or are we just lazy. Research neuroplasticity, and how you can make your brain work for you (any how you fall into additive traps when you lose control of your attention). A lot of people on here are recommending meditation, I can't stress how important this is.

Start by reading someting that interests you...check out r/suggestmeabook if you need some help. Also, I can recommend some great books:

• Snow Crash - Neil Stephenson // The best cyberpunk/sci-fi roller-coaster of a read I have come across.
  
• The Iliad - Homer / Fagles translaition // Read this to understand the mankind's greatest story about war, violence and masculinity - this is about the Trojan war (well 4 days near the end), and was widely considered to be the Bible for ancient Greeks.
  
• A Man on the Moon - Andrew Chaikin // Fascinating (and accurate) account of NASA's Apollo space program from start to finish.
  
• Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed - Ben Rich // Behind-the-scenes account of the Skunk Works program and the incredible achievements they made back in the day.
  
  Best of luck.
  
  

Pretty familiar with most ... just shitpostin'...

BTW... you sound like a plane guy... one of the best books you will ever read (if you are into planes)...

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

I have 4-5 copies... have read it 3 times... brother has read it three times... favorite copy is held together with duct tape cuz it went around Afghanistan about 3 times...

True stealth is "you fly over the radar and don't get picked up." They actually could do that back in the day. The F-117 project manager mentioned it, it's a great book.

...but that was 30 years ago. Over-the-horizon radars (which are long-wavelength) and other such still pick these things up, but not very precisely. But still enough to cue your air defense systems if you're on the ball.

That said they're optimized around the x-band, so it's a huge advantage during a dogfight with other fighters. There's lots of anecdotal stories of F-22s winning dogfights because no one gets a firm lock on them.

The aircraft itself is pretty amazing, although nowhere near close to being as good at the individual combat tasks as separate dedicated-role planes would be. By that I mean it won't come close to the A-10 for ground attack missions, won't hold a candle to the F-14 or F-15 for air superiority, etc. But that's a function of the design process itself, and that is what I have a real problem with.

If anyone is interested in finding out why the process is so broken, read Skunk Works by Ben Rich. He explains not only how much better things used to be, but exactly why they ended up the way they are now. Great book.

Skunkworks, by Ben Rich. Nothing to do with mechatronics, but it's a good book.

Reading a book on control systems will just make you want to throw yourself off the tallest building you can find, and won't help you all that much should you actually finish it. PID control is sufficient for about 80% of engineering tasks, and you can learn it in 20 minutes using google.

You'd be better off picking a project with electrical and mechanical components and just running with it. Anything you don't know you can look up on google, or ask around for help.

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.

Great question!

Skunk Works by Ben Rich is a great read. He tells his story of his time in the Skunkworks as both a designer and a project leader.

• http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-The-Fighter-Pilot-Changed/dp/0316796883
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Combat-Maneuvering-Robert-Shaw/dp/0870210599
  
  These two are great, and the 2nd one is basically the bible for A2A combat. A lot of the maneuvers will not apply to zero-g space fighters, but the lessons you learn about firepower, awareness, and strategy will hold up for the next 500 years.
  
  PM me if you ever want help or advice. My Org is always looking for bright eyed recruits :-P

There are a few, probably one of the most appreciated/sought after is Sled Driver. Shul was a pilot and also a photographer, and the book is full of some awesome pictures. After he retired, he became a photographer and motivational speaker. He wrote the story above; this is a slightly different and expanded version.

There are also some great stories in the book (and a lot about the development/construction of the plane Skunk Works by Ben Rich. He also talks about the U2 and the F117A.

Oryx and Crake. I didn't expect to like it much but I loved it.

Edit: Just finished Unbroken which is an awesome tale of survival in WW2.

Unbroken, By Laura Hillenbrand. One of the best and most amazing true stories I've ever read. Read it before the movie comes out!

> failed stealth bomber from the 90's

The F117 Nighthawk was 1) a fighter, 2) a triumph of technology, 3) from the 1970s to 1980s, and 4) a massive success. It single-handedly destroyed more targets in the Gulf War than any other bomber or fighter wing, and it did all of that without losing a single plane.

If you're at all interested, I highly recommend this book. Written by the head engineer of the F117a and SR-71 Blackbird projects, it's an amazing look into the technical challenges they had to overcome to make the most advanced technology on the planet.

/end rant

> If I can somehow find a deal on the blade in the UK for >£1200 I might pull the pin, however, it will probably be hugely overpriced. It's a lovely laptop tho.

I mean, I don't understand how that could ever be possible on a new one. They sell for $1,799 USD new and that's the cheapest it's ever been. I'm not so good on the maths and conversions, but my experience tells me you guys usually get a straight across trade, where $1,799 = £1,799. Sometimes, you guys get more.

You may be able to get one of the 2015 970m ones used in good condition for that price though, but then you're buying a device that's 40% slower across the board.

I'm currently reading Operation Paperclip. Its really interesting so far. It focuses more on after the war but still very interesting.

Unbroken is very good too if you treat it as a story and not a history book.

I just finished a book about him that is really good. It makes it worse knowing how amazing of a person he really was.

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman https://www.amazon.com/dp/030738604X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FhxYzbGF69HAP

? 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'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.

One of my favorite books, love John Krakauer.

Where Men Win Glory

> First off the Americans were not involved in the agreement, They were never at the table,They didn't even know The British had promised the Arabs a state! I would like to see your source for otherwise. Hell the Agreement was signed in 16 May 1916. The Americans were still isolationists at the time, they did not enter WW1 till April 6, 1917. This was an entente Agreement, The Americans were not even part of the Alliance when all this occurred.

Agreed.

But what you fail to understand was that this WHOLE thing became invalidated once Russia began its civil war. Then in 1919, during the peace talks, there were 3 key figures: David Lyod, George Clemanceau, and W. fucking Wilson. The peace agreements these 3 individuals representing their nation was to divide the mid-east how they ended up doing. Call it Sykes-Picot, call it Pikachu, call it reverse-jihad I don't care. The end result is that the 3 powers in charge, split the mid-east accordingly in 1919. America gets a nice 1/3 of the blame for that. If you think USA had no influence in it, I recommend you read Paris 1919: 6 months that changed the world. It's a great book that gives large details on the topic.

The original comment you responded to was dumb, agreed. But to pretend the USA did not have a hand in the fuckery going on in the mid-east in 1919 is ignorance.

Check out Where Men Win Glory if you haven't yet.

Jon Krakauer is a very popular author and does his typically thorough research into the story.

Gives some great insight into his personal drives and motives, the portions describing his days on the football field will really take you back if you remember watching him.

If you want a lot of firsthand stories of Area 51 and awesomeness in general, check out Skunkworks by Ben Rich. He worked on, or oversaw, the development of the U2, F-117a, SR-71, and other stealth planes and boats. It's really awesome and has some good pictures in it too.

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.

THE BIBLE!!!!!

Seriously now, its probably this:

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

By Ben Rich of the Skunkworks/Lockheed. Truly amazing.

For those who haven't read Where Men Win Glory, you should consider reading it. Pat Tilman was a damn interesting and inspiring man. Additionally, the writer, Jon Krakauer does a great job of presenting the history and context of Afghanistan.

Came here to post this. Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a great way for the layman to become scientifically literate, and it's entertaining. I like all of Krakauer's works, but would particularly recommend Where Men Win Glory for a perspective on the war in Afghanistan as well as a portrait of Pat Tillman, a complicated man.

> Stealth isn't some sort of get out of jail free card that let's you ignore air defenses

THis.

Stealth simply reduces the radar cross section of an aircraft. Many dedicated stealth aircraft also have methods to reduce the infrared signature and the sound signature.

If you read "Skunk Works" book by Ben Rich, it has a great lay mans explanation of how this works in terms of aircraft.

Radar works by essentially creating an electronic "ping" and then listening for the echo when it bounces off distant objects.

Anything will generate some echo. Square lines and big flat metal surfaces reflect radar the most.

Rounded surfaces or angled surfaces can reflect radar away from the reciever, so that even if an echo is generated, some of it gets bounced somewhere else.

Certain substances like wood, or certain composites, tend to absorb more radar than they send back.

All of these reduce the radar cross section.

Something like an F-15 is like a literal "barn door" on a radar screen. The big square intakes, square fins, etc. create big flat surfaces.

The SR71, which was incidentally stealthy, initially at least by accident, has the cross section of a much much smaller aircraft, like a small cessna. It can be picked up by radar, but it's so high and so fast, usually it's out of radar range before anything can be done about it.

The F117 is the size of a large bird on a radar return. You have to have a very high powered radar, very close, to pick it up. It also is subsonic only and has ducted engines which reduces it's infrared signature.

The B2, despite it's size, is even smaller than the F117, with the assitance of computer aided design. Kelly Johnson desicribed this as the difference between an Eagle and an Eagle's Eyeball.

The radar returns of the F22 and the F35 are classified, but given they are trade offs between performance and stealth, probably are closer to the F117 than the B2. Low observable, but not completely undetectable.


And like /u/darthpizza notes, not all radars react the same way. A very low frequency radar may pick up some things that a normal high frequency radar might not. However, low frequency radars have their drawbacks.

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.

Unbroken is great. It non-fiction that reads like fiction. So good!

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Gregory-Pappy-Boyington/dp/0553263501

Awesome book about the AVG and the guy who lead them. He eventually went on to lead one of the most successful fighter squadrons in the Pacific.

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.

Tom Shroder Wrote about a book about healing power of LSD.
http://www.amazon.com/Acid-Test-Ecstasy-Power-Heal/dp/0147516374/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452616841&sr=1-1&keywords=acid+test

edit: that sounded fruity here:
Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal
Despite their illegality, many Americans are already familiar with the effects of psychedelic drugs. Yet while LSD and MDMA (better known as Ecstasy) have proven extraordinarily effective in treating anxiety disorders such as PTSD, they remain off-limits to the millions who might benefit from them. Through the stories of three very different men, awardwinning journalist Tom Shroder covers the drugs’ roller-coaster history from their initial reception in the 1950s to the negative stereotypes that persist today. At a moment when popular opinion is rethinking the potential benefits of some illegal drugs, Acid Test is a fascinating and informative must-read.

While you are free to voice your pleasure or displeasure with the choice, just a reminder that this sub is not a place for political discussion. Thanks.

Edit: Gonna plug his biography in case anyone wants to learn more. It's amazing.

Everyone should check out Ben Rich's book "Skunk Works" he worked under Kelly Johnson and took over the Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works after he left and worked on the SR-71 and rhe F-117. It's a fantastic book and a interesting look into one of the most beloved aviation divisions of all time.

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the best one I've read so far. Nonfiction account of an American bombardier in WW2, built with superb writing and an almost unbelievable story.

The reason I corrected you in the first place is the same reason you are so vehemently defending yourself: because you believe the chief engineer deserves their proper credit.

I got most of these facts from this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

I even had it opened while I referenced some of the facts I mentioned. I think you would really enjoy it and it would help you get some of your facts straight.

I've read "With the Old Breed" and I agree it is a fantastic book. I'm mostly read on pilot memoirs though but I've read a few infantry accounts. No problem about telling you some good reads:

• Red Star Against the Swastika was probably the most interesting memoir I've ever read. Having the perspective of an IL-2 pilot that survived the war is a unique one and the only book I know of that's out there. His experiences were heart wrenching. It has criticism of being not well written. That is not the case. It was translated from Russian so that is why it reads as it does.
  
