Just started Keegan's Face of Battle yesterday, ashamed to say I hadn't read it before, fantastic so far.
Just started Keegan's Face of Battle yesterday, ashamed to say I hadn't read it before, fantastic so far.
Low Intensity Conflicts in India by LTCOL Vivek Chadha, Hew Strachan's biography of Clausewitz' On War and re-reading Beaufre's An Introduction to Strategy
For fun (as opposed to work) I have some texts I picked up on leave in Jo'Burg. I am half way through 'Assignment Selous Scouts' by Jim Parker and have 'Executive Outcome's by Eeben Barlow in the queue.
And the daily BUA..
Hey mate!Originally Posted by Mark O'Neill
Welcome back!
Tom
Cheers Tom,
Not 'back' yet in the physical sense, I have just been lurking when I can get access and have a spare moment... hence not posting on many of the things that I might otherwise.... guess you could say it is a kind of virtual self censorship for obvious reasons.
Tried to email you the other day at what I thought was your work address but it bounced back. Not sure if it is a problem with the firewall at my end or if I have the wrong address. Can't send it by PM (FOUO) , it related to the COIN handbook post(s). PM me a .mil address when you get the chance and I will send it from the 'office' tomorrow morning.
regards,
Hmmm... outstanding choices, with the exception of the EO book. Not sure I'd trust the source on that one. I suspect the real story is in what's not been put on the page!
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
I definitely regard the EO book as 'pulp fiction' - but who doesn't like a 'ripping yarn' every now and then to distract from reality?
Cheers
Mark
Finally got round to starting Afghanistan & the Troubled Future of Unconventional Warfare. Nice to see a SOF guy focus on the meat and potatos stuff rather than the importance of DAs on HVTs.
Recently finished The Looming Tower ... now that's a book that just makes you shake your head. Also knocked off Life in the Emerald City ... it predates my Green Zone tour by about a month but is a pretty good reflection of the frustatrions anyone in uniform had with the civvy side of things over there.
Has anyone read....
"Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam" by Mark Bowden, author of "Blackhawk Down." Am lokking for some feedback
Best
Chechen Jihad
by Jossef Bodansky.
I picked this book up because it sounded interesting and I wanted to get a non-Iraq/Afghanistan view of the terror movement. The author's creds looked good but in the first 100 pages or so he briefly mentions that Chechen terrorists help Al Qaeda acquire nuclear suitcase bombs in 1998. My thinking on this is that if AQ had those we'd all know because they would have used them by now. Now I'm thinking maybe the rest of the book is BS. Any thoughts?
-john bellflower
Rule of Law in Afghanistan
"You must, therefore know that there are two means of fighting: one according to the laws, the other with force; the first way is proper to man, the second to beasts; but because the first, in many cases, is not sufficient, it becomes necessary to have recourse to the second." -- Niccolo Machiavelli (from The Prince)
Kreker. Sorry, I missed this somehow when you posted.
Read it and passed it to my son (or maybe he passed it to me -- we get confused sometimes). It's pretty good and I think fairly accurate. I was stationed in Tehran for a couple of years, still have some acquaintances from there I swap e-mails with and it seems to be pretty well on the mark. I'd recommend it."Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam" by Mark Bowden, author of "Blackhawk Down." Am lokking for some feedback
Best
I'm just starting Dan Byman's The Five Front War: The Better Way to Fight Global Jihad. Most excellent; highly recommended.
The Utility of Force by General Rupert Smith (I was too cheap to buy it until it came out in paperback)
My initial impression (after reading preface, intro, and chapter 1) is that I will probably go back and read the introduction again after I finish the book. I found the intro to be packed full of good observations - nothing Earth-shattering, but good wisdom expressed with clarity and brevity.
Silent Accomplice
The Untold Study of France's Role in the Rwandan Genocide by Andrew Wallis
I started this one this weekend. So far it is a journalistic essay that borders on a rant. I was hoping that he might have some details beyond my own personal knowledge. So far that has not surfaced but I will see.
Just ordered:
"A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It"
Stephen Kinzer
and
"The Bishop of Rwanda" John Rucyahana
I will do a consolidated review once I get done with all three
Tom
Did you get to see his interview on C-SPAN?
Adam L
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks