War Stories/Memoirs from a JO's Perspective

[Jesse9252]

As a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant awaiting TBS at Quantico, I've been trying to get in as much reading as possible before hitting "The Big Suck." Given my professional path, I'm particularly interested in personal accounts of young junior officers grappling with their training, first experiences of command, combat, etc.

I've read a few already (a list follows), but I am hoping to tap into the SWC brain trust for further suggestions. Any additional recommendations? Comments/critiques of books on the list already? And more broadly, what books (of any sort) do you feel offer particular insight into the challenges facing a company-grade officer?

Thanks,
JS

Non-Fiction
Joker One by Donovan Campbell
One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick
The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney
The Highway War by Seth Folsom
Once A Warrior King by David Donovan

Fiction
Fields of Fire by James Webb
Sharkman Six by Owen West

[davidbfpo]

I'd recommend from my armchair:

'With the Jocks' by Peter White, pub. in paperback 2002 (British infantry platoon commander October 1944 to VE day, in Western Europe)

'Quartered Safe out There' by George MacDonald Fraser, pub. in paperback 1992 (The author is best known for the 'Flashman' series; a 'squadie' in WW2 Burma).

There is a third set in Rhodesia, but lost it and will search for title.

Try the 'What are you reading' thread for some clues.

davidbfpo

[Ken White]

I also recommend both as being universal in the care and feeding of Troops -- and how little it really takes in the way of neat high speed stuff to do the job -- if you know what you're doing. Amazon has both: Quartered Safe Out Here (http://www.amazon.com/Quartered-Safe-Out-Here-Recollection/dp/0002726874/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251755486&sr=1-2). Great read by a superb writer. With the Jocks (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=With+the+Jocks&x=18&y=21). No punches pulled, he describes the bad and the good.

I'd also recommend:

The Right Kind of War (http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0451404505/ref=sr_1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251755059&sr=8-1). Marine Raider tale of WW II. Well done. Different Corps today but some things don't change...

Not A Good Day To Die (http://www.amazon.com/Not-Good-Day-Die-Operation/dp/0425207870/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251755207&sr=1-1). Afghanistan 2002, a how not to do it...

[Schmedlap]

I would recommend this very well written article: http://www.esquire.com/print-this/afghanistan-war-stories-0809

[Icebreaker]

I would recommend the book "The Road Past Mandalay: A Personal Narrative" by John Masters. The author was an officer in the Ghurkas at the start of World War II, and first participated in the invasion of Iraq via Basra (nothing ever really changes) and later served with the Chindits Long Range Penetration Group in Burma.

[Ken White]

to "The Road Past Mandalay" by John Masters (not Majors) is also good.

[MikeF]

I would recommend this very well written article: http://www.esquire.com/print-this/afghanistan-war-stories-0809

Thanks for including this one. You should consider posting it in a separate thread. I am/was never light infantry; my light time consisted of small groups operating in specific mission sets, but the article brought back a lot of memories. The story is definitely one worth reading.

v/r

Mike

[Stan]

I would recommend this very well written article: http://www.esquire.com/print-this/afghanistan-war-stories-0809

An excellent read ! Thanks for sharing it !

[Surferbeetle]

I would recommend this very well written article: http://www.esquire.com/print-this/afghanistan-war-stories-0809

...and like Stan and Mike appreciate that you shared the link, it is indeed an excellent article.

[Surferbeetle]

This one is from Pech River Valley...

[Tom Odom]

Ditto on the great piece

That made my knee (the real one) and my back hurt....

Tom

[Schmedlap]

Thanks for including this one.
I suppose I should have given a hat tip for the find to Ink Spots (http://tachesdhuile.blogspot.com/2009/08/ive-already-made-known-my-feelings.html).

[Steve Blair]

I also recommend both as being universal in the care and feeding of Troops -- and how little it really takes in the way of neat high speed stuff to do the job -- if you know what you're doing. Amazon has both: Quartered Safe Out Here (http://www.amazon.com/Quartered-Safe-Out-Here-Recollection/dp/0002726874/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251755486&sr=1-2). Great read by a superb writer. With the Jocks (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=With+the+Jocks&x=18&y=21). No punches pulled, he describes the bad and the good.

I'd also recommend:

The Right Kind of War (http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0451404505/ref=sr_1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251755059&sr=8-1). Marine Raider tale of WW II. Well done. Different Corps today but some things don't change...

Not A Good Day To Die (http://www.amazon.com/Not-Good-Day-Die-Operation/dp/0425207870/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251755207&sr=1-1). Afghanistan 2002, a how not to do it...

Definitely second "Not a Good Day to Die." Michael Lee Lanning's Vietnam journals are also interesting when it comes to care and feeding of troops.