  
• Gabby Gabreski's book was a very well written book. Very detailed accounts of his sorties and points that you don't see very often in a pilot memoir. This is mostly because he kept a detailed diary throughout his life. Going from A P-47 pilot over Europe to flying an F-86 over Korea (and scoring an Ace against 5 MiGs) was as well, a unique pilot perspective. Great man and great leader.
  
  
• Forgotten Soldier was a very sobering book. Not much to say really. You just have to read it to really understand. It does have some criticisms of glossing over war crimes committed by his unit and fabricating stories but it was still a great read regardless.
  
  
• Samurai! by Saburo Sakai was an awesome account and one of my favorites. Very interesting that he taught himself and other pilots to make unconventional side-slipping attacks on TBFs and SBDs. His aircraft would slide sideways during his attacks to throw off the rear gunners. He swore by it because out of all the attacks he made, he was rarely hit.
  
  
• Baa Baa Black Sheep follows Pappy Boyington and his unit through the Pacific. The guy was hilariously courageous or stupid depending on your opinion. He would lead combat sorties half drunk from the night before. Telling officers over him he didn't like that they were assholes. He had no issues being insubordinate but he was so good at what he did, the officers over him couldn't do much about it. His unit was producing destroyed Japanese aircraft at a rate that surrounding units weren't even coming close to.
  
  Just a few of my favorites. I'm personally akin to reading about "guys who were there". But that's just my preference.

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.

If any of you like this, I would HIGHLY recommend the book Skunk Works written by the head of Lockheed Martin's secret division that made these planes. It's a fantastic book.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Not only the best I read this year, but easily the best I've read in the past five years.

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.

For anyone interested in aerospace design, Lockheed Skunkworks, Cold War military industrial complex bureaucracy, the founding of Area 51, or the design of the U-2, SR-71, and F-117 aircraft; I'd highly recommend the book by Ben Rich, who was the program manager on the 117 and a protege of Kelly Johnson. There's lots of nifty details and anecdotes like this.

I fucking love what SkunkWorks does. This book really made me want to try and become an aerospace engineer and potentially make it into Lockheed Martin. This stuff fascinates me, I just wish I was advanced enough in my education to understand most of it. In time, I will get there.

That book is also what gave me my always raging SR-71 boner.

Amazon links for books mentioned in this thread:

\/u/thetrueonion (OP)

• Digital Apollo, David A. Mindell    -    Other books by this author
  
  
• Eagles of Mitsubishi, Jiro Horikoshi
  
  
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, Richard P. Feynman    -    Other books by this author
  
  
• A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking    -    Other books by this author
  
  
• Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants, John D. Clark
  
  \/u/llothar:
  
  
• Amazon.com's list of books authored by Richard Feynman
  
  
• The Martian, Andy Weir
  
  \/u/DallasGreen:
  
  
• Closest I could find was Engineering and the Mind's Eye, Eugene S. Ferguson
  
  \/u/gearnut:
  
  
• Slide Rule, Nevil Shute    -    Other books by this author
  
  \/u/frothysasquatch:
  
  
• Waterpower in Lowell: Engineering and Industry in Nineteenth-Century America, Patrick M. Malone
  
  \/u/Beefstyles:
  
  
• Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed, Ben R. Rich
  
  \/u/CalledCaptainHook:
  
  
• One Second After, William R. Forstchen    -    Other books by this author
  
  \/u/75footubi:
  
  
• The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge, David McCullough
  
  \/u/Bradm77:
  
  
• The Soul of A New Machine, Tracy Kidder

first of all, i would recommend reading Skunk Works by Ben Rich. if you really find the subject interesting, that book is fascinating.

as for the F-22, and mind you I'm certainly not an expert in stealth technology, but i can tell you that radar waves don't work like visible light. next, i can tell you that some of the techniques used to achieve stealth include skinning the plane in a radar transparent materials, sometimes with a copper mesh woven in to absorb the radar waves and then dissipate them in the form of heat. behind the radar transparent materials the inner structure would be designed in a way to reflect the radar wave away from their point of origin. all of this of course is the most basic level of stealth. but remember the US has been working on this tech for over 50 years now. anyway hope that helped you understand it a lil bit.

Yeah, this one is really cool.

https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491448540&sr=1-1&keywords=skunk+works

Just be aware that the author did run the skunk works for a time and is obviously biased towards the model. That being said the Skunk Works as a whole is a really fascinating model of business and the story of Lockheed's is really cool even beyond what you might take away from the book.

If you have some extra time and cash I highly recommend reading Skunk Works. Some great stories from the guys who built that plane and created Area 51.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Lockheed in Burbank, this book has some pretty good stories about some of the high profile projects that were designed/built there.

Films for their entertainment value: obligatory Top Gun, Always, Sully, Flight of the Phoenix.


Books: SR71 BlackBird is enjoyable, There I was Flat on my back as well. ILAFFT to hopefully learn from others mistakes

People interested in what DC was like during WWII may enjoy Roger Hall's You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger, his memoir of work with the OSS. Much of his training was conducted in DC and Baltimore, including stints learning to cross the ostensibly hostile terrain of Rock Creek and the Congressional Golf Club. He deployed in the European theater toward the end of the war without seeing much action, but the book is engaging and quite funny, although his employers in what became the CIA didn't approve.

If you enjoyed this, give Stealth Fighter a read!

And if you're in this subreddit, give Skunk Works a read. It's one of the best.

Paris 1919 has several chapters that deal explicitly with the creation of the modern middle east after WWI. An extremely good starting point.

Talks about a lot of other things too like how the allies treated the newly created Soviet Union that goes a long way into understanding Russia's attitudes even today.

It is a must read book in my mind for understanding modern history.

Can't sell this book enough as a great read. Talks about the development of the F-117 at Lockheed.

