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Six Frigates

It’s about the early years of the US Navy’s first Frigates. A really great read, especially if you enjoy American or Naval history. It manages to hit that perfect balance of delving deep into subjects like ship building while still being very entertaining. Plus the audiobook is narrated by Stephen Lang, who played General Longstreet in Gettysburg and the scar dude in Avatar.

There are a lot of good naval officers out there. A lot of them are very good people and some of them are even my close friends.

The problem is that few of them remain in service.

There is a professional culture that encourages people to be toxic yes-men.

The absolute wrong types of people are being retained and promoted to senior leadership positions.

https://www.amazon.com/Bleeding-Talent-Military-Mismanages-Revolution/dp/0230391273

This is a really good book on the topic.

? What? That book is awesome! And so's the one Fick wrote

Edit: Fick's book: https://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618773436/

The TV show is pretty good too!

I own pretty much the entirety of that pile. ;)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TDTR5ZW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#

https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Bin-Laden-Commanders-Account-ebook/dp/B0017T09N6/ref=pd_sim_351_14?ie=UTF8&dpID=513yrUu%2BlcL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_OU01_AC_UL160_SR106%2C160_&refRID=1BQ6XPQT4RSA0Z9Y36YW

https://www.amazon.com/Sog-Secret-Americas-Commandos-Vietnam/dp/0451195086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466604388&sr=8-1&keywords=SOG+book

A few more good ones.

I read this book a while back. It's got a ton of information about being a good military leader. I highly recommend it if you are interesting in learning some leadership skills.

The Mission, The Men, and Me

This is a pretty interesting read. The book probably creates some bias for me but they truly did build something awesome...

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

You are most definitely not alone. I read a book recently called "On Combat" by LTC Grossman, it help me understand some of the reasons I feel the way I do since I've been home. With a book title like that I thought it might dredge up some shit I've been trying to deal with, but it helped me learn how to heal a little.

We will never be cured of the wars that we saw, but maybe we can heal our wounds into scars that we can carry with us.

Good luck to you on your path and remember that it is going to be ok.

http://www.amazon.com/Combat-Psychology-Physiology-Deadly-Conflict/dp/0964920549/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398483476&sr=8-1&keywords=on+combat

I enjoyed it. From what I've heard, it's pretty accurate. However, I did prefer Nathan Fick's One Bullet Away.

> Sounds like another Mad Dog,

The man is an insanely good as a leader.
This book of his is based on his Master's thesis, and is fantastic.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spec-Ops-Studies-Operations-Practice/dp/0891416005

The kind of things he does, is things like personally going and apologising to victims of a botched US raid.
https://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/special-forces-apologize-afghan-civilian-deaths-sheep/story?id=10320603
>Presenting sheep is such a powerful form of requesting forgiveness that the father is now obligated not to take revenge, even though he has told reporters he wanted to become a suicide bomber.

I reckon his knife hand is just as lethal as Mad Dog's, you just won't see it coming.

For what it's worth, the Second Battle of Fallujah was a joint operation between the hooahs and the Marines. The city was cut in half and each half given to one branch.

The best book I've read on it is SSgt Bellavia's novel ["House to House."] (http://www.amazon.com/House-An-Epic-Memoir-War/dp/1416596607) Though it's a personal memoir by a soldier, it still offers some great insight into the battle.

If you want to read some bad ass stuff on Tripoli, more on the US navy itself not so much on the marines but it talks about the Tripoli campaign a lot. It is called Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy an amazing book.

I recommend a book called House to House. It goes into great detail about urban combat that U.S. Forces faced in the Battle of Fallujah. A good portion of the book focuses specifically on his breaching of a single house, including how fortified it is.

i am/ never gonna be published/ won't change names because it takes the reality out of it.

edit: these are the best out there, hands-down, period.

http://zarqawisicecream.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Matterhorn-Novel-Vietnam-Karl-Marlantes/dp/0802145310

http://www.amazon.com/Things-They-Carried-Tim-OBrien/dp/0618706410

Great book.

http://www.amazon.com/Only-Thing-Worth-Dying-Afghanistan/dp/0061661236/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373116294&sr=1-1&keywords=Oda+574

I just wish more people knew about this guy. Described in this book about SOG as one of the best One Zeros around, which is really saying something. The book is a short read, but for the lazy, this link has a good amount of compressed info about this great hero.

try outlaw platoon. awesome and very challenging read. Parnell pulls no punches.

http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Platoon-Renegades-Brotherhood-Afghanistan/dp/0062066404

• Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
  
  
• Inside the Jihad: My Life with Al Qaeda.
  