For an interesting fiction twist you might try "The 13th Valley." It's a fictionalized version of 101st ABN combat operations in Vietnam in the early 1970s. Has some interesting observations about the difficulty of leading and motivating troops in an unpopular war. Just about anything by Leonard Scott is worth reading, but especially "The Hill" and "The Expendables."

[Steve Blair]

Ditto on the great piece

That made my knee (the real one) and my back hurt....

Tom

What's interesting to me is how similar some of the "down in the weeds" operational problems are to what we faced in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam (and some of the areas in I Corps close to the Laotian border). Not saying that there are "great, unlearned lessons from Vietnam" to be applied to Afghanistan, but more commenting on how some of the basic factors of war never really change that much. In that war B 1/26 would have been down around Saigon, slogging paddies as opposed to humping through the mountains.

[Tom Odom]

I always recommend Winston Groom's, Better Times Than These (http://www.amazon.com/Better-Times-These-Winston-Groom/dp/0671522663)...much overshadowed and forgotten after his success with Forrest Gump

On the non-fiction side, Fred Downs is quite good See The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War (http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Life-Vietnam-War/dp/0393310892/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251901771&sr=1-1)

Tom

[Granite_State]

As a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant awaiting TBS at Quantico, I've been trying to get in as much reading as possible before hitting "The Big Suck." Given my professional path, I'm particularly interested in personal accounts of young junior officers grappling with their training, first experiences of command, combat, etc.

I've read a few already (a list follows), but I am hoping to tap into the SWC brain trust for further suggestions. Any additional recommendations? Comments/critiques of books on the list already? And more broadly, what books (of any sort) do you feel offer particular insight into the challenges facing a company-grade officer?

Thanks,
JS

Non-Fiction
Joker One by Donovan Campbell
One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick
The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney
The Highway War by Seth Folsom
Once A Warrior King by David Donovan

Fiction
Fields of Fire by James Webb
Sharkman Six by Owen West

I'm actually in the exact same position, after ten weeks in Quantico this summer. I'd add Junger's Storm of Steel to the mix for a very different perspective, if you have time. But really, just drop all that stuff and read Flashman.

[patmc]

James R. McDonough's "Platoon Leader." Memoir of his time as PL in Vietnam. I read it several years ago, and my memory is struggling with all the details, but I do remember his initial struggle to find his place and authority in a new unit already in combat. Overall, good read and good lessons.

Swinton's "The Defence of Duffer's Drift." Classic primer on basic small unit/company tactics, terrain, etc... Short and to the point.

Have not read McDonough's "The Defense of Hill 781: An Allegory of Modern Mechanized Combat" but hear good things. It is a NTC remake of "Defense of Duffer's Drift."

The "Defense of Jisr al Doreaa" is an Iraq Platoon Leader remake of Duffer's Drift (and includes the Duffer's Drift text). It is excellent.

[Jesse9252]

It's been posted here before, but for those who missed it the first go-around, this NY Times Magazine article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/magazine/24afghanistan-t.html) is written in a similar vein to the Chivers piece everyone is commenting on. I thought it was one of the best-written and most harrowing accounts of combat I had ever read.

From the article:

They were still taking fire. No one was there to help. Hugo Mendoza, their platoon medic, was back in another ditch, calling: “I’m bleeding out. I’m dying.” Giunta saw Brennan’s eyes go back. His breathing was bad. Giunta got Brennan to squeeze his hand. A medic showed up out of the sky. They prepared Brennan to be hoisted to the medevac in a basket. Soon he would be dead.

As the medevacs flew out, Sergeant Sandifer had talked in air cover: Slasher, the AC-130. The pilot was a woman and, Sandifer later told me, “It was so reassuring for us to hear her voice.” She spotted guys hiding and asked if she was clear to engage. “ ‘You’re cleared hot,’ I told her. And we killed two people together.” But, at this point, the killings were no consolation to Sandifer.

As Giunta said, “The richest, most-trained army got beat by dudes in manjammies and A.K.’s.” His voice cracked. He was not just hurting, he was in a rage. And there was nothing for him to do with it but hold back his tears, and bark — at the Afghans for betraying them, at the Army for betraying them. He didn’t run to the front because he was a hero. He ran up to get to Brennan, his friend. “But they” — he meant the military — “just keep asking for more from us.” His contract would be up in 18 days but he had been stop-lossed and couldn’t go home. Brennan himself was supposed to have gotten out in September. He’d been planning to go back to Wisconsin where his dad lived, play his guitar and become a cop.