Skunkworks: A Personal Memoir of my years at lockheed by Ben Rich

Just wanted to jump in with some specifics. The US military is mostly white but still has a good 30.3% who self-identify as minority: http://www.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2012_Demographics_Report.pdf

However that's total military, and video games typically focus on special operations units. While demographic data on those is hard to come by thanks to the Department of Defense, anecdotal evidence suggests it is almost entirely white owing to systemic racism: http://www.amazon.com/Full-Spectrum-Disorder-Military-American/dp/1932360123/ and http://www.amazon.com/Hideous-Dream-Soldiers-Memoir-Invasion/dp/1887128638/ by former US Army Sergeant Stan Goff expand on this.

I don't have time to read all the comments, but if anyone is interested in reading what was like to be on a plane fighting in the Pacific in WWII read

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

(http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333913387&sr=1-1)

You can read the first chapter free on Amazon. I guarantee you will be hooked. There is a reason the men who fought that war are revered.

That's an excellent point about the OODA loop. Here's a relevant quote from Robert Coram's invaluable Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War:

> Thinking about operating at a quicker tempo—not just moving faster—than the adversary was a new concept in waging war. Generating a rapidly changing environment—that is, engaging in activity that is so quick it is disorienting and appears uncertain or ambiguous to the enemy—inhibits the adversary’s ability to adapt and causes confusion and disorder that, in turn, causes an adversary to overreact or underreact. Boyd closed the briefing by saying the message is that whoever can handle the quickest rate of change is the one who survives.

Being pelted by hockey pucks would certainly throw a shooter off, and that could easily be all it takes to create an opportunity to take him down.

Now they just need someone on staff to occasionally walk into classrooms in a padded assailant suit and take one for the team.

You know, I really like that idea. It would easily become a part of the campus culture. "Hey, guess what? We pucked the Michelin Man in Cultural Anthropology today!"

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

The best thing to do is to start searching for "eugenics." For some reason that stuff hasn't been buried as much and you can see more of it. And, since links in English are favored by the web over links in German, you get more of an allied perspective on it. You can start here, move on to here, spend a little time here and then dip in here for a little light reading before going down the rabbit hole for ever and ever.

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.

If you haven't read the book "Where Men Win Glory" by John Krakauer, you really really should.

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Men-Win-Glory-Odyssey/dp/030738604X

Fiction:
The Terror by Dan Simmons

Non-Fiction:
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer

Have you ever read anything about Pat Tillman?

It might change your perspective about what being a hero means. That man was a hero.

In addition to Guns, Germs, and Steel:

• How Round is Your Circle - The middleground between Math and Engineering. Fascinating.
  
  
• Deliver Us From Evil - Chronicles the efforts of the UN
  
  
• Skunkworks - Lockheed Martin's top programs (U-2, SR-71, etc...)
  
  
• Pale Blue Dot - Humankind's Future in Space
  
  
• The Demon-Haunted World - Modern Skepticism and Reason via Science
  
  
• Death By Black Hole - How we Know Astronomical Knowledge (Very Easy to Read and Funny)
  
  

This is a pretty interesting read. The book probably creates some bias for me but they truly did build something awesome...

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

Here's a book about Pat Tillman, a man of integrity who led an exceptional, albeit short life: Where Men Win Glory by John Krakauer

link to Amazon page

[Skunk Works by Ben Rich is a fascinating book that you should check out] ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316743003?pc_redir=1408944304&robot_redir=1)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_in_Latin_America

Those corrupt governments are installed and supported by the US.

Gathering and analyzing intelligence on other countries is its primary, original role. Most directly for keeping specifically the President informed of just what the heck is developing around the world. It was started after WW2 in order to prevent another Pearl Harbor surprise. And they were not allowed to gather intelligence on US soil, but that has not been strictly observed.

This work involves gathering tasks as mundane as always reading the news in a target country, as political context matters as much as tapped phone conversations when putting together an analysis. But the movie-caliber stuff is important too. They tap phones, recruit sources in governments and industry, build a whole network of resources.

To collect this information, the CIA uses two kinds of employees. “Official cover” officers pose as diplomats in US embassies worldwide. All embassy staff will be under surveillance from the target country’s counter-intelligence organizations — their FBI equivalents — so meeting sources is risky and they might stick to less blatant parts of the job. But on the upside, they have diplomatic immunity and just get sent home if caught spying. Non-official cover officers get jobs in multinational companies or assume some invented identity that gives them a reason to be in country. They can more freely recruit local sources but must rot in prison or die if caught, unacknowledged.

Info goes back to legions of analysis teams working in offices in the US who prepare it into reports.

The CIA also engages in covert and clandestine activities meant to influence other countries. This latter role has grown, diminished, and changed in nature throughout its history depending on political climate. Some bad press from some really ugly leaks in the 70’s (I think) about the extent of these activities put a big damper on them for a while, requiring Presidential sign-offs on killings, iirc. Post 9/11, the CIA is back on the hard stuff but keeps a legion of lawyers to make sure it’s teccchhnically legal.

These cold war activities include funding and organizing Afghan resistance against communist rule, for example. A whole covert war. Also tons of election rigging, assassination, etc. Post cold war they have been involved in anti-terror activities like running the war against the Taliban and assassinating militants and their neighbors with drone missiles.

Fun fact: “covert” operations are meant to hide who is behind an operation, “clandestine” are meant to conceal the entire operation from anyone but us. Compare an assassination to a phone tap.

Edit: in one episode (2 or 3 i think) of Netflix docu series Inside the Mossad explains how Israel’s foreign intelligence uses elaborate sting operations to recruit sources. By the time they realize they’re working for Mossad, they’re in too deep to not go along with it. Intelligence orgs do this a lot when they know the people they need probably hate the org’s country. This is basically all the time for Israel spying on other middle east states. Case officers often use really impressively manipulative strategies for recruiting and controlling their local agents. “The Americans” illustrates some great examples of this, if a little more dramatic.

Edit 2A: There are a bunch of other specialized US foreign intelligence agencies, like the NSA that traditionally intercepts signals and cracks their codes.