  
• No True Glory.
  
  
• The Volunteer.
  
  
• Invisible Armies.
  
  
• One Bullet Away.
  
  
• War of the Flea.
  
  
  Also, most senior officers put out public reading lists every year - so you might try searching that way too.

Two badasses talking about one badass's actions that earned him a spot amongst the Gods? Hngggggg

Also, if you guys haven't already, definitely check out all of Bing West's other books, especially No True Glory. He paints a very real, vivid, accurate, and what I feel is non-biased picture of Iraq at the time, as well as how Fallujah came to fall [and eventually be retaken].

It also chronicles the life of one of daily inspirations.

You should read his thesis paper. Basically he's fucking crazy smart, charismatic, and highly experienced. Small wonder he's been in charge of JSOC and SOCOM.

free thesis: http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/1993/Jun/93Jun_McRaven.pdf (24 megs)

http://www.amazon.com/Spec-Ops-Studies-Operations-Practice/dp/0891416005

Same author who wrote Matterhorn.

Definitely worth reading.

I know I'm quite late to the party, but I'll let you know about what I have personally read in regards to this topic.

I had a bit of "required reading" to do when I got to the last platoon I would serve in during my time in service. This is the book I had to read. I remember reading about how the NVA created "elite" counter SOG units and hunter-killer teams in order to counter MACV-SOG.

That isn't exactly Spetsnaz vs Navy SEALs, but those counter recon teams were specially trained NVA soldiers. They weren't exactly regular forces.

On Killing by army psychologist Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. Scary title I know, but this is one of the few books that has ever made me feel better about humanity.

-The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour

-Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue

-Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

-In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors

More info, if you're interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

On Combat, by David Grossman. All about the psychological and physiological affects of combat. Great read for anyone who's just going in (like me).

Don't forget to also read Fick's One Bullet Away.

Generation Kill was written by the embedded Rolling Stone reporter, but One Bullet Away was written by the officer commanding that platoon.

Outlaw Platoon by Sean Parnell

Not so much an infantry memoir, but the men, the mission, and me is something every leader should read.

With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge

Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie

It's also the subject of a book:
http://www.amazon.com/Bleeding-Talent-Military-Mismanages-Revolution/dp/0230391273

There is a book..

http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Survivor-Eyewitness-Account-Operation/dp/031632406X/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398205385&sr=1-1&keywords=lone+survivor

By Luttrell.

One Bullet Away

Generation Kill by Evan Wright

Here's my three faves:

Sand In The Wind

Body Count

With The Old Breed

> Whenever I'm back in the US I end up feeling outraged at small things. I don't really remember what its like to be a regular person.

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932/

Before you touch any history, read the book that's the intellectual foundation for understanding special operations.. Adm McRaven, current SOCOM commander, wrote it as a Commander. The title seems hokey by current standards, but this is a very serious academic look into the subject.

BTW, the current competitive numbers for an NROTC mid to get a slot at BUD/S are 7:00/120/120/25/8:00. No shit.

http://www.rsanders.org/martin-luther-and-just-war.htm and
http://www.amazon.com/On-Killing-Psychological-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932/

May be good starting points, depending on your particular variation of Christianity. Note that the latter isn't from a Christian perspective so much as it is a psychological.

The way I see it, the job of the military is to protect and serve - killing is an occasionally necessary aspect of same, much as a shepherd and (his) flock, albeit on a larger scale. Yes, it's a bit of a dehumanizing viewpoint to take, but that's partially necessary to overcome inherent inhibitions.

In regard to "a mere man in Washington said we have to or our way of life will end", that essentially goes back to the "render unto Caesar" argument, combined with the oath of enlistment - it's not about liking the orders, it's about following them, and having some measure of trust/faith that the highers have a plan (that you can't see/understand most of the time).

I was an enlisted soldier working in Army mental health (loved by few, hated by many), so I'm sorry I can't give you any tips on the training pipeline for officers. However, I can answer some questions about what type of work you're going to do.

Standard reading in my unit was On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society. I've seen some of the raw data questioned in military forums, but the overall book is still good.

I've talked to countless people who have killed and this book describes the psychological impact of it. There is also a brief history of the training techniques that the military has used to squelch our instinct to not kill others. Very interesting overall.

