Good modern military book

Hey guys, do you have any recommendations for a good book on modern warfare?

I'm looking for something preferably written by soldiers instead of reporters, but beyond that, I'm open to most suggestions, from personal level fighting to strategic levels.

I'm already going to pick up Nathaniel Fick's book on his experiences in Iraq.

There are several memoirs about the Iraq wars. I figure those are your best bet for a book on current warfare as it isn't quite old enough to be considered historic.

Indeed, but are there any specific books you can think of?

Lemme ask my father tonight and I'll post what he has to say. If anyone I know has read any of the memoirs it'll be him.

Sweet, thanks man.

There are two modern warfare books I've read recently. War was excellent. It's about the US Army in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, but was written by a reporter. I then read Lone Survivor which was written by the only survivor, Marcus Luttrell of Operation Red Wing in Afghanistan.

There's a book that I read a few years ago called "House to House" it's basically a first hand account of a US soldier prior to the Battle of Fallujah and afterwards. It's a very interesting read with very good photography included in the book.

Aye, War looked good, and since I saw Restrepo and liked that I figured the book would be good, but I wanted to hear what others had to say about it.

Would you recommend Lone Survivor, then? It seems like a very interesting account to be sure.

Originally Posted by Conscript Stavroforos

Aye, War looked good, and since I saw Restrepo and liked that I figured the book would be good, but I wanted to hear what others had to say about it.

Would you recommend Lone Survivor, then? It seems like a very interesting account to be sure.

Reading War gives you much more interesting information and context if you've seen Restrepo. Even though it's about the same thing I highly recommend it.

I'd recommend Lone Survivor too, although I'd say Luttrell is a bit too gung ho about being a Texan, American, conservative, and a SEAL...but when he talks about the actual battle then it's good. It seems there's some controversy regarding the events and certain details, especially the number of Taliban they engaged.

Interesting, I'll look into it. Thanks for the recommendations so far guys, let's keep this going!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

David Bellavia actually lives 10 minutes away from me. It was pretty cool, my friend and I went to his book signing at a nearby library and when we walked in he was just chilling in his chair. We had him all to ourselves and shot the breeze with him for a good twenty minutes. Craziest part was shaking his hand, awarded with the Silver Star, nominated for the Medal of Honor, just an incredible man. But at the same time in the back of your mind you're like wow, that's the same hand that killed 4 insurgents, one of whom with a knife in hand-to-hand combat.


But enough about my personal experience. It's a brutal non-fiction memoir of a US Army Staff Sergeant who fought in the Battle of Fallujah in 2004. It's gory, gritty, sad, and full of action so it's a nice quick read. David Bellavia doesn't waste time. A couple chapters describing preparing for the battle, a lot of chapters detail his crazy experiences during the battle, a section showing his personal photos, then a few chapters describing after the battle was "over".

Don't read it if: (though this shouldn't deter most people lol)

-You can't take gruesome descriptions of violence
-Harsh language
-You are a Marine Fanboy (he's VERY critical of the Marines, "Sempre Fidiots")

Cheers,

might be hard to find in libraries but it's cheap on Amazon. Both on Kindle and paper.
http://www.amazon.com/House-to-ebook...DateDescending

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Damn you Rahl....first book that sprang to my mind when I saw this thread was Lone Survivor by Luttrell. Apparently it's being made into a movie by the same director that made The Kingdom.

Some other excellent reads I can think would include Kill Bin Laden by Dalton Fury (pen name), who was apparently the commander for a joint unit of SFOD-D and British SBS commandos sent into Afghanistan along with CIA Paramilitary teams in what were practically the first military engagements of the War on Terror in Afghanistan after 9/11. Their efforts culminated in the Battle of Tora Bora, which remains controversial to this day because of blunders made that allowed Bin Laden to slip away to Pakistan.

The book also drew the ire of a lot of the brass at JSOC when it was released because Fury was so forthcoming over some highly classified information in his account of what happened, and what went wrong. It's an excellent read, especially for those who are less familiar with just how far the world of true Spec Ops missions is from what's shown in Hollywood.

Here's a great 60 Minutes expose on it all:


Switching to Iraq, two other books by the same author that really delve into the Tactical and Strategic aspects of that conflict are No True Glory and The Strongest Tribe by retired USMC Colonel Bing West. The former goes into just how close the US came to driving off the cliff in terms of losing that war, while the latter explains the reforms that took place that eventually led to the Surge, and the inroads made as a result.

Red Storm Rising was badass, if your into Tom Clancy books

Sniper One by Sgt Dan Mills. Account of the war in Iraq from a British unit of snipers. Highly recommended.

Not sure about Lone Survivor. A military journalist, using official reports from actual intelligence has directly contradicted Luttrell's seemingly braggart claims about the number of Taliban and calls into question the Lieutenant putting a decision to a vote about the fate of the goat herders who stumbled on their position.