Edit 2B: In the UK, MI6 of James Bond fame does foreign intelligence and MI5 does counter-intelligence. These existed during WW2 but back then the lines got blurred, with both organizations running their own double agents against Nazi Germany’s own two competing foreign intelligence orgs. In fact, 0% of any spies Germany sent to Britain were able to work for enough time before being caught to send anything useful over. By 1944, when the UK was more confident that they were controlling all the sources sending info to Germany (the ones that wouldn’t work for the UK as double agents radioing harmless intel back home were either dead or imprisoned), they fed Germany massive misinformation about the location (and timing?) of the D-Day Normandy invasion. Read the excellent book Operation Double Cross to learn about this incredible operation.

BOOK EDIT:

Books on the CIA I found rewarding.

“The Master of Disguise” by Tony Mendez. Ben Affleck played him in Argo. Memoir of this artist’s time in the CIA inventing disguises and forging travel documents, often to exfiltrate an exposed source. Watch or read Argo too if you haven’t, the film at least is incredibly cool because its evacuation of American diplomats from Iran as Canadian filmmakers is largely real.
https://www.amazon.com/Master-Disguise-Secret-Life-CIA/dp/0060957913/

“Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.” Recent declassifications are exposing just how terribly the CIA bungled things in the early cold war, which is what this is about. From massive nuclear arms race miscalculations that threatened the world, to unfounded communism paranoia that led to totally unnecessary coups, they used classification to hide their greatest errors.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307389006/

“Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda.” Beyond just the tech, you get insight into the lives of tech team members who would bug homes for their career. Interesting stuff. I think I read a different edition but this is probably fine.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452295475/

“Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001”
Tom Clancy name, but actually an extremely detailed history of the CIA’s 1980’s support for Afghan mujahideen against the USSR and continued involvement in the 90’s. Down to highlighting cultural generational differences within the multiple cohorts of CIA officers in charge of the long-running operation. Also highlights Pakistan’s demand to hand out all the money, both to act as kingmaker for the dominant factions and to skim hella bux off the top. Descriptions of the conflict and how the Afghans relentlessly persevered and how factions had independent deals and truces with USSR. Then much of the civil war aftermath of USSR pullout when the US stopped caring. Taliban become popular for not tolerating warlords raping local boys, an issue that remains to this day among US supported administration (a coalition of “former” warlords who you will recognize if you read the book). Great read, incredible breadth.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143034669/

An immature internet writer adulterating the writing of Shul. Search for "Sled Driver pdf" if you would like to see the 1st edition original. I'm not sure if the account in fancy, limited, later edition was as brief, but it was definitely terse, understated, tongue-in-cheek, and professional. None of this highschooler self-congratulatory, chest-beating cowboyish fantasy.

You might be able to find it at a local library: http://www.worldcat.org/title/sled-driver-flying-the-worlds-fastest-jet/oclc/237046663&referer=brief_results
Here is another book highly worth reading: https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/

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

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

Don't think you can go wrong with Unbroken. A best seller, it's a "military story" more or less, but more importantly about personal growth, resilience and gives the reader a different prospective of life afterwards.

This is the version I have

When I search for it on Amazon I see an alternate cover

Excellent book, highly recommended.

While it may not be the kind of military aviation book you are looking for, Skunk Works is a pretty fascinating read about the development of the F-117 Nighthawk.


https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

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.

There is a book called Skunk Works about Lockheed's experimental division (written by the retired head of the division) that came out nearly 20 years ago that has full details about finding and naming the site Paradise Ranch and exactly what planes they flew in and out of there. I just doesn't ever explicitly call it Area 51.

So yeah, not new news at all.

If you're interested in WWI, have you read Paris 1919? Definitely worth picking up if you haven't.

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed is mostly about the F117 but also has a lot of info on the SR71 that came before it including how they got Titanium from the Russians through a dummy company in the UK, awesome read.

Agent Zigzag

This dude was amazing. True story of a WWII double agent.
http://www.amazon.com/Agent-Zigzag-Story-Espionage-Betrayal/dp/0307353419/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410457610&sr=1-1&keywords=agent+zigzag

They also were so fast that they had to be flown mostly by computers. A pilot once took manual control after his computer malfunctioned, and an error in judgement brought him over the wrong country.

They also did a fly-over where they broke the sound barrier over a building (on purpose). The sonic boom shattered the office windows, but the plane was never seen. It was too high to be visible. The plane was later sold and used by the US government.

Do you know why they used Titanium? Any other metal would've melted due to friction caused by drag.

Even if you can get a positive missile-lock (given the title, we'll go for death-ray) on an SR-71, you can't hit it. It would be across your airspace faster than you could give the order. If it's any comfort, getting a positive lock is next to impossible.

Source book on Amazon

Anything by Henry Petroski

Skunk Works by Ben Rich Military aircraft aren't really developed this way anymore, but the stories are amazing.

Blind Man's Bluff

I read this like 20 years ago, and have the audiobook now. I've spent many a commute hour listening to Mr. Rich's memoirs. Here's a linky to Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003


Fun side note, my stepmom's father (step-grandpa?) was a machinist @ Skunk Works. I mentioned this book to her and she said, oh yeah dad gave Kelly Johnson rides home every so often when his car was in the shop. Uhhh, what Mari?

Would you be interested in American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Under the Banner of Heaven, or Where Men Win Glory?

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

Gathering and analyzing intelligence on other countries is its primary, original role. Most directly for keeping specifically the President informed of just what the heck is developing around the world. It was started after WW2 in order to prevent another Pearl Harbor surprise. And they were not allowed to gather intelligence on US soil, but that has not been strictly observed.

This work involves gathering tasks as mundane as always reading the news in a target country, as political context matters as much as tapped phone conversations when putting together an analysis. But the movie-caliber stuff is important too. They tap phones, recruit sources in governments and industry, build a whole network of resources.

To collect this information, the CIA uses two kinds of employees. “Official cover” officers pose as diplomats in US embassies worldwide. All embassy staff will be under surveillance from the target country’s counter-intelligence organizations — their FBI equivalents — so meeting sources is risky and they might stick to less blatant parts of the job. But on the upside, they have diplomatic immunity and just get sent home if caught spying. Non-official cover officers get jobs in multinational companies or assume some invented identity that gives them a reason to be in country. They can more freely recruit local sources but must rot in prison or die if caught, unacknowledged.

Info goes back to legions of analysis teams working in offices in the US who prepare it into reports.

The CIA also engages in covert and clandestine activities meant to influence other countries. This latter role has grown, diminished, and changed in nature throughout its history depending on political climate. Some bad press from some really ugly leaks in the 70’s (I think) about the extent of these activities put a big damper on them for a while, requiring Presidential sign-offs on killings, iirc. Post 9/11, the CIA is back on the hard stuff but keeps a legion of lawyers to make sure it’s teccchhnically legal.

These cold war activities include funding and organizing Afghan resistance against communist rule, for example. A whole covert war. Also tons of election rigging, assassination, etc. Post cold war they have been involved in anti-terror activities like running the war against the Taliban and assassinating militants and their neighbors with drone missiles.

Fun fact: “covert” operations are meant to hide who is behind an operation, “clandestine” are meant to conceal the entire operation from anyone but us. Compare an assassination to a phone tap.

Edit: in one episode (2 or 3 i think) of Netflix docu series Inside the Mossad explains how Israel’s foreign intelligence uses elaborate sting operations to recruit sources. By the time they realize they’re working for Mossad, they’re in too deep to not go along with it. Intelligence orgs do this a lot when they know the people they need probably hate the org’s country. This is basically all the time for Israel spying on other middle east states. Case officers often use really impressively manipulative strategies for recruiting and controlling their local agents. “The Americans” illustrates some great examples of this, if a little more dramatic.

Edit 2A: There are a bunch of other specialized US foreign intelligence agencies, like the NSA that traditionally intercepts signals and cracks their codes.

Edit 2B: In the UK, MI6 of James Bond fame does foreign intelligence and MI5 does counter-intelligence. These existed during WW2 but back then the lines got blurred, with both organizations running their own double agents against Nazi Germany’s own two competing foreign intelligence orgs. In fact, 0% of any spies Germany sent to Britain were able to work for enough time before being caught to send anything useful over. By 1944, when the UK was more confident that they were controlling all the sources sending info to Germany (the ones that wouldn’t work for the UK as double agents radioing harmless intel back home were either dead or imprisoned), they fed Germany massive misinformation about the location (and timing?) of the D-Day Normandy invasion. Read the excellent book Operation Double Cross to learn about this incredible operation.

BOOK EDIT:

Books on the CIA I found rewarding.

“The Master of Disguise” by Tony Mendez. Ben Affleck played him in Argo. Memoir of this artist’s time in the CIA inventing disguises and forging travel documents, often to exfiltrate an exposed source. Watch or read Argo too if you haven’t, the film at least is incredibly cool because its evacuation of American diplomats from Iran as Canadian filmmakers is largely real.
https://www.amazon.com/Master-Disguise-Secret-Life-CIA/dp/0060957913/

“Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.” Recent declassifications are exposing just how terribly the CIA bungled things in the early cold war, which is what this is about. From massive nuclear arms race miscalculations that threatened the world, to unfounded communism paranoia that led to totally unnecessary coups, they used classification to hide their greatest errors.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307389006/

“Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda.” Beyond just the tech, you get insight into the lives of tech team members who would bug homes for their career. Interesting stuff. I think I read a different edition but this is probably fine.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452295475/

“Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001”
Tom Clancy name, but actually an extremely detailed history of the CIA’s 1980’s support for Afghan mujahideen against the USSR and continued involvement in the 90’s. Down to highlighting cultural generational differences within the multiple cohorts of CIA officers in charge of the long-running operation. Also highlights Pakistan’s demand to hand out all the money, both to act as kingmaker for the dominant factions and to skim hella bux off the top. Descriptions of the conflict and how the Afghans relentlessly persevered and how factions had independent deals and truces with USSR. Then much of the civil war aftermath of USSR pullout when the US stopped caring. Taliban become popular for not tolerating warlords raping local boys, an issue that remains to this day among US supported administration (a coalition of “former” warlords who you will recognize if you read the book). Great read, incredible breadth.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143034669/

> The mission wasn't known until March 2016.

I don't think that's correct—this exact mission is described in detail in the SR-71 section of Ben Rich's autobiography, and that book was published 20 years ago.

(Ben Rich succeeded Kelly Johnson in running Lockheed's Skunkworks division, and he participated in the design of the U2, SR-71, and F-117A.)

I would highly recommend Skunk Works by former head of Lockheed Skunk Works Ben Rich

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.

Highly recommend reading Ben Rich's autobiography about his time at Lockheed especially in conjunction with Kelly Johnson at Skunkworks.

U2, SR-71, Have Blue/F-117 all masterfully documented from an insider's perspective. Fascinating stuff.

Really good read: Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

He's top o' the list of my engineer heros, right along side Burt Rutan.

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.

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

Two books comes to mind, first we have Skunk works by Ben Rich wich chronicles his years at Lockheed, Developing among others the U2 spyplane and the SR-71, giving you lots of practical glimpses into acctual engineering problems, like say dealing with poor supplier quality etc,

And then we have my all time fauvorite, Surely you're joking Mr Feynman, by Ralph Leighton and Richard Feynman. This isnt as much engineering as science and humour in one, but its still a good read!

https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491448540&sr=1-1&keywords=skunk+works

The boss of Skunk Works wrote a book about it. It's pretty good.

Skunk Works is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the development of stealth flight.