The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Fought for a New Afghanistan

Its pretty good. I Agree that he made the correct choice. He was not told that the mass casualty was Blue on Blue. He had to assume that it was an enemy attack. The battlefield situation gave him no other logical conclusion than it was a diversion. Note he also sent a CH-53 cas-evac. He just refused to send ALL his air assets into an a scenario with so many unknowns. People who criticize this forget to mention that the SF guys that tried to get him too did not tell him that it was blue on blue. Giving them the benefit of the doubt that they didn't know it was, Mattis made the decision based on the information he was given. I do have a tough time believing that the SF team didn't know as they were the ones calling in the mission and should have been able to put together that at the exact same time they got hit by a 2000 lb JDAM, a 2000lb JDAM should have hit a target they were observing.

"Global War on Terror (GWOT) was known by those who fought it for long periods of boredom, punctuated by masturbation and enemy fire."


Seriously, there are so many viewpoints and critiques of the GWOT and implications of such an effort and progressing, globalizing world that Google really is your friend.

To give you only bullet points would be unfair. But I will toss a few good book links below.

http://www.amazon.com/Taliban-Militant-Fundamentalism-Central-Edition/dp/0300163681/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405913163&sr=8-1&keywords=taliban

http://www.amazon.com/American-Spartan-Promise-Mission-Betrayal/dp/0062114980/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405913151&sr=8-1&keywords=american+spartan

http://www.amazon.com/Horse-Soldiers-Extraordinary-Victory-Afghanistan/dp/1416580522/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405913294&sr=8-2&keywords=horse+soldiers

http://www.amazon.com/In-Graveyard-Empires-Americas-Afghanistan/dp/0393338517/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405913285&sr=8-1&keywords=graveyard+of+empires

Its tough to really say. I'll try to explain it to you and keep an open mind. From your post I'm guessing you haven't served; not judging just work with me here, this is going to sound VERY "you just don't understand US".

Military members have seen and done things that others have not, to such a degree that we have a very hard time connecting with someone who hasn't. Doesn't even have to involve combat. I can recall sitting in the defense, up to my knees in water, in 11 degrees. Its 2 AM, I've been up for days, I am far beyond miserable but I am driven by the desire not to let my people down. So I fight the fact that I can't feel my feet, I punch myself in the face to stay awake and I struggle to maintain every fiber of my will, so my buddy can get some shuteye. After a while, you just feel broken inside. I can't even get into words how absolutely gut-wrenchingly awful that experience is, the toll it takes on you. This episode will repeat itself EVERY DAY for the remainder of your career. I tell you this because, when life gets bad (money problems, girl problems, life problems, psych issues from combat WHATEVER) and you REALLY need to connect with someone and talk it out, YOU FEEL UTTERLY ALONE.

I would come home to my family and friends and really just need to pour it all out and let them comfort me, but I couldn't. Because they just didn't understand. I could walk into a crowd of people, and feel so completely alone. Imagine being the only man left on earth, but you are surrounded by people.

Now what about other service members you ask? You're right, those people could very well understand me and I COULD talk to them. EXCEPT for the mentality that is built into the very FOUNDATION of military service: mental toughness. Only now is the military even scratching the SURFACE of taking this problem on. When I got out (2 years ago) we had a guy who very clearly needed help (unstable, flashbacks, intense nightmares, pulling knives on people) and I was forced to take it up the chain to our battalion commander (probably 20+ years in, in charge of 1000+ Marines, WAY up there) to get him help. Even then it was a half-assed effort.

Military service can be so incredibly damaging to your psyche that it forces you into that dark part of your mind where you can't take it anymore. When you see the only option is the out, and you are virtually surrounded by weapons all the time....its a tough cross to bear.

I suggest you also read a fantastic book called "On Killing" which should provide you with the psychology behind the damage done from combat. VERY informative book.

I'm sorry this rambles, and I don't think I really answered your question at all. Writing this really brought back a lot. More than I want. Hopefully I helped.

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

• Humans possess the reluctance to kill their own kind
  
• This reluctance can be systematically broken down by use of standard conditioning techniques
  
• "Normal" soldiers react in "stages" after killing people in close combat.
  
  If you haven't read this book, it's truly brilliant.

In Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the undoing of moral character, Dr. Jonathan Shay examines the additional situational elements that are predictors of the likelihood an individual will develop PTSD.

LtCol Grossman has also written on this subject in On Combat and On Killing.

Shared experience, supportive debriefing, command climate, fatigue level, witness to/participation in crimes or atrocities, cover-ups, moral conflict, relationship to wounded/killed... all of these things shape the experience.

A well-trained warrior may have no regrets or disturbances at having killed numerous enemy troops or even losing comrades if he was well cared for and supported by his command and unit.

