Books

[Specter]

Alright you nerds, lets talk about some books, I'll list what I've read recently and make some suggestions.

 

JUST FINISHED

Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy: If you like military action, especially CT stuff, I highly recommend Clancy's original Rainbow Six. As usual, its solid action based in reality with good characters that you actually enjoy, and a bone chilling terror plot. I give it a 9/10.

 

Recommend

For those of you who love Team Yankee and want more Third World War, I have another solid book for you. Very similar to Red Storm Rising (which if you haven't read stop reading this and go read that you retard) is a book called Arc Light by Eric Harry. Fantastic book, some okay characters, very good plot. Just to give a hint, the book STARTS with a strategic nuclear exchange and it gets crazier from there. I give it a 7/10, that low only because its a tad more political than action and some of the characters suck.

 

Must Read

Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. Holy fucknuts if you haven't read this book and love realistic military thrillers what the fuck is wrong with you? I've read a lot of books and this is easily my top 3. Clancy knocks it out of the park with this World War 3 technothriller. Fantastic action, great characters, and an amazing storyline. Seriously, buy and read this book. I give it a 10/10, everyone should own this.

 

 

I'll update this more later, but everyone else feel free to add their own.

[Specter]

Must Read

Level Zero Heroes / Dagger 2-2 by Michael Golembesky. If you're in this unit and haven't read these two books about MARSOC in Afghanistan, I'm going to Ninja Punch you. Golembesky paints a thorough and eye opening picture of what it's like to operate in a gloomy, wartorn area of Afghanistan, and the trials and tribulations of trying to accomplish a mission with both hands tied behind your back. You'll laugh, cheer, shake your head, and cry as he recounts Dagger 2-2's missions and what they had to go through. I cannot recommend these books enough, and I'm currently re-reading Dagger 2-2. I give it a 9/10.

 

 

Recommend

Rogue Warrior series by Richard Marcinko. Founder of Seal Team 6 (now known as Devgru) Richard Marcinko starts his action series with the non-fiction story Rogue Warrior about his time in Vietnam and the founding of Seal Team 6. His followup book Red Cell combines both fiction and non-fiction in another fantastic military thriller about beating up badguys and slaying bodies. Red Cell is great because it combines things he's actually done with faux people, locations, and times. After Red Cell it begins to fall off into fiction pretty hard, but if you enjoy military action, you may enjoy it. I give the series a 7/10.

Edited October 18, 2018 by GySgt Specter

[MSgt Street]

Get out of here with your military nerd books and look at these fantasy nerd books.

 

Cycle of Arawn - Assassination, War, Religious Genocide, Magic, Killing people for the right reasons, killing people for the wrong reasons. Join Dante in his lust for power, and Blaze in uncomfortable acceptance of this run around the world in a series of adventures were dumb ideas are better then dying.

8/10 good books.

 

The Stormlight Archive - Giant Storms, Depression, Racism, Schizophrenia, Madness, Wanton Slaughter, Being at war so long it becomes a game, Mythical Relics from the Past. Join Dalinar, Kaladen, and others learn not to die horribly.  "Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination"

10/10 Should listen on audio-book if you can.

 

Kings Dark Tidings - Ever wanted to read a dumb action movie where you know its bad but its entertaining as hell. Enter Kings Dark Tidings, what if the Kings super assassins training got fucked up and he didn't know he worked for the king just for the kingdom, and the king is a mad man hell bent on starting on a bad path. Join Rezkin blow his way though any challenge, while still being socially inept, and not understand humans.

   7/10 like a good action movie should be, its not going to win any awards but you'll want to finish it anyway or in the case of me like 4 times. 

 

Disclaimer I listen to all of these books, so I can't vouch for how good they are when read. 