>and one bomber shot down 7 in one minute at the peak of the attacks

I can't get my head around that number, it seems like something out of a videogame where you have a impossibly big number of bullets.

Reading a bit the wiki, I think I had heard once about this mission (the "big bombing to a bearings factory" sounds familiar). I'll have to check out that book! To say that I want to read it is an understatement lol.

So far the only really engrossing book about aviation that I've read would be Ben Rich's Skunkworks. Being a long time fan of the Skunkwork's planes, it was insightful to see what went on behind the scenes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship)

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/25/days-adrift-teens-rescued-s-pacific/

And badass of the CENTURY goes to: http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/product-reviews/1400064163

Some reads you may enjoy, OP!

I'm not an engineer(yet), but I thoroughly enjoyed Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

If those were the only two things America had ever done overseas, and you always brought up one, and never mentioned the other, the problem wouldn't be with America, it would be with your reporting. CNN are godawful suckass reporters.

By the way, Stan Goff's Hideous Dream discusses the 93-94 invasion of Haiti and, while written by someone in Special Forces, rather than a professional writer, is pretty cool. Very critical of the idea we did any good there, that time.

Unbroken. It's phenomenal. Basically a plane crashes and the survivors are forced to try to survive on a raft for an indeterminate amount of time. Great story of resiliency.

Flags of our Fathers. The book before the miniseries. Also phenomenal.

If you like really really detailed historical accounts, you can't do much better than The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich although I would probably recommend the audio version. It's available through audible. I got about half way through it before I had to stop, but man, it was detailed. DETAILED. If you ever wanted to know the minutiae of Hitler's daily life in part, this is it.

A memoir from a female perspective, perhaps? Well, A Woman in Berlin is your book. It's harrowing. There are things talked about here that most history books gloss over.

Agent Zigzag is the true story of a WW2 double agent that is so damn good you can't believe it all really happened. Do yourself a favour and read it. https://www.amazon.com/Agent-Zigzag-Story-Espionage-Betrayal/dp/0307353419

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?

Ben Rich - Skunk Works...read it, if not most in this subreddit have already ;)

its that good? I just dont have the time right now to sit down and read a book, classes are kicking my ass.

you should check out this book. i sense you would enjoy it allot. i have given this around to so many people because of how good it is.

by the way, has anybody else read this book?

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

it's a really good one. lots of cool information about the sr71, even though there's another plane on the cover

Read Skunk Works - http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003 - if you want the whole story - great read - and Kelly Johnson is a pimp.

Talking about what happened postwar is very interesting to me. You should check out the book about postwar WW1, Paris 1919: Six months that changed the world.

Definitely one of my favorite reads and one that really sets the stage for WW2. For example Poland was created after WW1 as a buffer from the Revolution in Russia and the Western countries. It existed many years before, but it was reformed after WW1.

There's actually a large amount of info out there about Area 51 from people who worked there.

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

This book was written by the former director of Skunk Works from 1975 to 1991, overseeing the development of stealth technology at Area 51.

http://www.roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html?m=8

Loads of information and photos (yes, photos from inside Area 51!!!) from a former employee involved in the top secret transfer of prototype supersonic spyplanes to Area 51 for testing.

There's a fuckload of other good info out there. You might be able to track someone down and ask them directly if they'd be willing to do an AMA.

Assuming you're an adult male above the age of 5 you'll love this book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316743003

You can read excerpts online, I did then I went and bought the thing.

Hey, that "OODA wibbly" has more to it that you may guess. [John Boyd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_(military_strategist) was a genius and an incredible fighter pilot who was a founder of the Top Gun fighter school with a record never equaled. He was called 40 second Boyd because he would let any pilot start on his 6 and he would be on theirs in 40 seconds. He, through math and his E-M theory (Energy Maneuverability), proved that USA jets were inferior to Soviet fighters. Major Boyd and the "fighter mafia" upset the Air Force command at the Pentagon, and was the primary force behind the F16 and F/A 18. He was a warrior who originated doctrine as profound as Sun Tzu. He was insolent to his superior officers and loyal to his men. He was called the Mad Major, but everyone knew he was brilliant. Gen. Schwarzkopf got his attack plan for the first Gulf War from Boyd. If you can find time to read a good book, may I suggest Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War. He was was one of the most incredible little known men of the last century. There are ideas and concepts in the book powerful enough to change your life.

While this is somewhat outside of your scope, I would recommend reading Boyd. I recommend this because it follows the life of a deeply influential military man during the cold war. It will provide you with general knowledge as well as a peak into the social, economic & political fabric of the USA DoD during his tenure.

His work, primarily the OODA loop & Maneuver Warfare, are also discussed and will provide you with the jumping off points to further explore your interests in more appropriate detail.

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

If you haven't read it already...

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

It depicts Kelly Johnson from Ben Rich's point of view. A great read.

Unbroken. Great book.

check out the book, its a great read

Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand

Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann

I know I'm late to the party but I wanted to say Thank You to your Grandfather for his service and for doing this AMA. The question I would have asked is if he has read "You're Stepping On My Cloak And Dagger" from Roger Hall and if so how close is it to his experience?

So I just posted this a while back but you may want to start from the first post (it's a series).

Also - this book might help. PDF

It may be slightly dated, but you definitely want to read Ben Rich's autobiography Skunk Works. It's extremely thorough on this topic.

Please read Skunk Works. An argument can be made that civilians made this ... but for no other reason than to give it to the military. The development of the F117 or the SR71 shows you just how far ahead of the curve that military funded R&D is versus civilian products.

And while I agree that cost will take a backseat, reliability is actually QUITE important when coupled with performance. Both must be at their peak for a project to go off the board and onto the tarmac.

A relevant good book broadly on the subject: Hideous Dream: A Soldier's Memoir of the U.S. Invasion of Haiti.

Unbroken is the most recent book that I've read, it's fantastic!

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163

Folks might be interested in this seminar given recently as well as this book.

