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What book are you reading now?

Teager said:
Having been on OP Medusa No Lack of Courage really gives insight and answers as to why things happened the way they did. IMO it is also the most accurate account of OP Medusa that I have read. Very good reading.
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Did the book happen to include the story about 2 soldiers who spent the night before op medusa started sleeping beside their vehicle that was mistakenly parked a few hundred meters in front of the FEBA in bad guy territory?  Somehow not getting their throats cut and also going unnoticed by the 20+ LAV3s lined up behind them.
 
ObedientiaZelum said:
Did the book happen to include the story about 2 soldiers who spent the night before op medusa started sleeping beside their vehicle that was mistakenly parked a few hundred meters in front of the FEBA in bad guy territory?  Somehow not getting their throats cut and also going unnoticed by the 20+ LAV3s lined up behind them.
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Nope I never heard that story either. Sounds like they got lucky though. Although I was in the engineer section supporting the 1 RCR guys that went down into the wadi to do a recce on Sept 2nd and was suppose to spend the night pretty close to bad guys. The LAV's were all behind us minus the recce LAV's putting us smack dab in the middle of everything. Luckily just before dark we got called out of there. Never felt more relieved.
 
A Higher Call
The story of Charlie Brown and Franz Steigler.  Brown and his B-17 crew were spared by Steigler in his 109 and escorted safely out of German airspace on Dec 20th 1943.  This book is excellent and I've enjoyed reading it.
 
War, Coups & Terror: Pakistan's Army in Years of Turmoil by Brian Cloughley.

The author has served in both the British and Australian armies and retired as a LGen after decades of experience with Pakistan and the region and many of the major players so this ought to be a good and insightful book. In many ways it is and clearly fills a gap in knowledge about this force (albeit that the book starts in 1972 after the defeat of the Western Pakistani forces by the East Pakistanis and Indian Army in what is now Bangladesh. The entire story regarding the poor level of civilian government of Pakistan, the military return of confidence and capability in the post-Bangladesh days and the subsequent various coups are well discussed.

Unfortunately, for me, there are two major areas where things break down a bit.

Firstly, Cloughley is clearly a Pakistani armyophile (I made that word up). He's a big fan of the Pak army and its officer corps and frequently glosses over or is apologetic for severe shortcomings that infest its structure. An example is the Islamic extremism that came to the fore under Zia. While mentioned, there is little depth to the examination.

Secondly if you are looking for details about the Pak military and ISI's role in building the Taliban and its continued support to them and the AQ, or its operations in the tribal areas, look elsewhere. Again these topics are given superficial treatment at best.

http://www.amazon.com/War-Coups-Terror-Pakistans-Turmoil/dp/1602396981
 
FJAG, what does he say about General Wahid? Wahid was the Pak student on my staff college course and was quite an impressive individual. I for one was not surprised when he became CGS.
 
Old Sweat said:
FJAG, what does he say about General Wahid? Wahid was the Pak student on my staff college course and was quite an impressive individual. I for one was not surprised when he became CGS.
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He starts by saying that there was a difference of opinion between the President and Prime Minister as to who should become the Chief of Army Staff in 1993 and that they eventually both agreed on General Waheed as a compromise although he was seventh in order of seniority. He describes Waheed as his own man (unfortunately for the Pres and the PM but most fortunately for the country). He was neither an ideologue nor a demagogue nor a theocrat; no wild or dramatic ideas came from his headquarters during his tenure. He was completely apolitical and demanded that the army be so as well; he wanted the best for his country and would only interfere with the government if forced to and then strictly in accordance with the constitution. While some criticized his outlook as narrow that was what was best for the country at the time.

He made a comment about meeting Waheed in mid-93 in Malaysia and that Waheed reflected (wistfully) about Malaysia that "we (Pakistan) could be like this - but what on earth went wrong with us?"

When Waheed turned over the job in 1996 his tenure had been mostly uneventful but not without issues such as the attempted and failed coup attempt by 35 officers in September 1995.

All-in-all he thinks well of him but as I said above, he seems in general to be soft on the Pak officer corps.
 
Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson.  Very similar so far to World War Z (the book, not the movie) in that it's a person collecting an "oral history", in this case of a war between humans and robots.  Pretty easy read and very interesting, especially the story involving two airliners.

I got this at Chapters in Victoria today and both the employee in the section and the checkout person immediately mentioned that the author had a Ph.D in Robotics.  Both times it seemed forced, almost like it was a line that they had to say...or were they programmed to say....?  :Tin-Foil-Hat:
 
Thomas Paine's Common Sense and other Writings. Edited and with an introduction by Gordon S. Wood.

This book is a collection of Thomas Paine's most important writings. For those interested in history and philosophy, he is a must read because his mind was centuries ahead of his time and his work had huge implications for the newly formed United States. He actually came up with that name.

He is one of my heroes along with Christopher Hitchens (you should all read his books too).
 
Second read of Every Man a Tiger, by Tom Clancy and Gen Chuck Horner.  First hand account of the C2 aspect if the Gulf War by the JFACC.
 
christopher90 said:
The Canterbury Tales  by Geoffrey Chaucer
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If you're a Chaucer fan, The Miller's Tale is enjoyable. I developed an appreciation for his style in a British Lit. class, but can only read him in small spurts. The Miller's Tale is short and sweet and flows nicely.
 
The Malice of Fortune by Michael Ennis. Historical fiction set in early 15th century Renaissance Italy involving Niccolo Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci and a famous courtesan searching for a serial killer against the backdrop of conflict between Cesare Borgia and Italian mercenary leaders.
 
Just finished "My Share of the Task" by Gen Stan McChrystal and am somewhat let down.

Generally an interesting book that lets you look at the path to senior leadership within the US Army but somewhat weak when talking about his tenure at Joint Special Operations Command. A lot of that is probably due to the heavy censorship review that the US DoD put the book through. (The name JSOC isn't even allowed to be mentioned even though its Wikipedia page has been up since 2007-go figure).

Information about JSOC operations is very Iraq centric (primarily because JSOC took its eyes off Afghanistan for too many years). The whole section on al-Zarqawi-why he was a problem and how they eventually took him out-was fairly well done.

While McChrystal is an advocate of coalition operations, there is scant mention about anyone. The Brits (and to a lesser degree the Aussies) get some token coverage but you'll have to look long and hard to find the two paragraphs that mention Canadians (we're not even in the index).

The whole "Rolling Stone article" issue gets a scant one and one half pages. If I was charitable I'd say he was taking the high road but much of Hastings' article could have been put into proper context.

Not bad all around but I was expecting more.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Share-Task-A-Memoir/dp/1591844754
 
The Devil's Code by John Sandford. Part of the 'Kidd' character novels.

I originally read it over ten years ago, but decided to pick it up again because I loved it so much. Fast-paced, great dialogue between characters. Not a difficult read by any means, but just the right level of brain-stimulation to remain entertaining.  Of course, the technology and capabilities thereof is severely out-dated now, but good none-the-less.
 
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