But an under-prepared & overly fatigued warrior who saw injured children, or was involved in actions that terrorized civilians, while a member of an abusive command and separated from his buddies may experience moderate to even severe PTSD.

There is much more to PTSD than the volume of fire to which one was exposed or the MOS and duty assignment that may be reflected in paper records.

Your response deserves applause, pretty well thought out. Let me hit the various points:

>It's also no secret that there are fairly prevalent rapes in the military, many of which are not reported for fear of reprimand in some shape or form

This is an instance where you have "Now that we have more people reporting this, we have more reports on file, so since there are more reports on file, there are more rapes!" It's a double edged blade for the higher echelons command. If they convince more people to come forward (remember, these have no statute of limitations under UCMJ) it looks like you have more rapes in your command. Even if they all happened in 1999, it reflects on you. What fear of reprimand? The issue I've seen with reprimand is where a Soldier comes forward with allegations (under oath), then recants it all at a later time. Is intimidation, is it lying, not for us to determine.

>Allowing free relationships among soldiers would no doubt contribute to these, and 'normalize' the idea of sex amongst the enlisted, so that the issue is taken in less severity (e.g. "What? She was fucking those three last week, why not me?")

Not different than College in anyone. Unless you go to BYU.

>Sexualizing your fellow soldiers, using them for 'release', and forming relationships with someone that's meant to be your equal, will do nothing to close this divide, and progress equality in the military.

Relationships are all that matters in the military. On Killing has a good passage on why Soldiers shoot not to save themselves, but to save their buddies, the guy/gal that depends on them.

>Regarding men and women differently, assigning them different duties, allowing/disallowing them to operate on certain kinds of missions, all contributes to separating the troops by gender, when they should be completely conformed and uniform with one another, so as to form a truly cohesive unit with no systematic bias.

The needs of the mission will always come before needs of political correctness. Sort of the equivalent of why the LEAST mission essential person pulls off their gas mask first, not the lowest ranking.

>Banning interpersonal relationships, punishing infractions, and fully integrating all soldiers into the same fold, would all contribute to a more uniform, genderless unit, as part of this process is not only training women and men to the same standard, but to untrain the attitudes and gender roles that we naturally adhere to in society.

This could work in a draft Army...maybe, but we train our guys to think and feel. Usually they do very little in both regards, but in the Whole Soldier concept you end up with a soldier who can ethically engage in land combat operations.

>nor is it the place to carry on romantic relationships with your equals.

General Order, no boning in theater. Double bonus points under UCMJ if your boning and cheating at the same time.

>Training men and women to separate standards is already unjust, and outright nonsensical in my opinion, but we completely separate men and women in such a way, that they're not being trained (again, from my understanding) to be fully cohesive and without bias, ignorant to gender, and fully equal.

The only times training is separate is when it is training conducting in living quarters. The military can be down-right archaic with that sometimes, with punishments handed out for passing by an opposite gender tent to closely/often. The appearance of impropriety is enough to justify punishment for impropriety sometimes.

>A man might now take a risk for a woman on the battlefield that he would not have due to dangerous conditions for a man.

Shit, that works out in everyone's favor, right? No not really. Risk takers either end up dead, or hero's, or both. You don't look at Gender when you risk your own ass, you look at your buddy, that person that depends on you to pull your weight so you both end up back to the rear in one piece.

>There are of course also the obvious issues of STD's, pregnancy, emotional issues due to relationship-related stresses, and the ever-possible...

STD's are prevalent already, military towns, even ones with larger bases are pretty inbred boning pots. Relationship-related stresses, any more than being separate from a spouse that has no idea what you do on a day to day basis, and can't understand why you are working late again for the mission? Myself and the misses see each other for possibly 90 minutes a night before it's time to rack out and do PT again.

>and dare I say, "inevitable" abuse of superiority

From my experience watching this, the lower ranking individual, tends to wield the power in those relationship. Consider it emotional and career blackmail. Best example I saw was an E-3 & E-8. The moment the senior tried to break it off, the junior ran and told the CoC. Beep beep, you let your dick drive the bus that ran you over Bro!

>Rough-necks do it

That's nice, I see the Rangers and SF do it too, because there are no females around them. But remember it takes 2 to tango, so what happens if we demographically split the Rough Necks down the middle and toss in physically equal (Do you even lift?) women?

>Again, all completely conjecture and personal opinion., feel free to tear me a new one and disagree, I'm not claiming to have any more insight than anyone else here on the intricacies of military life.

No problems, it was a well thought out response.