Just read The Fourth Star and Graveyard of Empires. I'm at a Afghanistan/Iraq book reading culmination...however, I did like The Fourth Star as it looks forward.

Any suggestions for a deployment read? I will fall back to re-read The Accidental Guerrilla since I never finished it, but there has to be something else out there to read that hasn't caught my attention.

If you are interested in reading a book about how a western military commander given scant resources can organize and train an army of indigenous fighters with limited experience and even less equipment to fight with modest success and, most importantly, to inflict damage on the enemy while avoiding decisive engagements I recommend Sam Bell Maxey and the Confederate Indians. It's a short book and there are no epic battles in it. However, Maxey figured out what it took to motivate them to fight and select tactical objectives that were within their capability. He also had to ensure protection and provision for their base of supplies and rear area (where the women and children remained). Chief Stand Watie, Maxey's most effective commander, was the only Indian General in the Confederate Army and the last General to surrender. Maxey is also a very interesting figure in Texas history. It's a quick read but it just may have a lesson or two that can be transferred to contemporary business.

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell is just an amazing Story. The only thing worth dying for by Eric Blehm is a great look at a SF ODA and the start of the Afghanistan war. Inside Delta force by Eric Haney details the start of delta force and the training they go through.

Blink, Outliers, Tipping Point, all by Malcolm Gladwell; The Starfish and the Spider, The Foutainhead, Atlas Shrugged, The Commanding Heights, The Logic of Failure (Dorner), The Lexus and the Olive Tree, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning (Mintzberg), The Fifth Discipline (Senge), Leadership Without Easy Answers (Heifetz)

All good thinking books, put the military stuff down for awhile.







We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live!

Good call. I got into military books after being abset from them during grad school. But there is only so much you can read on the current environment before they bleed all over each other.

Books that cover one event no longer interest me as they did years ago.

Think I'm gonig to take a look at The Logic of Failure. Probably most fitting this time of my deployment. I showed my BC that list, and he recommends The Fifth Discipline.

[This message has been edited by Fly Army 97 (edited 11/8/2011 9:27a).]

Enjoy!







We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live!

Pillars of the Earth by ken Follett.
amazingly well written.

Why Air Forces Fail by Higham & Harris has been extremely interesting so far. They had experts analyze the defeat of around a dozen nation's air forces in the early twentieth century, and successfully identified common indicators applicable to multiple defeats. Very well researched.

I recently finished reading "The Long Road Home" by Martha Raddatz and would recomend it. It gave me a good account of the fighting in Sadr City from two sides. First the view of the Soldiers of the 1st Cav as all hell started to break out. Second the perspective of the families back at Hood as they tried to piece everything together.

I just started reading "Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton. It tells the story of the SF Soldiers who entered Afghanistan soon after 9/11. Just a few chapters in, but seems like it will be a good read and should help me get through some of these dreary days in RC(E).

Just finished Starfish. Not a bad read. Would be a cooler perspective looking at AQ network as a decentralized org post-"head cut off". I think I started the audio during a road trip once and never finshed. So, it went by quickly.

Up next, Outliers. I sure do like this Nook.

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

"My Hitch in Hell" by Lester Tenney

"Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides

Company K by William March.

I 2nd Unbroken!

Diezmo by Rick bass is an interesting read about the mier (sp?) expedition to Mexico.