Glock Talk banner

Modern Era Nonfiction Military books

4K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  bdcochran 
#1 ·
Who can tell me a few special operations nonfiction titles that are a good read? I have alot of the recents like Inside delta force, Fearless, Lone survivor, Black hawk down, Bravo two zero, No easy day and the like, but it seems like I have everything good. I haven't been a big reader, but work at night so I can kill a book in just a couple days. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Would recommend See No Evil by Robert Baer. Not exactly spec ops, but it's a good look into the career of a CIA case officer leading up to 9/11. Another recommendation more military focused would be a book called House to House which was written by a combat NCO that served in Iraq.
 
#4 ·
Would recommend See No Evil by Robert Baer. Not exactly spec ops, but it's a good look into the career of a CIA case officer leading up to 9/11. Another recommendation more military focused would be a book called House to House which was written by a combat NCO that served in Iraq.
Frosty the snow d*** :rofl:House to House is a good one I also liked Contact Charlie and the Patrol but those focus on the Canadian Military
 
#11 ·
Johnson......

I'm reading it right now! If you're really interested in knowing the whole story of what's going on in the middle east, and you like to read "special-ops" non-fiction, this book is the best one I've ever seen so far, and I have already read most of them.



"Seal Target Geronimo" by Chuck Pfarrer; Chuck Pfarrer is the "real deal"......a former assault element commander of SEAL Team Six and author of the bestselling "Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL".



This book is essentially a minutely detailed account of "Operation Neptune's Spear", the historic raid to take down Osama Bin Laden, but it is also a detailed account of SEAL Team Six's famous "Bainbridge Op", the mission to rescue Captain Phillips, the Captain of the cargo ship, Maersk Alabama from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. There is also an account of SEAL Team Six's part in the predator drone strike that "took out" Osama bin Laden's chief terrorist in Iraq, Musab al Zarcawi. Also of great interest to me, was an account of how Dick Marcinko formed SEAL Team Six in 1980 from a single platoon from SEAL Team Two. (I have already read all of Marcinko's "Rogue Warrior" novels.)



Quite unlike any other book about special ops that I've ever read, Chuck Pfarrer is not only a "hands-on", "been there, did that" guy, he is also a truly masterful writer and story-teller. I was fortunate enough to find this book in a "Goodwill Store" for $1.50, but I'm guessing that one could probably find a copy on Half.com, possibly just as cheap; if not, the ISBN is 978-1-250-00635-6 and the publisher is WWW.stmartins.com
 
#12 ·
Pharrer also wrote a fictional account of the killing of Che Guevara that was pretty good. I don't remember the title (though it might be Killing Che, or something like that :D ). He is a good writer.

I would also recommend Hunting the Jackal by Billy Waugh. Great book that delves into his life in SF in Vietnam (my father knew him), to his time as a military contractor for CIA. His team spotted Carlos the Jackal in Sudan, which led to his capture by the French. He was also involved in sounding the alarm on OBL back when Clinton was in office, going so far as to propose an op to kill him, which was denied.

He ended up humping the Afghan mountains in the days after 9-11 (in his 70s) with CIA (he is mentioned by his code name in Jawbreaker). Total bad ass.
 
#13 ·
http://product.half.ebay.com/SEAL-T...r-2011-Hardcover/128645078&cpid=5000018614544


There ya go! Now you don't even need to spend $1.50 for it.......get it on Half.com for 75 cents! (BTW....the hardback copy I have was $25.99 for who ever bought it first.)

Any time you want a book, just find out what it's ISBN # is; then google, Half.com, type in the ISBN number, 99.99% of the time, you can get the book for pennies on the dollar.
 
#16 ·
Good book. I may have to re-read it.

I just caught the second half of a documentary on HBO called "Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of War" about an Australian journalist in Iraq. He was there with Bellavia (sp?) in Fallujah and has some footage of the fight.

I did not see the beginning of the segment, but at one point, the Aussie ran into the house where Bellavia was killing the insurgents.
 
#18 ·
Just finished reading The Deadly Brotherhood by John C. McManus. He did something a bit unusual. He reviewed hundreds of oral histories. He organized comments by items like food, attitudes towards the Germans, attitudes towards Japanese, The conditions: Europe, and so forth.

He did research by checking on the works done by the famous S.L.A. Marshall and proved that some of the information was simply made up.

Parts, like about casualties, were difficult to read.

I took away the following which was important to me. 75% of the actual frontline troops were killed or disabled/wounded/captured. 20% of the casualties were psychological breakdowns. why were these points important. It confirmed what all survivalists should know in advance - avoid confrontation and combat if possible because if you don't you are going to have severe problems.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top