[Specter]

Sci-Fi Edition

 

Recommend

The Lost Fleet series. The only book on my sci-fi list that isn't from a known property. The Lost Fleet is set in the distant future where Earth has colonized the systems far and wide, and of course rebellion breaks out. The main character is a Lieutenant woken up from a cryo sleep hundreds of years after he supposedly died in battle and became a legend to other captains. The main character wakes up in the middle of a losing fleet battle, stranded years behind enemy lines and needs to fight his way back. Great character, solid story, fantastic science and action. 7/10

 

 

Must Read

Star Wars: Republic Commando series. Love Star Wars? Love action? Read the Republic Commando series and thank me later. The series follows the hardened Clone Commandos of Omega Squad, a special forces group tasked with carrying out the Republic's most dangerous missions. Through the series you'll be introduced to a wide cast of characters and settings that you don't see through most of the universe. The books also expose the dirty and dark side of the war that most people think of as a cartoon. I give it a 9/10.

 

Will edit this post to add more books.

Edited October 18, 2018 by GySgt Specter

[SSgt (Ret) Rodoli]

For the Hunters of Gunmen out there who appreciate and respect the role of a Scout/Sniper just as much as I do

 

 

Bounty Hunter 4/3 ~ Jason Delgado: This book tells the story of a young Marine turned Scout Sniper and his multiple deployments in Iraq during OIF I and OIF II. Jason goes into excruciating detail about what it takes, as well as what it means to be a Sniper. Jason also goes writes about the early formation of MARSOC and his instrumental role in developing the Sniper community of Marine Special Operations into what it is today.

 

 

The Reaper/The Way Of The Reaper ~ Nicholas Irving: This book tells the story of a Sniper in 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment during his a deployment to Afghanistan where he earned the nickname of "Reaper" by racking up 33 confirmed kills with his beloved SR-25 sniper rifle he named "Dirty Diana", within a time frame of less than 6 months. Nick writes about each time he went out with his platoon and provided overwatch for the rest of his guys while they were kicking in doors looking for HVTs. Each story is extremely unique and always has you at the edge of your seat. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Sgt Rodoli

[GySgt Cole]

Cole's non-fiction WW2 Roundup:

I gave the first three of these books to a friend of mine who wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the Second World War. The latter two are also excellent books but more niche reading.

 

The Good War: An Oral History of World War II by Studs Terkel

Less a tale about the war itself, and more of an exploration of the men and women who fought in it, The Good War consists of long form interviews with 121 people the war touched. It paints a vivid picture of the human factor of war. World War Z (which is a great non-fiction read, by the way, and nothing like the movie) was based on this book. Note that this book is American-centric, but if you've ever had that longing feeling for a fight in a massive, global "good war" that your grandfathers and great grandfathers did, this book indulges that perhaps slightly dark urge.

 

Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan by Ronald Spector

The Pacific Theater of Operations is an oft under-read theater by most folks, and this book widely covers it from the American perspective. While it is about the American perspective (i.e. doesn't go into great detail about the Sino-Japanese war, which tied up the bulk of Japanese forces and had far more casualties than any front besides the Eastern Theater in Europe), it does an excellent job of talking about women's and minority contributions to the war effort in the Pacific. This is probably the best one-volume history on the PTO.

 

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder

If you want to hear about the staggering numbers, terrible crimes and undertold stories of the Eastern Front (or Ostfront if you're a neonazi), this is the book for you. Very balanced in its approach to the epic struggle between two problematic regimes, the book is essentially the best well sourced popular history book for the long hidden war crimes of the Eastern Front. It presents the crimes not as a "who was worse! [political opinion]", but as a well narrated catalog of the massacres and crimes as they occurred, set against the backdrop of the war. I highly recommend this to anyone who has ever tried to defend either German or Soviet actions in the war.

 

The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War by A. J. Baime 

A narrow but expansive history of the rapid conversion of American business into a nationalized war effort in support of both allied and American forces. Goes into great deal about the relationship between Henry Ford and his son, Edsel. The numbers that American factories put out are hard to comprehend, even looking back from today. When FDR set production targets of "60,000 aircraft in 1942 and 125,000 in 1943; 120,000 tanks in the same time period and 55,000 antiaircraft guns", industry men laughed at the prospect. In the end, they outproduced those targets. America built more aircraft in 1944 alone than Japan did in the entire war. Note that this book only lightly touches on how this all lead to the military-industrial complex of the post-war, there's better books for that out there.