Sandifer was questioning why they were sticking it out in the Korengal when the people so clearly hated them. He was haunted by Mendoza’s voice calling to him: “I’m bleeding out. I’m dying.” He worried that the Korengal was going to push them off the deep end. In his imagination it had already happened. One day an Afghan visited their fire base, Sandifer told me. “I was staring at him, on the verge of picking up my weapon to shoot him,” he said. “I know right from wrong, but even if I did shoot him everyone at the fire base would have been O.K. We’re all to the point of ‘Lord of the Flies.’ ” And they still had 10 months to go in the Korengal.

[Granite_State]

Swinton's "The Defence of Duffer's Drift." Classic primer on basic small unit/company tactics, terrain, etc... Short and to the point.


Great call. I read that a few months back and loved it.

[Granite_State]

A couple more:

They have some great books at the Marine Shop in Quantico, lots of military history but also plenty of works on leadership. The Passion of Command is a big one, I bet you already read that in the rack after lights. My platoon commander recommended a slim book that I picked up but haven't gotten to yet, Battle Leadership by a German WWI veteran, Captain Adolf Von Schell. I also bought a book called From the Horse's Mouth: Selected Thoughts on Small-Unit Leadership. It's a collection of essays and short memoirs of combat, heavy on Marine experiences in Korea and Vietnam, but also including things like a Congo mercenary's tips and "Ten Commandments of the German Parachutist." Highly recommended.

[DGreen]

Also try...The Frontier Legion by Frank Leeson, Frontier Scouts by H.R.C. Pettigrew, Victory Point by Ed Darack, The Village by Bing West, and This Man's Army by Andrew Exum.

[carl]

If You Survive by George Wilson
Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters
Doing Battle by Paul Fussell (the first part)
Company Commander by Charles B. McDonald
all of the above by U.S. WWII small unit commanders.

In Deadly Combat by Gottlieb H. Bidermann
he started as a landser in the beginning of the war, was promoted to Lt. and finished up in Courland.

With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledger
The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer
both superb and a view of what good officers look like when viewed from below.

There is another one, very good, by a British platoon commander who fought in Abyssinia (and was captured by the Italians there) and Italy. I forgot the name and will keep searching. David, do know this one?

[davidbfpo]

Carl & others,


There is another one, very good, by a British platoon commander who fought in Abyssinia (and was captured by the Italians there) and Italy. I forgot the name and will keep searching. David, do know this one?

No, these few clues don't help; although very few were captured in the Abyssinian campaign to my very limited knowledge.

davidbfpo

[davidbfpo]

Carl PM'd me with the book title last year: Charlie Company by Peter Cochrane.

An excellent book. an interesting part was his account of the fighting in Ethiopia. the Italians could fight very hard if they wanted to.

Link to UK Amazon:http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1862273650/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=5557079890&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0THZQAMPBQQ1AVSKH2TP

It scores well there, alongside 'With the Jocks' which I have, so perhaps I'll find it next year.

[JMA]

to "The Road Past Mandalay" by John Masters (not Majors) is also good.

Must start with part 1:

Bugles and a Tiger: My Life in the Gurkhas - John Masters (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bugles-Tiger-Gurkhas-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304361569) which covers his training and early days.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51A45BMSRAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg

The Road Past Mandalay - John Masters (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Mandalay-Cassell-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304361577/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292982592&sr=1-1) which covers his WW2 experiences.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51W0M89SM6L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg

[aercdr]

Agree entirely. I first read Bugles and a Tiger in the late 1960s as a boy in India. I have read and re-read each many times. (As well his India based historical fiction. All great except for the tedious Ravi Lancers.) I can't recommend Masters too highly.

Also "Not a Good Day to Die." After studying Anaconda at War College, I had a chance to discuss it with some of the participants. It's a great example of how not to organize and structure a combat force and how highly motivated soldiers try to overcome imposed limitations. (Thanks Don Rumsfeld!)

[Lena]

I would recommend "Colder than Hell" by Joseph Owen. Found it to be a very interesting presentation of the Korean War.
Also, Ernst Juenger's memoir "Storm of Steel" about the author's experience in World War I is worth reading.

Lena

[kowalskil]

As a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant awaiting TBS at Quantico, I've been trying to get in as much reading as possible before hitting "The Big Suck." Given my professional path, I'm particularly interested in personal accounts of young junior officers grappling with their training, first experiences of command, combat, etc.

I've read a few already (a list follows), but I am hoping to tap into the SWC brain trust for further suggestions. Any additional recommendations? Comments/critiques of books on the list already? And more broadly, what books (of any sort) do you feel offer particular insight into the challenges facing a company-grade officer?

Thanks,
JS


A great memoir--> "The Forgotten Soldier" by G. Sager

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Sajer

.