• 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.

All depends on what you do. Sure, many engineers stay at their desks their whole lives, just as many engineers are out in the field or on the floor working alongside the technicians.

Read Skunkworks. Rich goes into detail a couple times that Kelly Johnson, the father of Skunkworks would make sure his engineers were right next to the assembly line at all times. This allowed the engineers to still design what they needed to work on, but also go right to the floor in a matter of seconds to fix or check what they needed to.

Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre

or Agent Zigzag - Ben Macintyre

If you like Charlie Wilson's War you'll like either of these two. They are about the British counter-intelligence efforts during world war two. It is funny how bizarre, yet successful some of their efforts were.

I highly recommend them.

> 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.

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

The simple answer to your question is yes, but very rarely. The most famous example of a pilot taunting an enemy combatant is Major Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, during the air war in the South Pacific, or more specifically, over Bougainville and Rabaul in 1943. As the naval and land forces fought it out on the many islands surrounding “The Slot” and “Iron Bottom Sound”, epic air battles took place over the islands surrounding the Solomon Sea. With the U.S. and Japanese air forces in such close proximity (the U.S. Marines and Army had air bases on Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, Vella LaVella and whatever carrier task force that happened to be in the area, while the Japanese forces centered around Rabaul) it was inevitable that a battle for air superiority would result.

According to biographer and VMF-214 historian Bruce Gamble, on the afternoon of October 18, 1943, Boyington led a flight of F4U Corsairs to Kara and Kahili airfields and began circling the enemy bases at around 18,000 feet. Knowing that an English speaking Japanese soldier was monitoring the American frequencies, he began insulting and taunting the Japanese fighter pilots to come up and fight. Eventually, the Black Sheep pilots saw the Japanese Zeros taking off, first one at a time, then eventually in pairs. Boyington describes the ensuing dogfight in his autobiography "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in great detail, stating that the Zeros gained altitude in a lazy, turning circle instead of vectoring off in another direction, climbing, and then returning to the fight at a suitable altitude. As a result, the American pilots had the fortune of watching their opponents throughout the whole process, never losing sight of them. While the Zeros were still at a low altitude and in a moderate climb, the Corsairs (still holding the “high ground” at around 18,000 feet) dove in and picked off the Zeros one by one. At the end of the day, 14 Zeros were claimed to have been shot down (8 by the Black Sheep, 6 by their sister squadron VMF 221 “The Fighting Falcons”, who happened to join in on the brawl) which clashed with official Japanese losses stating that only 8 planes were shot down during the engagement.

Another aspect of this question that must be mentioned is that taunting was not only done between pilots, but also between nations. Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose are famous examples of radio propaganda programs designed by the Axis to demoralize and antagonize the Allied forces. This type of propaganda/radio warfare was especially useful in the Pacific, where radio communication was often the only way in which Allied forces could communicate with each other. American B-29 crews would often get their weather reports from China or Australia, which would have to be relayed via radio from a nearby source, as the B-29 comm’s equipment wasn’t sensitive enough to pick up the original report. Even for naval ships with huge antennae, the weather reports (transmitted via Morse code or coded language) were usually very faint and required intense concentration to be decoded. The Japanese, who were able to tune into the same radio reports, would often broadcast loud music, distracting noises, or false Morse Code beeps to throw off the American radio operators.

One last comment about Boyington and the Black Sheep: the dogfight that I alluded to early was one of the Black Sheep’s most famous engagements. During the 1970’s television show Black Sheep Squadron starring Robert Conrad (which Boyington signed on as a “Technical Advisor”) the radio taunting and subsequent engagement were drawn out for over half a season, where Boyington and the Black Sheep go head to head with one of the highest ranking Japanese aces in the South Pacific, in which numerous taunts and threats are exchanged.

For more information on the Black Sheep, I’d recommend reading Gamble’s [Definitive History of the Black Sheep] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Definitive-Fighting-Squadron/dp/0891418253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372217034&sr=1-1&keywords=black+sheep) or [Black Sheep One] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-One-Gregory-Boyington/dp/0891418016/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-5&keywords=black+sheep). You can also read [Wukovits's updated version] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Boyington-Library-Biography/dp/1591149770/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-3&keywords=black+sheep).

For first person accounts of former Black Sheep, Boyington’s autobiography [Baa Baa Black Sheep] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Gregory-Pappy-Boyington/dp/0553263501/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-4&keywords=black+sheep) and Frank Walton's autobiography [Once They Were Eagles] (http://www.amazon.com/Once-They-Were-Eagles-Squadron/dp/0813108756/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-7&keywords=black+sheep) are both excellent reads. Boyington's book, however, does tend to leave the reader wondering how exaggerated some of the combat scenes were. For more information on Black Sheep pilot Chris Magee (one of the most daring and colorful Black Sheep) you should read Reed's [Lost Black Sheep] (http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Black-Sheep-Search-Chris/dp/1555716474/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-9&keywords=black+sheep)

Finally, for an exhaustively researched history of air combat in the South Pacific, I highly recommend Bergerud's Fire in the Sky. It's size is intimidating, but he keeps it interesting throughout all 700 pages (no easy task when explaining the nuances between Japanese and U.S. carrier tactics, the effect of the vast expanse of the Pacific theater on the U.S. command structure in the Army air corps, etc.)

Finally, [Flying Aces] (http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Aces-Aviation-Art-World/dp/1586632477/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372224263&sr=1-5&keywords=aviation+art+of+world+war+2) provides a great pictorial representation of the Black Sheep engagement I mentioned earlier.

Not having to do with the time period of WWII or books that would have been read then, but two excellent references that I was turned onto were;

The Maneuver Warfare Handbook

And with a more modern twist, Col. John Boyd's OODA loop. I hear that Boyd is making a comeback. Here's a link to a book about him.

Ben Rich, or as it states in the book his cover name "Ben Dover".

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

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.