Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

If the Marines are “the few, the proud,” Recon Marines are the fewest and the proudest. Nathaniel Fick’s career begins with a hellish summer at Quantico, after his junior year at Dartmouth. He leads a platoon in Afghanistan just after 9/11 and advances to the pinnacle—Recon— two years later, on the eve of war with Iraq. His vast skill set puts him in front of the front lines, leading twenty-two Marines into the... (more)

Blackwater: The Rise of the Most Powerful Mercenary Firm in the World

Blackwater: The Rise of the Most Powerful Mercenary Firm in the World

by Jeremy Scahill

Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. With its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"-- yet most people have never heard of it. It was the moment the war turned: On March 31, 2004,... (more)

The SAS Survival Handbook

by John Wiseman

The SAS Survival Handbook is the Special Air Service's complete course in being prepared for any type of emergency. John 'Lofty' Wiseman presents real strategies for surviving in any type of situation, from accidents and escape procedures, including chemical and nuclear to successfully adapting to various climates (polar, tropical, desert), to identifying edible plants and creating fire. The book is extremely... (more)

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq

by John Crawford

The only book about the war in Iraq by a soldier on the ground-destined to become a classic of war literature. John Crawford joined the Florida National Guard to pay for his college tuition-it had seemed a small sacrifice to give up one weekend a month and two weeks a year in exchange for a free education. But one semester short of graduating, and newly married, he was called to active duty-to serve in... (more)

At Ease in the White House, Revised Edition: Social Life as Seen by a Presidnetial Military Aide

At Ease in the White House, Revised Edition: Social Life as Seen by a Presidnetial Military Aide

by Stephen Bauer

A tell-all of the life of former Aide Stephen Bauer, assistant to President Nixon, Ford and Carter.

Suffer In Silence

by David Reid

It's the pivotal test faced by every Navy SEAL: 120 sleepless hours of relentless physical punishment, interrupted only by hypothermia-inducing surf torture. Ensign Grey thought he knew what to expect, but when Seaman Murray attempts to blackmail an instructor who is determined to see him fail, Hell Week takes on a new meaning. With deteriorating health and a dangerous enemy in hot pursuit, the two unlikely... (more)

Starship Troopers

by Robert A. Heinlein

In one of Robert Heinlein's most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe - and into battle with the Terran Mobile infantry against mankind's most alarming enemy!

Boot : the inside story of how a few good men became today's MarinesDaniel Da Cruz

Boot : the inside story of how a few good men became today's Marines

by Daniel Da Cruz

To research this book, novelist da Cruz, himself an ex-Marine, spent three months with the recruits of Platoon 1036 at Parris Island, S.C. He shows the eased training standards at Marine boot camp and quotes many enlistees who think the regimen is not nearly tough enough. Drill instructors, for example, may not use profanity at trainees, nor touch them; the process of converting trainees into Leathernecks involves... (more)

Making the Corps

by Thomas E. Ricks

Making the Corps visits the front lines of boot camp, Parris Island, South Carolina. Here, old values are stripped away and new, Marine Corps values are forged. Acclaimed military journalist Thomas E. Ricks follows these men from their hometowns, through boot camp, and into their first year as Marines. As three fierce drill instructors fight a battle for the hearts and minds of this unforgettable group of young... (more)

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

by Eric L. Haney

Now the inspiration for the CBS Television drama, "The Unit." Delta Force. They are the U.S. Army's most elite top-secret strike force. They dominate the modern battlefield, but you won't hear about their heroics on CNN. No headlines can reveal their top-secret missions, and no book has ever taken readers inside—until now. Here, a founding member of Delta Force takes us behind the veil of secrecy and into the... (more)

The Art of War

by Sun Tzu

The Art of War is one of the oldest books on military strategy in the world. It is also one of the most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on Eastern and Western military planning, business tactics, and beyond. First translated into a European language in 1782 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, and had possibly influenced Napoleon, and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm.... (more)

My War: Killing Time in Iraq

by Colby Buzzell

Skateboarding party animal Colby Buzzell traded a dead-end future for the army-and ended up a machine gunner in Iraq. To make sense of the bloody insanity surrounding him, he started a blog about the war and how it differed from the government's official version. As his blog's popularity grew, Buzzell became the embedded reporter the Army couldn't control-despite its often comical efforts to do so. The result... (more)

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Tags: military training

One Bullet Away

by Nathaniel Fick